Given the situation at the present time it has become very difficult for families to care for their elderly parents at home. So a new opportunity for the apostolate has opened up for the Society, the spiritual and physical care of the aged in our own Care Homes. The elderly for the most part are very conscious in fact of how fragile life can be, and they desire not only to spend their declining years in peace and security but also to prepare, in a peaceful religious atmosphere, for that inevitable death of the body which determines our mortal frame for ever.

The Society runs several care homes throughout the world and takes care of both the physical and above all the spiritual needs of the residents; a priest chaplain is permanently on call, living in the home itself so as to manifest the presence of Jesus himself among those suffering and failing in bodily health.

The chaplain’s work is essentially the distribution of the sacraments, in particular the Holy Eucharist, Confession and Extreme Unction. This apostolate is greatly enhanced by the loving and much loved presence of the priest, ready to talk about everything and anything, the future and the past—everything in fact as he visits regularly the sick, sympathetic to their sufferings, the radiant smile of the gentle Christ upon his countenance.

The medical team, doctors, nurses, volunteers, families of the residents and the many visitors are all indirectly affected by this apostolate. A Catholic Care Home is neither a morgue nor a place of idle distraction, but a joyful, happy environment where everyone is in preparation for their real home which is in Heaven, supported and helped by the dedicated priest.