Passionate Steward - 10th Anniversary Edition

148 THE PASSIONATE STEWARD
Because good stewardship is unremitting, there will be,
through the recovery of vocational stewardship, less need for the
Church to remedy the consequences of our past history of poor
stewardship. Passionate stewardship promises a greater ability to
tend to the present, and to provide for the future as we continue on
our pilgrim way, responding more fully and appropriately to our
understanding of God’s call.
A particularly compelling example of the need for
attentiveness to stewardly principles is the movement of the baby
boom generation into old age. As can be clearly seen from the
following chart, the “elderly” (aged 65 and over) are becoming an
increasingly large percentage of the American population. In 1997,
one in eight Americans was elderly. By the year 2030, the figure
will be more like one in five. 56
The situation is no different in Canada where, if anything, the
trend is accelerated. The shift from the elderly being 13% of the
56 Rachel Shapiro, “The Demographics of Aging America,” (U.S. Bureau of the
Census: Population Resource Center, 1997).