QUEENS VILLAGE — At a Mass to honor the elderly, Bishop Robert Brennan acknowledged the senior generation as the one that keeps alive the “memory of the family” and passes on the “gift of the faith.”
“In ages past, usually the grandparents would pass on the faith to the parents, and the parents would pass on the faith to the children,” he told residents and staff of the Queen of Peace Residence. “Well, in today’s world, there’s a bit of a crisis within the family. The grandparents and the elderly are still taking on that job because something is getting lost in the middle.”
The nursing home’s chapel was filled on May 31 for a Grandparents’ Day Mass celebrated by Bishop Brennan and concelebrated by Father Joseph Gibino, the diocese’s vicar for evangelization and catechesis.
The event coincided with the Jubilee of Families, Children, Grandparents, and the Elderly, which took place from May 30 to June 1 — designated by the Holy See as a part of the 2025 Jubilee Year.
Pope Leo XIV, presiding over the Jubilee Mass on June 1, reflected on the family as a source of communion and faith. He emphasized its crucial role in passing down the faith from one generation to the next.
The Holy Father also highlighted the special role of grandparents and the elderly to watch over their loved ones “with wisdom and compassion, and with the humility and patience that comes with age.”
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Denise Kelaher has been a resident at the Queens Village nursing home for 13 years.
During that time, she often babysat her grandson, Michael, at the residence when he was younger. She said the home is like having a “big family.”
“Michael came to Queen of Peace Residence and had 60 grandmothers, and he loved every minute of it, and to this day, they’ll go, ‘How’s Michael?’ ” Kelaher said. “Everybody remembers him.”
Also in attendance at the Mass were the Little Sisters of the Poor, an order of women religious that ministers to the nursing home. Kelaher credits them for strengthening her faith since she’s lived there, and how it helped her bring Michael closer to God.
“We’re so blessed,” she said. “We have Mass every day, we do our rosaries once a week in the hallways, we all get together, and not just for special occasions.”
Mother Superior Sister Joseph Caroline Beutler helps organize the Grandparents’ Day Mass every year because she says the elderly are a “vital part of our mission.”
“I think we face in our society at this time, a lack of respect for the elderly, with the consequences of possible euthanasia and assisted suicide,” Sister Joseph said. “So I think our mission stands at the forefront of respect for life, their dignity, their quality of life, and we try to provide a wonderful home where they can spend their last days before the Lord calls them.”
Bishop Brennan also reminded those in attendance not to forget about the elderly.
“Our government, New York State included, is trying to cast aside the elderly, the sick,” he said. “It’s people like all of you who see the great value of the gift that God gives to us through our seniors.”
Winnie Valcancick, who has been a resident at Queen of Peace Residence for nearly 10 years, echoed the sentiment that it’s a “tough world for the elderly.”
“I’m so spoiled here, I’m so cared for,” the 87-year-old Valcancick said. “But when I think about the people out there who are living in a house with no children, or children who come every once in a while, my heart breaks for them. Why isn’t there someone there for them?
“Some are blessed with good families who are faithful and take care of them, but there are many that aren’t.” While Grandparents’ Day is a joyous occasion, Bishop Brennan acknowledged after the Mass the difficult reality of growing favor for euthanasia in New York.
“It’s called to die with dignity, it’s called assisted suicide, but it is euthanasia,” he said. “And while it’s said that it’s just a choice for people, choices often become mandates. … That worries me to no end.”
On April 29, the New York State Assembly passed the Medical Aid in Dying Act, which would permit terminally ill patients, with a prognosis of six months or less to live, to request a lethal prescription, pending confirmation by two physicians. While the legislation still needs to pass the Senate and then get a signature from Gov. Kathy Hochul, the vote marks a shift in New York’s stance on end-of-life care.
With the efforts taking place in Albany, Bishop Brennan highlighted the Little Sisters of the Poor’s efforts at the Queen of Peace Residence as a “stark contrast” to the “throwaway culture” pervasive in society.
“We can learn from the sisters that life is always valuable, and that’s true for the sick and the elderly, but it’s also true at every stage of human life,” Bishop Brennan said. “We learn from them their sense of joy.
“It’s not like they’re doing this as a burden. You can see the joy, and that joy comes from their prayer life, from being with the Lord.”