Every day, more than a dozen residents of St. Joseph’s Home, 15 Audubon Plaza Drive, gather alongside the Little Sisters of the Poor — who live and work at the home — to offer the sacrifice of the Mass.
Florals, carefully arranged by a retired florist who lives in the home, adorn the chapel. A resident proclaims the Mass readings. And, at the consecration, another resident rings handheld bells from his pew.
‘I pray the rosary every day and Mass every day, Communion every day. Where else could you be?’
Mary Catherine Fries
A few minutes’ drive away, a few dozen residents of Nazareth Home’s Highlands Campus, 2000 Newburg Road, also participate in daily Mass. Nazareth Home, founded by the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, offers Mass Sunday to Friday at both its Highlands and Clifton campuses.
The residents of these two homes for the aged are among many elderly Catholics in the Archdiocese of Louisville engaging in their faith according to their state in life.
On July 27, the fourth Sunday of July, the Catholic Church will celebrate the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, established by Pope Francis in 2021. This year’s theme is, “Blessed are those who have not lost hope.”
Here’s a look at how a few older Catholics — residents of St. Joseph’s Home and Nazareth Home — practice their faith:
Marilyn Yurt
Marilyn Yurt has been praying the rosary daily since she was a little girl at St. Agnes Church — a stone’s throw from Nazareth Home, where she now resides.
“I say the rosary every day, I really do. I’ve skipped maybe a few, but not many,” she said in a recent interview.
Mary Catherine Fries
Similarly, Mary Catherine Fries said, “I pray the rosary every day and Mass every day, Communion every day. Where else could you be?”
Before moving to Nazareth Home last year, she participated in Mass of the Air and EWTN’s nightly rosary, she said. Now, she can attend Mass in person and continues to stream the rosary every night.
“It becomes a habit. The rosary brings me closer, not just to Mary and Joseph — it brings me closer to Jesus,” she said.
As she has aged, she said, her faith life has deepened and she has more time for prayer, Fries noted.
“You don’t have a large family to take care of anymore, so you have more time for prayer. It’s not that you didn’t pray (before), but you just have more time. You have lots of time for prayer,” she said with a laugh.
“I have a deeper faith (now) than I had as a young person,” she said. She’s grown in her “awareness of Jesus” in her everyday life, she added.
Carolyn Sims
Carolyn Sims practices her faith by attending daily Mass at Nazareth Home. In fact, that’s why she moved there five years ago, she said.
“That’s why I chose it — because they had Mass every day,” she said.
James “Jim” Bartley
For James “Jim” Bartley, a resident at Nazareth Home, the Catholic faith has always been a part of his life, he said in an interview at the home.
“I was raised a Catholic and went to Catholic schools, and that’s the only way I’ve ever known or wanted to know,” he said.
He goes to daily Mass and prays “all the time,” he said. “I talk to the Lord like we’re together.”
Helen Dennison
Helen Dennison, a resident of St. Joseph’s Home, practices her faith with daily Mass. She’s benefited from the faith and care of the Little Sisters of the Poor, who live and serve at the home, she said.
“People do not know the wonderful work the sisters do. And to me, this is one of God’s earthly treasures, and I feel blessed that he’s put me in here,” she said.
Libbye West
Libbye West, a resident of St. Joseph’s Home, found her faith when she moved to the home’s apartments, she said in a recent interview.
“About a year after I moved here, I converted,” said West, who has lived at the home for 11 years. She received baptism and her first Communion in the home’s chapel.
She credits the Little Sisters of the Poor for her conversion, she said.
“There were a couple of sisters who talked to me. And they were a help to me, taught me so many things,” she said. “I had a lot of questions. And they always had answers. More and more, I saw all the reasons for this way of life.”
Now, she goes to daily Mass and is faithful to her daily prayers, she said.
“I have prayers that I say daily. I start out in the morning with very short prayer,” she said. “But as the day goes by, when I have a little time here and there, I pray for the things that are important to me at that particular time — for those who are in the hospital or for those who died. I give it all to the Lord every day.”
The home’s chapel keeps her faith strong, she said.
“Other people are not so fortunate. They have to go out, go to trouble in order to get to a chapel, or a church. And here, we can just go anytime we want to,” she said. “I’ve come down here at night and just sat in the chapel by myself, which is a wonderful gift that’s given to us.”
