There is a joke that my husband and I revisit with much pleasure. It concerns two elderly men who had memory loss. One said to his friend, “At last I’ve found the solution! I’m going to a wonderful memory school. They give you strategies you can put in place to remember things.” The other said, Read more
A significant number of workers in the health care sector in New Zealand are from the Philippines. Health worker Aeziel Niegos came to New Zealand in 2008 with a dream of settling here and becoming a Kiwi. But the 39-year-old, who is earns $19.54 an hour as a house leader in an Albany health care Read more
Ageing brings intense prayer and awareness of judgement, says 89 year-old Emeritus Pope Benedict. He says retirement has given him the gift of silence to enter more deeply into prayer, especially with the Psalms and the writings of early Church theologians. He also says the approach of death makes his failings and God’s judgment a Read more
A new study has highlighted concerns about the sexual and relationship rights of people living in Australian residential aged care. Research from the University of New England showed many couples in such facilities are unable to have normal sexual relationships. This is because of systematic and illegal breaches of their privacy, the study stated. The Read more
As part of the elderly population, we are aware of the publicity given people our age. Most of the news is focussed on welfare issues, while increased advertising suggests there is money to be made retirement villages, rest homes and funerals. Very little is said about the gifts of wisdom that can come only with Read more
Getting dementia tops the list of fears for older people including baby boomers, says a celebrated world authority on ageing and spirituality, Dr Elizabeth MacKinlay. Yet people with dementia can still find meaning in life, she says. MacKinlay is professor of theology at Charles Sturt University in Canberra and an Anglican priest. She has been presenting Read more
A few years ago, Erie Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister, a prolific spiritual writer and one of the most prominent, outspoken contemporary American Catholic sisters, decided to finally tackle a book she had wanted to write for a long time. The result, The Gift of Years: Growing Older Gracefully (Blue Bridge), beautifully reflects on the spirituality Read more
New Zealand will be made made up of a people of multiple “national” identities and its population growth may be entirely dependent on immigration, says a new study. The report – Our Futures: Te Pae Tawhiti – released today by an expert panel of the Royal Society of New Zealand, analysed data from the 2013 Census and Read more
The Vatican has warned the United Nations about falling fertility rates around the world, saying that they “should be a great cause for alarm”. Citing a report from the UN’s secretary general, the Vatican mission to the UN stated that “no fewer than 80 countries now register a fertility rate below replacement level”. That trend Read more
The one certain dimension of US demographics these days is that the fastest growing segment of the American population is comprised of people above the age of 65. We, and all our institutions, as a result, are a greying breed. At the same time, we are, in fact, the healthiest, longest lived, most educated, most Read more