The Diocese of Honolulu contribution last year to the national collection for the Retirement Fund for Religious was $104,362.46. The year’s collection is Dec. 13-14. The appeal helps more than 35,000 elderly religious order sisters, brothers and priests.
This year, the retirement fund gave financial assistance to two local religious communities: the Benedictine Monastery of Hawaii and the Carmelite Monastery.
Other communities who serve Hawaii but are based elsewhere, such as the Sisters of St. Francis, Maryknoll Sisters and the Daughters of St. Paul, also benefitted from the annual collection.
In 2014, the Hawaii’s Benedictines received $2,866.96; the Carmelites received $8,645.83.
The 2013 appeal raised nearly $28.4 million, enabling the fund to hand out $23 million to 424 religious communities. Additional funding is set aside for communities with the greatest needs and for retirement planning and educational resources.
The U.S. bishops started the collection in 1988 to offset the significant lack of retirement funding for U.S. religious communities. Proceeds help communities pay for medication and nursing care. Since the collection began, American Catholics have contributed $726 million, of which more than 93 percent directly supports elderly religious men and women.
Despite this overwhelming generosity, many communities continue to lack sufficient resources for retirement and eldercare. Last year, fewer than 8 percent of 590 communities reporting were fully funded for retirement.
The financial crisis is rooted in low salaries and changing demographics. In the past, women and men religious worked for small stipends that furnished only the basics of daily living. As a result, many communities lack adequate retirement savings.
At the same time, elderly religious are living longer and now outnumber younger, wage-earning religious. Sixty-eight percent are past age 70. In 2013, the total cost of elderly care was more than $1.2 billion.
For many congregations, a major obstacle to financial stability is the struggle to maintain old properties.
Most of a $2.5 million grant from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, awarded last year and payable over three years, will go toward effective property planning and management.