You are invited to our next online reflection, Finding Newness in Old Age, which is on Tuesday 23rd June, 7-8pm
A challenge to us all as to see growing older as a positive experience, the reflection will focus on how we can transition through the different stages of growing older, from being healthy and active to a slower pace and a time of more dependence and vulnerability. How do we adapt and maintain a sense of purpose?
It will be a combination of reflection, sharing thoughts with others and prayers.
Growing Old Grace-fully are hosting an online session and reflection as part of our Carers Project, being led by Michelle Anderson. This is on Wednesday 15th July at 2pm.
“You are Precious in my Eyes“, we will consider how carers may often feel ignored or invisible, but can be reassured in the knowledge that they are always seen by God and are precious to him.
This online session will include practical information, time to share experiences along with prayer and reflection.
Whilst this is mainly aimed at unpaid carers, it is open to all. Anyone who wishes to attend just needs to email Michelle at carersproject@growingoldgracefully.org.uk & she will send you the Zoom link to join.
All carers and the person or people they are caring for are invited to join us for a special Mass to celebrate the wonderful and important work of unpaid carers across the Diocese of Leeds.
It is on Saturday 11th July at 12pm (12 noon) at Leeds Cathedral, Great George Street, Leeds LS2 8BE.
This Mass is a great opportunity for us to pray for unpaid carers, acknowledging how invaluable they are, and how vital their role is within society. This special Mass is part of our Carers Project, being led by Michelle Anderson.
A sandwich lunch will be served in Cathedral Hall after Mass.
For more information, email Michelle at carersproject@growingoldgracefully.org.uk. It would be helpful if you can let us know you are attending, so we have an idea of numbers for the sandwich lunch, but all are welcome.
Holy Week, the holiest week of the year, invites us all to reflect on the ultimate sacrifice made for all of us. As we journey through these days – recalling Jesus Christ’s fear, suffering, anguish and death and then the glory of Easter – we are gently reminded that every stage of life carries its own meaning and grace.
In later life, the challenges of ageing – whether physical ailments, aches and pains, loneliness, loss or the weight of memories – can trouble us and lead us to doubt, anxiety and sadness. Yet Holy Week speaks directly into these experiences. It reminds us that suffering is not without purpose, that quiet endurance has dignity, and that even in moments of loss, there is the promise of new life.
We have compiled some prayers for Holy Week below, prayers to help us reflect through this week.
Through reflection and prayer, may this Holy Week become a time of peace, connection, and renewed hope.
Growing Old Grace-fully, Holy Week 2026
A Holy Week prayer for older people
God our Father,
As we walk through Holy Week, we remember Jesus on the road to Calvary— weighed down, yet faithful, wounded, yet still moving forward.
So too in our own lives, as the years gather and our strength changes, we carry burdens we did not once know— aches in body, losses in heart, and the quiet letting go of what was.
Teach us, like Christ, to walk this path with courage and trust, to accept each step with grace, and to know we are never alone.
And as Easter dawned with light and new life, remind us that growing older is not only loss, but also transformation— a journey toward deeper peace, renewed hope, and the promise of resurrection within us.
Amen.
Growing Old Grace-fully
Prayer for Holy Week
Lord Jesus,
This Holy Week we follow you on your sorrowful and glorious journey, your journey to the Cross and Resurrection.
Today we ask that we may walk with you, give us grace to see the deep love you show us.
As you were welcomed with joy and acclaim to the Holy City, your betrayal by the crowds soon overwhelmed their cries of Hosanna.
On the Cross, you made yourself servant taking the sins of the world upon yourself.
May our lives reflect your desire to serve God our Father first; that we may serve you in our brothers and sisters.
When we face suffering and disappointment, may we know your love.
When we are feeling lost, may we know that you are with us.
When we are worried, may your Cross be a sign of hope and strength.
May this Holy Week be for us a time of renewal in faith and love.
Jesus my Lord, let me strengthen my courage by taking on the courage of all those people who have been “centurions” for me.
Many have faced disasters and hard times with great constancy. The upper hand of evil never turned them against you. They kept going.
Let me be like them, Lord. No matter what the cross, let me never stop declaring you to be “truly the Son of God, the source of my hope, the reason why I will never quit on life.
Growing Old Grace-fully is delighted to announce the launch of a new Carers Project, which will be a key focus of our work.
The main aim of the project is to recognise and value the role of unpaid carers and offer emotional and spiritual support to them within the Catholic Diocese of Leeds.
Unpaid carers can often face isolation at a time when they may have difficult decisions to make and a range of emotions that caring for a loved one can bring.
The project aims to help reduce the isolation, giving carers the opportunity to engage with other Christian carers and support each other through their faith.
So many people, including many older people, have caring responsibilities of some sort, for spouses, friends and adult children with special needs. Caring is something hugely important to society and a real vocation, whether chosen or not.
The project will be coordinated and led by Michelle Anderson and we are delighted Michelle is joining the Growing Old Grace-fully team.
Michelle Anderson, Carers Project Coordinator
Michelle introduces herself as follows:
“I live within the Diocese of Leeds and am a parishioner of the Parish of St Mary and St Patrick in Batley and Birstall. I am the Parish Administrator and also a Foundation Governor of St Mary’s Catholic Primary Academy. I take an active part in parish life and enjoy meeting new people. Since leaving education I have been involved in support and care in a variety of roles.
“Working with older people, and advocating for vulnerable people and those in need of support, has always been something that has been close to my heart. Making a difference and helping to make improvements in people’s lives, no matter how small, is something I have always been passionate about”.
Would you like to be involved in the project?
There will be a number of ways to be involved in the project. These will include:
Regular online meetings where carers will have the opportunity to chat and share with each other, including space and time to pray.
Days of reflection for carers
Online talks where carers will be able to share their reflections and look at how faith helps.
If you would like to get involved with the project or you feel the project could be of benefit to you or someone you know please get in touch, either through your parish priest or by visiting our website growingoldgracefully.org.uk.
Dr Frances Norton, Pastoral Worker for Older People at Mary Mother of God Parish in Bradford has done her first report, which gives an excellent account of the amazing work she has been doing.
The Pastoral Worker for Older People is a project proposed and commissioned by Growing Old Grace-fully and funded by The Ladies of the Grail.
Dr Frances Norton, Pastoral Worker for Older People, Mary Mother of God Parish, Bradford
Frances describes how she has been a regular visitor to older people of Mary Mother of God parish in Bradford, to offer older people spiritual opportunities, giving space to develop a fuller faith and prayer life.
She has organised trips: To Our Lady of the Crag, Knaresborough, Our Lady of Doncaster (at St Peter-in-Chains), Our Lady of Manchester (at St. Mary’s, ‘the Hidden Gem’) and also organised also one-off events funded through local council bids, such as the icon painting and brambling for the Feast of the Assumption; and afternoon tea and memory box crafts.
This is a great start to this very positive and special project. We thank The Ladies of the Grail for the funding, Monsignor Paul Grogan and the parish for taking on and overseeing the project and role – and of course to Frances for delivering the work!
To read Frances report, click on the button below.
The Growing Old Grace-fully Annual Review 2025 gives an account of our activities in 2025.
Carol Burns, Growing Old Grace-fully Chair of Trustees gives an overview in her Chair’s Report.
There is also a first report from the Dr. Frances Norton, Pastoral Worker for Older People at Mary Mother of God Parish, Bradford, which is very exciting – and gives a good sense of the amazing work she is doing there in this role. This is a project proposed and commissioned by Growing Old Grace-fully and funded by The Ladies of the Grail. Frances has also done the first of her own reports here, which is well worth a read and shows the difference she and this project is making in the parish and area.
On page 2, there are details of Growing Old Grace-fully’s two main overall activities – dementia awareness and training (online and in-parish); and our programme of spiritual events, online and in-person, which in 2025 were centred around the theme of being Pilgrims of Hope, as part of the 2025 Jubilee Year of the Catholic Church.
As ever, we thank our funders who enable our work to happen – and who support and engage with us.
Growing Old Grace-fully produces a handy calendar of key dates in 2026 related to older people and later life. This can help parishes and other communities plan specific events around Feasts in the Church calendar or national events related to later life and older people.
Our mission is to enhance the spiritual, emotional and physical wellbeing of older people across the Catholic Diocese of Leeds through raising awareness, inspiring and supporting responsive action in parishes. Part of this is to encourage parishes to have events and specific services for older people. Events and services celebrating later life and the contribution older people make to parish, community and society. Plus events and services related to the challenges of later life – such as healing Masses, services to remember loved ones and to deal with grief, bereavement, dementia and loneliness.
In the Calendar you will find relevant Catholic Feast Days and other Church occassions, most notably World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly in July, as well as national and international events and weeks related to older people and later life.
Do consider marking some of these in your parish – as well as using them as an opportunity for reflection and prayer.
You can download the calendar here by clicking on the button below:
We wish a Happy Christmas to all from Growing Old Grace-fully.
This Christmas, we give thanks for the hope born in Bethlehem – the baby Jesus and a light that shines at every stage of life, even if we cannot always see it, when our eyes are turned towards the darkness that too often falls across our troubled world.
Christ’s birth in the stable shows that hope comes from the humblest and most unexpected places. We must always be open to that hope and be prepared to see it and pray that we too will hear the angels and see the star.
As we celebrate the joy of Christ’s coming among us, we honour the wisdom, faith, and love of older people, whose long lives witness to God’s faithfulness through the years.
Jubilee Year coming to an end
This is also the end of the Jubilee Year of ‘Pilgrims of Hope’.
The last major official events of the 2025 Jubilee will be the closing of Rome’s four Holy Doors, accompanied by the solemn closing rites and the celebration of Mass.
The first to close will be the Holy Door of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major on December 25th at 6:00 pm.
This will be followed by the Basilica of St. John Lateran on December 27th at 11:00 am.
On December 28th, at 10:00 am, the Holy Door of the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls will be closed.
The last Holy Door to close will be that of St. Peter’s Basilica on January 6th at 9:30 am, with a Closure Rite and Mass presided over by Pope Leo XIV. The Holy Year officially concludes with the celebrations of the Feast of the Epiphany.
We pray more than ever for hope in these final days of this special Jubilee year.
May the peace of the Christ Child fill your hearts and homes, and may hope, kindness, and grace accompany us all into the year ahead.
Some prayers for Christmas
We thought we knew where to find you; we hardly needed a start to guide the way, just perseverance and common sense; why do you hide yourself away from the powerful and join the refugees and outcasts, calling us to follow you there.
Wise God, give us your wisdom
We thought we had laid you safe in a manger; we wrapped you in the thickest sentiment we could find, and stressed how long ago you came to us; why do you break upon us in our daily life with messages of peace and goodwill demanding that we do something about it?
Just and righteous God, give us justice and righteousness
So where else would we expect to find you but in the ordinary places with the faithful people turning the world to your purpose through them. Bring us to that manger, to that true rejoicing, Which will bring wisdom, justice and righteousness alive in us
Stephen Orchard Based on Luke 2. v1-20 From Janet Morley Bread for Tomorrow
Cradled-Christ Eucharist
God reached out and with the lightest of touch set the world aflame with his adoration.
He so loved each And every one, that he gave his most Beloved Son
In order that we, that is you and me and all humankind might be born anew.
Not only on Earth, but in Heaven, too, and cascading through all Creation, Is the cradled- Christ Eucharist.
Amen.
Susan Hardwick from Shine on Star of Bethlehem (complied by Geoffrey Duncan)
Prayer for Christmas in later life
Loving God, as we welcome the birth of your Son, Jesus Christ, we come before you in these worrying and uncertain times. In the quiet of the manger, grant us hope; in the light of Christ, grant us peace; and in your abiding love, strengthen our trust in you.
We thank you especially for the gift of older people and later life. For their wisdom, faith, patience, and steadfast love, for the memories they carry and the hope they continue to offer, we give you praise. May they know their dignity, their value, and their cherished place in your Church and in our families.
As the Christ Child comes among us, unite young and old in compassion and care, and help us to walk together with courage and kindness. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Growing Old Grace-fully is looking for an energetic self-starter to work on a freelance basis assisting the development of a new project supporting spiritual and emotional needs of unpaid Carers in the Catholic Diocese of Leeds.
The appointee will build upon the work of the Growing Old Gracefully project which has been celebrating older people for over 15 years.
The project involves providing online support to reduce isolation and work in parishes.
The successful appointee will be an excellent organiser with outstanding communication skills, a good understanding of the needs of older people and sympathy with the ethos of the Catholic Church as well as commitment to ecumenical partnerships.
The project has funding for a part-time role, working 12 hours per week (or monthly equivalent) at £20 per hour plus travel expense.
We have funding initially for a one-year contract.
The closing date is January 16th 2026
Interviews will be held on Thursday January 28th 2026
