SAN DIEGO — Augustinian Father Gary Sanders is a familiar face at Nazareth House of San Diego.
Father Sanders, 76, celebrates Mass at least three times a week — on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday — for senior residents of the facility, which is operated by the Sisters of Nazareth.
“They bring me joy,” he said of the residents, “and … by my ministry, I know I bring them joy.”
Father Sanders said that about 40 people or more attend his typical daily Masses, but the room has been “filled” for special liturgies, like Christmas and for the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday.
During his visits, he is also available to hear confessions, to confer the anointing of the sick or to speak individually with residents. He said the latter is “always a delight.”
In this ministry, which began almost two years ago, Father Sanders has found that many Catholics of advanced years possess a great sense of humor and a reverence for the sacred.
Some residents will approach him during his visits to tell him a joke, he said, and they are “really into Mass” and “treasure the Blessed Sacrament, receiving Communion.”
“I really feel very much a priest when I’m at Nazareth House,” said Father Sanders, who was ordained 51 years ago. “Part of the reason I became a priest is I wanted to serve the Lord and serve others, and that certainly takes place there. And I receive so much back; it’s just a wonderful place to be.”
Father Sanders feels that it’s “obvious” that one of the reasons he has been “accepted” by the residents is that he, too, is “in that senior citizen bracket.”
“I know that I’m not a teenager; I’m not a young priest,” he said.
Before he began celebrating Masses regularly at Nazareth House, he was already a frequent visitor there. He serves aging Augustinians as their representative with the Province of St. Augustine in California and, over the years, many Augustinians have spent their final years at Nazareth House. Two Augustinians — Fathers James Mott and Gary Rye — are current residents.
Father Sanders suspects that it was because of this ongoing role, which made him a known quantity at Nazareth House, that he was invited to celebrate regular Masses there.
Asked to reflect on the theme selected by Pope Leo XIV for the 2026 World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly, “I will never forget you” (Isaiah 49:15), he shared some thoughts.
Father Sanders said that, when discussing the issue of older people feeling forgotten, some cast blame on adult children for being too busy or neglectful to visit. But in his experience as a priest, he said, this represents “by far the minority.”
He said that older people can distance themselves from loved ones out an exaggerated concern about being a “burden” on them.
“The fact is, they’re not a burden; they’re a grace,” said Father Sanders, who noted that older people have “lived long enough to know that not every single (challenging) thing … is going to be a disaster” and are “great models of praying people.”
“‘I will never forget you’ is the understanding of God’s love for us,” he said, “but it’s also our call … to reach out to people who are getting older or have some limitations, or problem, but their mind, heart and soul are what we’re graced by.”
“It is such a grace,” he continued, “and … we are graced when we’re able to serve those people, because their very presence serves us.”
For more information about Nazareth House, visit sistersofnazareth.com/service/america/nazareth-house-san-diego.
