Last December, Hawaii Catholics gave $87,086.97 to the national collection for retired religious. This year, three Hawaii religious orders benefited from these funds. The Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet received $6,410.21, the Carmelite Sisters received $9,177.25 and the Benedictines in Waialua got $2,545.87.
Also, congregations who serve in Hawaii but whose communities are based elsewhere, such as the Maryknoll Sisters and Sisters of St. Francis in New York, also benefited from the appeal.
This year, the annual Retirement Fund for Religious collection is Dec. 7-8. Now in its 26th year, the collection is coordinated by the National Religious Retirement Office in Washington, D.C. It helps more than 34,000 elderly Catholic sisters, brothers and religious order priests.
The U.S. Catholic bishops started this collection in 1988 to address the woeful lack of retirement funds for U.S. religious communities. The money is distributed to communities to help underwrite retirement and health-care expenses.
Since the collection began, Catholics have contributed $698 million. Over 93 percent of donations directly support senior religious men and women and their communities.
“I am deeply grateful to the Catholics across the nation who faithfully support the Retirement Fund for Religious,” said Precious Blood Sister Janice Bader, the retirement office’s executive director.
The 2012 appeal raised $27 million, enabling the National Religious Retirement Office to distribute $23 million to 440 religious communities across the country. The money bolsters the communities’ retirement savings and subsidizes prescription medications, nursing care and other day-to-day expenses.
The office also allocated nearly $3.6 million to help those religious communities with the greatest needs and to promote ongoing education in retirement and elder-care delivery.
Despite the generosity to the collection, many religious communities struggle to provide adequate care. In the past, sisters, brothers and religious order priests worked for small stipends that did not include retirement benefits. Today, of 548 communities reporting to the retirement office, only 8 percent were fully funded for retirement.
Last year, the average annual cost of care for senior religious was more than $38,000 per person, while skilled care averaged more than $57,000. The total cost of care in 2012 was over $1.1 billion.
Meanwhile, the number of religious needing care is growing. In 2012, 61 percent of the religious communities had a median age of 75 or older.
By 2023, the number of retired religious is expected to outnumber wage-earning religious by four to one.
“As the number of wage-earning religious drops, so does income,” said Sister Janice. “Our mission is to help religious communities prepare for the dramatic income reduction that will accompany this demographic shift.”
