Key to successful aging are feeding and growing your social, spiritual, and vocational parts of who you are. The other day Linda Hanson of the Duluth News Tribune did a wonderful story of a person who exemplifies this (We’d link to it, but the News Tribune hasn’t put it online.) The story was about Monsignor Patrick McDowell, who resides at Ecumen’s Lakeshore community in Duluth and is pictured here with Bayshore and Lakeshore chaplain Rev. Alice Olson. (For our readers around the country saying to themselves ‘I recognize that guy.’ You’re right, Monsignor McDowell was the priest in the movie North Country.)We’d like to share a few excerpts from the story:When Monsignor Patrick McDowell moved into an apartment at Lakeshore in Duluth, he felt uncharacteristically shy about meeting other residents. A Catholic priest since 1954, he had served several Duluth Diocese parishes and always felt accepted, but at Lakeshore he didn’t eve know who was Catholic.One day another resident patted him on the shoulder and asked whether he had heard what happened to the Pope, ‘He has that bird disease,’ the man told him. ‘He got it from one of his cardinals.’With that joke, and others that followed, McDowell soon felt at home.‘I began to realize I have some kind of mission here,’ said McDowell, 79. Shortly after he moved to Lakeshore in 2006, McDowell offered to celebrate Mass. Now he does it five days a week.At a time of life that for many is marked by loss of loved ones or physical abilities, McDowell has found joy in serving a new flock.‘If I’ve ever experienced Christianity, I’ve experienced it here in the greatest sense of the word. The spirit here is tremendous,’ he said. ‘Everyone is accepted.’ … Although he has has health problems, he adapts to them. McDowell recalled the Bible story of the 10 lepers that Jesus healed and how only one thanked Jesus. He said he used to be guilty of being one of the nine who didn’t give thanks. Now, he said, he thanks the Lord for many things, such as being able to get dressed on his own without falling.‘God’s been very, very, very, good,’ he said. ‘My faith has increased 100 percent since I came here.’Thank you Monsignor McDowell and the many other people we in the senior housing and services profession have the honor of serving each day who contribute mightily to the vitality of our communities and are wonderful role models for successful aging.