The annual Retirement Fund for Religious collection will be held Dec. 7-8 in the Diocese of Honolulu. The parish-based appeal is coordinated by the National Religious Retirement Office. Proceeds help hundreds of U.S. religious communities to care for aging members. Some 30,000 senior Catholic sisters, brothers and religious order priests benefit, including some in Hawaii.
Last year, the Diocese of Honolulu donated $114,396.18 to the collection. This year, Hawaii’s Carmelite Monastery received financial support through the retirement fund.
The 2018 appeal raised $27.7 million, and 360 religious congregations across the nation received funding. Distributions are sent to each eligible congregation’s central house. Communities combine this assistance with their own income and savings and apply it toward various retirement expenses, such as medications and nursing care.
“We are humbled and profoundly grateful for the countless Catholics who honor the service and witness of senior religious through their prayers and generosity,” said Presentation Sister Stephanie Still, the retirement office’s executive director, in a news release.
The U.S. Catholic bishops started the retirement fund in 1988 to help address the profound lack of retirement savings among U.S. religious communities. Since the collection’s launch, U.S. Catholics have donated $872 million to the annual appeal.
Still, many congregations struggle to provide for aging members. Most older religious worked for low wages that did not include retirement benefits. Today, numerous communities face a critical shortage in retirement savings.
Moreover, retired religious now outnumber wage-earning members, resulting in declining income and a rising cost of care.
