Faith and Long Life

There isn’t much news out of Rome this week, because of the Vatican’s annual Lenten retreat.

But there is one item in today’s Vatican Information Service press release that caught my eye: A list of 19 bishops around the world who have died in recent weeks.

What’s interesting about the list is the average age of these bishops when they died. The average was a startling 86.3 years.

Five of the bishops were in their nineties, with the oldest being Belgian Archbishop Jean Jadot, who served as the Vatican’s representative to the United States during the 1970s. Archbishop Jadot was 99 at the time of his death in January.

Twelve of the deceased bishops were in their eighties, and only two died before the age of 80 with the youngest being Bishop Philippe Kourouma, emeritus of N’Zerekore, Guinea, who died Feb. 11 at the age of 76.

Without some detailed statistical analysis, it can’t be positively asserted that there is a direct correlation between the fact that these men lived a life of deep faith and service to the Church, and the fact that they all survived to a ripe old ages. But their average lifespan is much greater than the average lifespan for men even in developed countries and far in excess of the average lifespan for the developing countries that were the homes of a number of the late bishops.

And this corresponds with other sociological research that indicates that Catholic priests and religious often are quite long-lived.

So it doesn’t seem unreasonable to conclude that a life of faith and service to the Church can be very good for your health, as well as good for your soul.

IN MEMORIAM

VATICAN CITY, 3 MAR 2009 (VIS) - The following prelates died in recent weeks:

- Cardinal Stephanos II Ghattas, C.M., patriarch emeritus of Alexandria of the Copts, Egypt, on 20 January at the age of 89.

- Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan, archbishop emeritus of Seoul, Korea, on 16 February at the age of 86.

- Cardinal Pio Laghi, prefect emeritus of the Congregation for Catholic Education and patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, on 11 January at the age of 86.

- Cardinal Paul Joseph Pham Dinh Tung, archbishop emeritus of Hanoi, Vietnam, on 22 February at the age of 89.

- Bishop Cipriano Calderon Polo, vice-president emeritus of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, on 4 February at the age of 81.

- Archbishop Jean Jadot, former pro-president of the Secretariat for Non- Christians, on 21 January at the age of 99.

- Bishop Philippe Kourouma, emeritus of N'Zerekore, Guinea, on 11 February at the age of 76.

- Bishop Hugh Lindsay, emeritus of Hexham and Newcastle, England, on 19 January at the age of 81.

- Bishop Edward Joseph O'Donnell, emeritus of Lafayette, U.S.A., on 1 February at the age of 77.

- Bishop Jose de Almeida Batista Pereira, emeritus of Guaxupe, Brazil, on 31 January at the age of 91.

- Bishop Jean Remond, former auxiliary of the "Mission de France", on 21 February at the age of 86.

- Bishop Antonio dos Reis Rodrigues, former auxiliary of Lisbon, Portugal, on 3 February at the age of 90.

- Bishop Michael Russell, emeritus of Waterford and Lismore, Ireland, on 12 January at the age of 88.

- Bishop Zef Simoni, former auxiliary of Shkodre, Albania, on 21 February at the age of 80.

- Bishop Louis Simonneaux, emeritus of Versailles, France, on 22 January at the age of 93.

- Bishop Thomas Ambrose Tschoepe, emeritus of Dallas, U.S.A., on 24 January at the age of 93.

- Bishop Andrew Tsien Chih-ch'un, emeritus of Hwalien, Taiwan, on 17 February at the age of 82.

- Bishop Serafin Vasquez Elizalde, emeritus of Ciudad Guzman, Mexico, on 10 February at the age of 86.

- Bishop Thomas Jerome Welsh, emeritus of Allentown, U.S.A., on 19 February at the age of 87.

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