Hawaii Catholic Herald
Just as it is important to support diocesan priests who have retired from active ministry, faithful across Hawaii are being called to support retired religious women and men — sisters, brothers and religious-order priests.
The National Religious Retirement Office has sent information and materials to parishes in the Diocese of Honolulu for its annual Retirement Fund for Religious collection, scheduled for the weekend of Dec. 13-14.
(This appeal is a national campaign, separate from the Diocese of Honolulu’s annual collection in support of its Diocesan Priests Retirement Fund.)
According to an Oct. 30 press release, Catholics in the Honolulu diocese contributed $86,166.60 to the collection in 2024.
Nationwide last year, more than $28.1 million was raised to help some 266 religious communities — not only providing financial assistance, but also supporting educational programs and resources to help the communities plan for their long-term needs.
The NRRO is sponsored by the Conference of Major Superiors of Men, the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The USCCB established the collection in 1988 to address the lack of funding for the retirement needs of sisters, brothers and religious order priests. Since then, the appeal has raised more than $1 billion — over $103 million of that has gone toward retirement planning projects, and nearly $900 million has supported direct care.
A fact sheet distributed by the NRRO outlines the challenges that religious communities face in supporting their retired members.
The communities are separate from the Catholic Church’s parish and diocesan structures, meaning they are financially responsible for their members’ support and care. However, many communities are small — with 25 or fewer members — and struggle to adequately care for their older religious.
According to the NRRO fact sheet, religious who are older than 70 outnumber younger members by nearly 3 to 1; in 2024, 70% of the communities that provided data to the national office had a median age of 70 or older. There are more than 21,000 religious women and men older than 70 in the United States.
“Support from the Retirement Fund for Religious helps religious communities care for senior members while allowing them to continue important ministries to the people of God,” the fact sheet states.
For more information, visit usccb.org/nrro.