We are encouraging everyone to attend mass with their grandparents on this date to celebrate the 3rd World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly. There will be a special blessing for all grandparents and elderly in attendance, as well as a donut & coffee social after Mass.

Blessing & donut social schedule for each church:

9:00 am Mass at Assumption
9:30 am Mass at Sacred Heart
9:30 am Mass at St. John Neumann

The theme was chosen to be in tune with that of World Youth Day in Lisbon: Mary arose and went with haste, taken from Luke's Gospel. Even the short passage "His mercy from age to age" is taken from Luke's Gospel and is the end of the first part of the Magnificat, when Mary immediately goes to meet her elderly cousin Elizabeth after the Angel's annunciation. Thus, it is a theme that highlights the importance of dialogue between generations, which is fundamental for perceiving and contemplating God's merciful action on behalf of human beings. Indeed, dialogue between the elderly and the young helps to obtain a more complete vision of the way in which a more humane and fraternal society can be built.

The Pope has always cherished this theme. Since the beginning of his pontificate, he has insisted on overcoming the "throwaway culture" and embarking on a culture of relationships. Today we all know that we live in a society where the elderly are not at the center. The Holy Father's reflection prompts us to ask some soul-searching questions, "What do we do for the elderly? How do we take care of them? Do our elderly feel lonely? Do they truly have dignity?" Here, we have to put the elderly person at the center and learn from them, and have the desire to think about them and desire to know how they are doing.

 The Day also serves to introduce into our hearts the desire to think and look for solutions for giving greater dignity to our grandparents.