Centre for Policy on Ageing



Solitude and prayer in the late lives of elder Catholic women religious — activity, withdrawal or transcendence?
Author(s)	Esther Iecovich
Journal title	Journal of Religious Gerontology, vol 13, no 1, 2001
Pages	pp 47-64
Source	Haworth Document Delivery Center, The Haworth Press Inc., 10 Alice Street, Binghamton, NY 13904-1580, USA.
Keywords	Older women ; Roman Catholicism ; Isolation ; Prayers ; United States of America.
Annotation	Data from life review interviews with elder Catholic women religious show that through prayer they are able to experience solitude and to feel connected with others. Their experience is not completely explained by either the disengagement theory nor by the newer theory of gerotranscendence. Because prayer connects them to others, they do not experience complete social withdrawal. Rather, prayer functions as a modified social activity connecting them to their past, to God, to the community in which they live, as well as to the wider world. They also do not develop a new transcendent meta-perspective, but deepen into cherished life beliefs and practices, accepting and becoming more fully who they are as individuals and as older women. (KJ/RH).
Accession Number	CPA-020422205 A
Classmark	BD: TSA: TP: OWP: 7T
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing

...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.