The year of Saint Gerard offers one surprise after another. The San Gerardo Oasis welcomed an initiative with a strong spiritual impact.
Online masses to shorten distances
The Luci nella sera project was presented in Monza, proposed by the Ecclesiastical Community of Monza with the support of the La Meridiana Cooperative, the Monza Caritas and the Le ore che conta association.
Help for the elderly and sick
The objective is to give elderly people the opportunity to take advantage of an online daily mass service in interactive mode, with two-way participation through the use of the Zoom platform or a simplified tablet. We will try to provide the sick with a conversation with the priest or with the other participants both before and after the service, thus helping the parishes most in difficulty.
«This need for spirituality of the elderly, which they struggle to fill in the parish context, deserves to be explored in greater depth. The goodness of the project is to create more protagonism in the lives of these people, but it can also be implemented with other initiatives” comments Don Augusto Panzeri, head of Caritas Monza.
The project
The hope is to involve parish volunteers so that they can interface with people electronically, in an attempt to shorten distances as much as possible.
At the moment it is expected to involve a project coordinator, one or more priests for the daily mass, a psychologist, an IT technician and around 30 volunteers.
«The project will last two years and aims to reach at least 500 people. The parishes will indicate the people to follow at home and provide the names of any volunteers” comments Paolo Villa, vice-president of La Meridiana. «Another idea in the back burner is that of “digital grandchildren”: each parish will create small groups of young people who can help the elderly, helping them to implement digital resources in their homes, providing all the necessary support».
The forces in play
Social-health and orientation support is also provided in response to particular needs within the complex network of public or private services.
Furthermore, we intend to give our support to care givers through ad hoc meetings online and beyond, creating help and support groups. In parallel, thematic meetings will be organized on end-of-life choices for the remaining Monza community. Present was Monsignor Don Silvano Provasi, trait d’union between the parishes, who commented on the charm of the context where the Protected Housing for the elderly of the San Gerardo Oasis is hosted, opened exactly twenty years ago: «Having a house is not enough: it is necessary that become a living environment and know the beauty of backyard life. Loneliness, after all, can affect even those who live very well.”
