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KUCHING - A home for the elderly to be known as “Home of Peace” is being planned on a pleasant 5.35-acres site adjacent to the Semongok Native Land at Jalan Landeh. The Home, which is a project of the Catholic Welfare Services (CWS), will be run by the Sisters of St Francis in Sarawak. It represents an outreach project of the local Church to the elderly, in particular those that are marginalised.

     The Home is very much a response to the concern of Pope John Paul II as expressed in his Letter to the Elderly in 1999: “We see that among some people old age is esteemed and valued, while among others this is much less the case due to mentality which gives priority to immediate human usefulness and productivity. Such an attitude frequently leads to contempt for the later years of life... There is an urgent need to recover a correct perspective on life as a whole. The correct perspective is that of eternity, for which life at every phase is a meaningful preparation...”

     Archbishop Emeritus Peter Chung has this to say: “The Home, as projected, will be something more than just another home for aged people. For besides food, shelter and material needs, the Home will provide Christian love and spiritual care. Indeed, ‘Man does not live by bread alone’ (Matt 4:4). Aged people are very conscious of their fading strength, of their inability to care for themselves, of the uncertainty of their days, of their advance in age and of the approach of death. In planning the Home the CWS will keep all these needs of the residents in mind.”

     The CWS plans to launch this “Home of Peace” project with a Mass on 2 August at 9.30 am at the Carmelite Chapel, to be followed by refreshments. Parishioners from all parishes in the Archdiocese of Kuching are cordially invited to participate and pray for the success of this project.


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