Archdiocese Sizes Up Senior Population To Provide Guidance

Published: May 8, 2008

In a telephone interview after the second annual Spirituality in Aging Partnership series, Joseph Krygiel, CEO of Catholic Charities Atlanta, and Regina Harris, Catholic Charities senior resources coordinator, shared that Catholic Charities is currently building up its ministry to the elderly population by putting together a housing and services informational database for the archdiocese. In her role, Harris is visiting parishes throughout the archdiocese to find out what their respective elderly ministry is, and what their needs are, if any.

“My first goal was to do a mini-survey of the parishes and missions in the archdiocese to determine what they are currently doing for their senior population,” she said. “Some parishes report that they are up and running with senior ministries and do homebound ministry work. Other parishes have not incorporated anything formalized for their seniors, but as they see their parishes aging, they see that population spread over their Bible studies, home-bound ministry, and seniors ministering to other seniors.”

The need is growing, she said. Currently, Americans 65 and older represent 12.6 percent of the national population, a figure that will rise to over 19 percent by 2030, according to a National Catholic Reporter article in January 2007, Harris cited.

“What I see us doing is being kind of a forum where we can assess what parishes are doing (for their older population) and make resources known to them,” said Krygiel.

For information on the Catholic Charities database for elderly parishioners, call Regina Harris at (404) 885-7449.