 |
|||||||||
 |
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
February
20, 2006 
VOL.
44, NO. 4Oakland,
CA
Series offered on spirituality of aging
AlmaVia of
Union City, a new retirement center in the East Bay, is sponsoring a two-part
series on “Spirituality for Later Life” beginning next month.
It is open to the public.
Sessions are planned for March 16 and April 6 from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30
a.m. in the facility at 33883 Alvarado-Niles Rd.
“We’ll be looking at the spiritual tasks of the older years,”
said Notre Dame Sister Nancy O’Shea, director of spiritual services.
The sessions will focus on how faith illumines the realities experienced
in the aging process.
“Older people have the time to look back and see how life events
helped bring them to where they are today, to examine anything unfinished,
to heal and to make peace,” Sister O’Shea said.
Open since October 2005, AlmaVia offers residential living to seniors
in need of respite, assisted living and dementia care services.
A nonprofit joint project of the Sisters of Mercy of the Burlingame Region
and the Sierra Pacific Lutheran Synod, AlmaVia offers studios, one-bedroom
apartments, shared facilities, and suites, plus gardens and walking paths.
Retirees who want the time to pray, read, and reflect can take advantage
of those opportunities from the day they move in, said Sister O’Shea.
AlmaVia’s spiritual services are designed to appeal to various faith
traditions. For Catholics, there is a monthly Mass, as well as weekly
Communion services. Sister O’Shea also is working on a Bible study
program, and prayer services for different occasions.
AlmaVia of Union City is part of the ElderCare Alliance, which has other
residential communities in San Francisco, San Rafael and Camarillo.
To register for the “Spirituality for Later Life” workshops,
call (510) 489-3800.
