Archbishop of Canterbury defends rights of older people

Dr Rowan Williams

In his final appearance in the House of Lords as Archbishop of Canterbury, on Friday, Dr Rowan Williams led a debate about the place and contribution of older people in society.

Speaking in his introductory speech, he argued that there is a misconception about older people and that, rather than being seen a 'burden', they should instead be recognised for the enormous amount of voluntary work that they do in their communities: "As things stand, more than half the over-60 population are involved in some sort of formal and structured voluntary work; over half of the population believes that this is part of what they should aspire to in later life, and a third are willing to take part in informal volunteering. These facts are of basic importance. It means, quite simply, that a majority of the older population are ready to do what they can, unpaid, to support the fabric of society; they are doing exactly what we expect responsible citizens to do. "

In recognising that older people may well find their physical independence reduced, the Archbishop urged that they should be supported so as to allow them to continue making their valuable contribution to their communities:

"It is of course a fact that advancing age is likely to decrease physical independence in various ways. But rather than taking this as the core issue, we should see questions of dependency as basically about how our public policy and resourcing seeks to preserve both dignity and capacity among those who may be increasingly physically challenged but remain citizens capable of contributing vital things to the social fabric."

In stressing the importance of different generations engaging with one another, Dr Williams suggested that it is the Churches and other faith communities who play a key role in facilitating this at grass roots level: "As family structures become looser and more scattered geographically, it is vital that there be regular opportunities for interaction between younger and older people, not least between children and older citizens, whether through schools arranging visiting and befriending or through formal and informal oral history projects. It is here that the contribution of churches and faith communities is particularly significant: in a good many contexts, these are simply the most robust and effective promoters both of intergenerational contact and formal or informal volunteering opportunities for older people."

This intergenerational engagement is of particular significance when we are dealing with a society where: "A great deal of our culture is frenetically oriented towards youth – notably in entertainment and marketing. This is understandable up to a point: people want to put down markers for the future as they see it. But its effect can be both to ignore the present reality of responsible, active people in older life, who are still participants in society, not passengers – and to encourage younger people to forget that they are ageing themselves, and that they will be in need of positive and hopeful models for their own later years."

"We tolerate a very eccentric view of the good life or the ideal life as one that can be lived only for a few years between, say, eighteen and forty. The ‘extremes’ of human life, childhood and age, when we are not defined by our productive capacity, and so have time to absorb the reality around us in a different way – these are hard for our society to come to terms with."

In concluding his introductory speech Dr Williams returned to the fundamental Christian value of 'respect': "The recovery of a full and rich sense of dignity at every age and in every condition is an imperative if we are serious about the respect we universally owe each other, that respect grounded for Christians in the divine image which is to be discerned in old and young alike."

To read the full speech see: www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/articles.php/2748/archbishop-older-people-are-still-participants-in-society-not-passengers

Source: Archbishop of Canterbury