Father Gary Colton is enjoying his retirement.
Since he officially stepped down from active pastoral duty last July, the Maui-based priest has remained involved in local Catholic boards, celebrated Mass at various churches and given spiritual assistance on pilgrimages and retreats.
After 44 years as a diocesan parish priest, Father Colton, 70, is making the most of the newfound time in his “golden years.”
“When I retired, I wanted to stay active, not just on Maui,” Father Colton said. “Between July 1 to now, I’ve only had four weekends free.”
Father Colton is one of 19 priests retired under the auspices of the Diocese of Honolulu, which does its best to ensure that its retired clergy are taken care of when they leave the parish.
It does so through the diocesan retirement fund for priests — an important, yet under-financed endowment.
“We are obligated as a church to care for our priests until the end,” said diocesan finance officer Lisa Sakamoto. “Because of the sacrifice that they make” and the “service that they perform for all of us.”
For some priests, the diocesan retirement fund is their main or only source of income after parish life. In the Diocese of Honolulu, priests are eligible to retire at age 70. Circumstances such as illness or needs at their parish, however, may require a priest to retire a few years before or after that age. Typically, a priest will consult with the bishop about a year before his expected retirement.
While serving in a parish, a priest is provided with a modest salary, a food allowance, a residence, automobile transportation and medical insurance. His schedule is also largely designed around regular parish responsibilities. In retirement, priests are essentially on their own in making the decisions of where to live and how to take care of their daily needs.
The retirement fund provides a monthly pension, an amount which varies depending on the number of years of service here. Money from the retirement fund also helps defer other cost-of-living expenses, such as medical care and housing, regardless of whether priests remain in Hawaii or retire to the mainland.
The clergy retirement fund gets its financing mainly from parish contributions. A parish contributes $5,400 a year to this diocesan reserve for each local diocesan priest assigned there.
But the majority of Hawaii’s parish priests do not belong to this diocese and their retirement funding goes elsewhere.
For religious order priests, the diocese sends this retirement money back to their congregations for dispersing. The Diocese of Honolulu also sends retirement contributions back to the home dioceses of priests “on loan” from other countries or states.
Unfortunately, said Sakamoto, the diocese’s retirement fund is currently in a deficit. The rising costs of medical care and residential expenses have put a strain on its financing. A shortage of younger diocesan vocations has also left a worrisome gap between the amount of money coming into the fund and the amount needed to take care of the number of priests currently in or about to enter retirement.
According to Sakamoto, a recent actuarial report noted that the total obligation the diocese has for its retired priests is $8 million. Of this, she said the diocese has funded $1.8 million, thanks to parish contributions and the With Grateful Hearts capital campaign. That still leaves a $6.2 million shortfall.
Sakamoto said the diocese anticipates another $700,000 will be added to the fund by the end of June. That is not near enough, however.
She hopes parishioners will become more aware of how they can support retired clergy. Although a second collection is taken up in parishes each December for retired brothers, sisters and priests of religious orders, there is no collection for retired diocesan priests. For that reason, parishioners are not often reminded of the deficit.
“If we don’t provide the financing or if we don’t provide the funding for the future, we leave the problem to the next generation,” Sakamoto said.
Father Manny Hewe, the diocesan vicar for clergy, handles the retirement process for priests. He said he too sees the “imbalance” in the retirement fund.
According to Father Hewe, there are presently three diocesan priests age 70 and over who have delayed retirement. There are also 14 priests in the 60-69 age bracket. That comes out to 17 clergymen who will soon retire at roughly the same time.
In contrast, there are 16 local diocesan priests total between the ages of 37-59. This means there will be barely a one-to-one ratio of active younger priests supporting those who will be retiring in the next five to ten years.
There is also the issue of who will support these younger priests when their time comes to retire.
“It’s very scary for the younger ones,” Father Hewe said. “You don’t feel it at the height of your service (as a priest), but later on you will feel it.”
Father Hewe said an increase in younger diocesan vocations would help ease that burden a little. But as the diocese waits for that to happen, Father Hewe hopes parishioners will step up to support the retirement fund.
“We just pray that good benefactors out there will recognize and will appreciate the retired clergy who are quietly working to serve the community,” Father Hewe said.
Father Colton knows the importance of the diocesan retirement fund from personal experience. Although he was able to save some money over time from his own personal assets, he said the pension he receives from the diocese has helped tremendously in this new stage of his ministry.
“Without those funds I wouldn’t be able to retire,” Father Colton said.
“I hope generous (donors) keep it in place so that it won’t be an issue” in the future, he said.
