Going to church awakens memories
By BLYTHE BERNHARD
The Orange County (Calif.) Register

IRVINE, Calif. -- They might have trouble recognizing their children or remembering their address, but on Wednesday they sang "Amazing Grace" and recited the Lord's Prayer from memory.

More than 30 seniors with Alzheimer's disease and other dementia-related conditions attended Mass at St. John Neumann Catholic Church, where familiar religious rituals awakened their long-term memories.

"It's seeing the stained-glass windows. It's sitting in the pew and seeing the minister," said Jacque Schweppe, an Alzheimer's Association volunteer. "It's a blessing to see how many respond. We know for most of them as soon as they leave those doors it's going to be lost for them."
The rest