Romania is facing a crisis among homeless elderly people, who are often seen begging silently in subways and on street corners.
According to official Romanian estimates, the number of old people in Bucharest is 550,000 and 70% of these are poor, homeless or ill, with many of them struggling to survive on less than €30 a month.
Inflation in recent years, rising living costs and fixed pensions mean many elderly Romanians are unable to pay their rent or to meet the costs of food, fuel and utilities. With rising property prices and curbs on public spending elderly people have become a vulnerable sector in society.
For the past three years, CMS Ireland has been supporting a sheltered housing project at Precupetii Vechi (All Saints’) Church in central Bucharest, where the parish priest, Father Gheorghe Tudor is providing accommodation for 30 elderly people and meals for hundreds more in the neighbourhood. The project at Precupetii Vechi also has the support of the neighbouring Anglican Church of the Resurrection.
During 50 years of communist rule, the Romanian Orthodox Church was not allowed by the authorities to engage in charitable work or in the work of mission and outreach. The events of 1989 completely changed the situation in Romania and once again the Orthodox Church had the freedom to play an important role in the social life of the people.
Many parishes found it difficult to know how to take advantage of the new opportunities. However, with the blessings of Patriarch Teoctist of the Romanian Orthodox Church, the Social Shelter project began in the year 2000.
The clergy and the laity who took those first important steps to meet these new challenges, knew it was important for the Church in Romania to find a new role in society and to discover its potential for mission in Bucharest.
Bucharest’s old people are in a particularly vulnerable situation. They are especially disadvantaged because under the former communist regime they could not provide for their old age when they were young and now they are obliged to live only on a state pension. This pension is very small (average €30-€40 a month) and seldom covers basic human needs. Indeed, many old people try to survive even on a smaller income.
Romania is a poor country by European standards and the social services cannot cope with the great needs of people, young or old, who are in difficulty. These people desperately need the support within the community because central and local authorities do not have the means to solve the problem.
