Reprint of Fr. Steve Zabala’s Interview re Retirement House on Inquirer.net
Dioceses build homes for retired priests
Fr. Steven Zabala, vice chancellor of the Diocese of Cubao, recalls the story of a retired priest who had no family to take care of him in his old age. “I was a seminarian then, but it really struck an emotional chord in me that some retired priests are not being taken care of. After their service to the Catholic Church and people, they deserve to be taken care of,” Zabala said.
It was also this concern for aging priests that pushed Zabala’s superior, Cubao Bishop Honesto Ongtioco, to plan in 2005 a home for the diocese’s retired priests. The diocese currently has five retired priests, and this number is expected to rise in the next 20 years, with 28 more retiring over that period.
House of Silence
Casa de Silencio (House of Silence) Renewal Center will rise on a 3,300-square-meter
property at Most Holy Redeemer Parish near Gregorio Araneta Avenue in Quezon City. The retirement home will have four stories and 75 rooms.
The diocese tapped architect Peter Ong, who designed a retirement house in the Diocese of Cabanatuan, to design Casa de Silencio. Ong is donating his services to the diocese.
The Cubao diocese is working hard to raise funds for the P200-million project. Groundbreaking is planned for June. The Cubao diocese hopes to complete the project in two years. So far, parishes under the diocese have raised P26 million since the project was launched late last year. Donors may write a check to the Casa de Silencio program and give it to their parish.
Retirement plan
The Archdiocese of Manila already has Cardinal Sin Welcome Home at Our Lady of Loreto Parish in Sampaloc district. Built in 2002, the retirement home takes care of 17 elderly priests. “Now, other dioceses in the Philippines are starting their own homes for retired or ill priests,” said Fr. Jose Alan Dialogo, director of the retirement home. Other jurisdictions that already have retirement homes for their priests are the Diocese of Cabanatuan and the Archdiocese of Cebu and Archdiocese of Jaro, Iloilo province. The Diocese of Parañaque is planning to build its own retirement house.
Visits from fellow priests
In a separate interview, Zabala confirmed the consultation on concerns of elderly priests. “One thing we discovered is that retired priests fear staying in a retirement house because they don’t want to be isolated from the world,” Zabala said. What elderly priests look forward to, he said, is visits from their fellow priests. “They will be lonely if they are cut off from the world. But they are happy when they are visited by fellow priests,” Zabala said.
The Cubao diocese was thus inspired to design Casa de Silencio not just as a retirement home, but as a venue for spiritual retreats and other activities. With such a place, active clergymen will be able to visit and interact with retired priests, and the retirement home will be a self- sustaining and income-generating center. Casa de Silencio will be located near St. Luke’s Medical Center, De Los Santos Medical Center and Capitol Medical Center—convenient for retirees needing a medical checkup. “It’s also near Araneta Avenue, where there are many funeral homes. There will be many who will need their services for Masses and sacraments,” Zabala said.
Aging with dignity
Priests, he said, don’t stop being priests when they retire. Most, if not all of them, still want to do their priestly duties, he said. A reFred priest may still administer the sacraments, and speak at spiritual retreats, he said.
Like other retirees, priests are afraid of losing their physical strength and their faculties, Zabala said. “They fear developing dementia, becoming forgenul. They fear the weakening of their bodies,” he said. What they want is aging with dignity. They don’t have to worry about being abandoned, because the diocese will take care of them,” Zabala said. Looking after them in their old age is the task not only of the priests in the diocese, he said, but also of the lay people these men of God served in their youth. “These priests took care of us spiritually for years. It’s now time for us to give back and take care of them,” he said.
