The World Day for Grandparents and Elderly will be marked by a number of pilgrimages throughout the UK on Sunday 28 July, a few days after another so-called assisted dying bill was introduced in the House of Lords. <br><br>Pope Francis established a World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, which took place for the first time in 2021. It is occurring this year on Sunday 28 July, as that is the Sunday closest to the Feast of Saints Joachim and Anne, the grandparents of Jesus. The theme chosen by Pope Francis for this year’s celebration is: “Do Not Cast Me Off In My Old Age” (Psalm 71:9).<br><br>This worldwide celebration in the Church's calendar has been called a momentous achievement for grandparents and the elderly and "will hopefully reassure them that they are loved and that they are needed", notes the Catholic Grandparents Association, whose mission is to help grandparents pass on the faith and to keep prayer at the heart of families.<br><br>That reassurance is growing in importance in the face of continued efforts to introduce assisted suicide in the UK. The movement for passing legislation to enshrine euthanasia and assisted suicide is gaining momentum around the world, with the Catholic Church remaining one of the few institutions to take a firm stand against the issue.
“Grandparents have no agenda; they simply want the best for their grandchildren,” says Catherine Wiley, founder of the <a href="https://www.catholicgrandparentsassociation.org/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">Catholic Grandparents Association</mark></a>.
“They want them to be good, decent human beings, to know the difference between right and wrong, able to make good moral decisions and, if they go astray along the way, to be able to find their way back to a loving, forgiving, non-judgemental God.
"Grandparents' vital contribution to the family, the Church and society was never as important as now. We are living in unprecedented times, with constantly changing social and moral values. Times of great emotional, physical and financial stress.
"Sometimes we feel like we are failing. We are not. We can never fail so long as we keep on doing what we are doing - praying, showing the way and passing our Faith."
One of the pilgrimages being organised in the UK is <a href="https://www.walsingham.org.uk/event/national-grandparents-pilgrimage/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">heading to the Basilica of Our Lady of Walsingham</mark></a>. The principal celebrant of Mass at the end of the pilgrimage will be Bishop Alan Hopes Emeritus of East Anglia.<br><br>There will also be a national grandparents’ pilgrimage to the Shrine of our Lady of Knock in the Archdiocese of Tuam in Ireland.
The chief celebrant for Mass in the Basilica at Knock will be His Excellency the Apostolic Nuncio to Ireland, Archbishop Luis Mariano Montemayor. <br><br>Pope Francis has authorised the granting of plenary indulgences to those who participate in the World Day for Elderly and Grandparents.<br><br><strong>RELATED: <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/pope-offers-indulgences-for-world-day-for-elderly-and-grandparents/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">Pope offers indulgences for World Day for Elderly and Grandparents</mark></a></strong>
The World Day for Elderly and Grandparents was instituted by Pope Francis amid the Covid-19 pandemic and government response, which had a particularly cruel impact on those elderly left isolated from family and lonely as a result of social distancing and lockdown requirements. <br><br>Elderly relatives died alone in care homes and in hospital, including reports of Catholics being denied the Last Rites from a priest, while funerals were curtailed, with families often having to "attend" them online. <br><br>It remains one of the grossest examples in contemporary British history of governmental mishandling of one of the most vulnerable demographics in society, which, some argue, also illustrated the dangers of the State being able to exercise powers over euthanasia and assisted suicide. <br><br>This year's worldwide to mark the role of grandparents and the need to care for the elderly is being coordinated by the Vatican’s Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, currently led by US Cardinal Kevin Farrell. <br><br>This year, on the occasion of the fourth edition of the event, the Vatican’s Apostolic Penitentiary has offered plenary indulgences to those who participate “in order to increase the devotion of the faithful and for the salvation of souls,” according to a statement from the Penitentiary published July 18.<br><br>The introduction of another "assisted dying" bill into the House of Lords will be the fifth attempt by Lord Falconer of Thoroton, the former Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice to introduce such. legislation, which is claimed to give the terminally ill the right to choose the time and manner of their death.<br><br>This time, crucially, the introduction of the bill is occurring with the new Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, having pledged his full support for the successful passage of such legislation. <br><br>Earlier this year in the run up to the July 4 election, the leader of the UK’s Labour Party stated his personal commitment to changing the law on assisted suicide and promised to bring forward a Bill to legalise the practice if he was elected Prime Minister. <br><strong><br>RELATED: <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/labour-leader-keir-starmer-commits-to-assisted-suicide-vote-if-prime-minister/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">Labour leader Keir Starmer ‘commits’ to assisted suicide vote if Prime Minister</mark></a></strong><br><br>The US experience with assisted suicide should persuade Great Britain and other countries that the slippery slope to broader killing is disturbingly genuine, <a href="https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2024/07/95466/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">notes</mark></a> a recent article by Richard M. Doerflinger, a fellow with the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture, and a former Associate Director of the Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities, US Conference of Catholic Bishops.<br><br>He notes that the "respected London-based periodical <em>The Economist</em>, which has supported the idea since 2015, recently weighed in with an <a href="https://www.economist.com/leaders/2024/04/11/the-rights-and-wrongs-of-assisted-dying"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">editorial</mark></a> that offers a convenient overview of the campaign", one in which "while dismissing the idea of a 'slippery slope' toward broader killing, their own arguments illustrate that slope".
<em>Photo: The Holy Family, along with Saints Joachim and Anne, the grandparents of Jesus; screenshot from <a href="https://www.catholicgrandparentsassociation.org/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">www.catholicgrandparentsassociation.org</mark></a>.</em>
