Focus Includes Respect For The Elderly

The Catholic Church observes Respect Life Month every October. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops calls Catholics to renew their personal commitment to defend all human life, especially the most vulnerable members of the human family.

Pat Hoffman's commitment to the elderly began with a "no."

She's a parishioner at Holy Redeemer Parish in Evansville, and 30 years ago she was asked to help set up the Wednesday morning Mass at a nearby nursing home.

"I said, 'No,'" she remembers. "It sounded boring," but she ended up helping out.

Her duties included preparing the altar, clearing a place for the wheelchairs, and then gathering the Catholic residents from their rooms and bringing them to the Mass.

"It wasn't hard to do, and as the years went on, five to six different groups of volunteers have helped me."

She is quiet as she remembers the years when her own mother and her mother-in-law were volunteers. Then, she beams, as she says, "It's so beautiful. Then they lived here."

She says that the longer she volunteers with the elderly "the more I realize how much God is helping me, showing me what I can do to get closer to Him."

And closer to the residents too.

"There are times  I become so close to them," even in their last days.

"I know when they are going down, and I say, 'When you go to heaven, please pray for me.' They smile, and say, 'I sure will.'

"Do you know how many people I have praying for me?"

Hoffman says she has changed quite a bit in the 30 years she has been volunteering. "When I started, I was worried about getting the job done, about setting up the altar before Father got here."

Now her main concern is the residents. "As I grew into it, they became the most important. They are so happy we are bringing the Mass to them."

When she enters the residents' rooms and asks if they want to attend Mass, they tell her "yes!"

She said that through her work with the elderly, now "I know I don't have anything to fear from death."

She has been with them as they are dying. "Their family is around them, and I will say, 'Do they want Communion?' The family will say, "Oh no. She's out of it.'

"Then I will say, 'Can I say a prayer, maybe the Our Father?' and they say, 'Yes.'"

Often, as she is praying, the residents will open their eyes. When she asks them, "Do you want to receive Holy Communion?" they will nod their heads yes.

She pauses as she reflects "I give them Holy Communion for the last time. I don't understand how I am so privileged to do that."

Hoffman believes the residents are "saints in the making. They are special to the Lord. I never have seen anyone afraid of dying of the people who come to Mass all the time.

"I have never heard anyone say, 'I'm afraid of dying.'"