The annual Retirement Fund for Religious collection will be held Dec. 8-9 in the Diocese of Honolulu.
Last year, Hawaii parishioners gave $107,756.19 to the collection. Among the local beneficiaries of the collection this year was the Carmelite Monastery in Kaneohe.
The national appeal is coordinated by the National Religious Retirement Office in Washington. The donations benefit 31,000 elderly Catholic sisters, brothers and religious order priests in the country.
Nearly 94 percent of the money collected aids senior religious and their communities, with the remaining funds used for administration and promotion of the national appeal.
The 2017 collection raised just over $28 million, and the retirement office disbursed $25 million to 360 religious communities for the direct care of elderly members.
Traditionally and for many years, Catholic sisters, brothers and religious order priests served the church for little to no pay. Today, hundreds of orders lack sufficient retirement savings. Of 547 communities providing data to the retirement office, only 4 percent are adequately funded for retirement. Compounding the financial crisis are the rising cost of care and the increasing number of those needing care.
Religious communities apply annually for financial support from the national collection, and distributions are sent to each eligible community’s central house.
