Dignity restored through community

MISSIONER NEWSLETTER – Winter 2025

Joe Loney & Filo Siles, Bolivia

Filo invites the lunch group to “salute” Don Bonifacio in celebration. The moment captured the mutual respect and joy that emerge when older adults are fully welcomed and valued.

What unites two people is often a mystery. If we believe in love at first sight, all it takes is that first visual encounter. If we believe in the Holy Spirit, all it takes is being open to opportunities—to opening ourselves to someone God has placed in our path.

Filo and I are not social scientists who can provide a definitive answer. We do, however, believe that coincidence is not the same as the intervention of the Holy Spirit in helping us grow as a couple and love our neighbors.

Filo accompanies Don Bonifacio from Hogar San José as he heads out to share lunch at the parish soup kitchen. Once isolated and struggling to meet basic needs, Don Bonifacio now lives in community support that allows him to age with dignity.

Without a deliberate plan, Filo and I find ourselves working with older adults in very different contexts—with the same goal: that they may enjoy a dignified life, despite the challenges brought on by the inevitable aging process. Although Filo works in the city of Cochabamba and I work in the remote, rural municipality of Tacopaya, we would like to offer one illustrative example of the positive changes brought about by our work.

Filo has teamed up with Santa Monica Parish in its program assisting older adults. Don Bonifacio is 74 years young. When Filo met him, he was living alone in a small room. She would often take him lunch, as Don Bonifacio found it very difficult to walk the many blocks to the parish soup kitchen. In conversations with his landlord, Filo learned that Don Bonifacio had no relatives or friends to help him. He was totally dependent on the sporadic kindness of strangers and the parish program, supplementing what little was possible through a government old-age pension of $50 per month. (Even in Bolivia, this is nowhere near enough to meet basic needs.)

Filo and her ministry teammate, Freddy Oropeza, director of the parish program for older adults, both concluded that Don Bonifacio’s physical health and emotional well-being were deteriorating quickly, and that he did not have a hopeful future living independently. Through careful dialogue, they persuaded Don Bonifacio that a dignified life was only feasible within a community. They also persuaded Hermana Juana, who runs a residential program for older adults, to accept Don Bonifacio at Hogar San José without the usual monthly fee.

Recently, I had the privilege of witnessing the tremendous change in Don Bonifacio. Filo and Freddy invited him to reunite with his former lunch companions for a day of sharing and a warm, nutritious meal at the soup kitchen. Smiles had replaced the gloom of resignation on his face. He walked with confidence using a walker instead of hobbling with two canes. He wore clean clothes instead of dirty, overly worn, and smelly apparel. Optimism had become his new mindset. The sharing was such a success that everyone agreed Don Bonifacio must return for other meals soon.

Please continue to partner with Filo and me in bringing dignity to older adults by making a donation to Maryknoll Lay Missioners. Donations can be made online, or by sending a check payable to Maryknoll Lay Missioners (memo line: Siles–Loney Ministry) to P.O. Box 307, Maryknoll, NY 10545-0307.

Please consider supporting our mission work with older adults with a donation through the link below.

We also invite you to walk with us as our “COMPANIONS IN MISSION.” Companions in Mission are friends and generous donors who give financial gifts on a regular (usually monthly) basis. For more information, visit Become a Companion in Mission. Thank you so much for your generosity!