November 15, 2006

Annual appeal for elderly Catholic religious December 9-10

The 19th national annual appeal for the Retirement Fund for Religious will be conducted in Catholic parishes in the Diocese of Buffalo the weekend of December 9–10. Coordinated by the National Religious Retirement Office (NRRO) of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington, the appeal benefits the projected $9 billion retirement liability of the nation’s religious orders.

More than 37,000 Catholic religious are now past age 70. More than 11,000 women and men religious require skilled nursing care or assisted living, care that cost almost $500 million in 2005 alone. While the cost of skilled nursing care in the U.S. averages $169 per day, religious institutes have kept the cost of skilled care to $133 per day. The cost of living for all elderly religious past 70 exceeded $925 million in 2005 alone.

As independent organizations, Catholic religious institutes are not covered by church or diocesan retirement plans. Of the 687 institutes that provide data to the NRRO, one out of five can pay less than 20 percent of projected retirement costs. The average Social Security benefit for women and men religious is approximately one-third that paid to the average U.S. beneficiary.

Sister M. Charlene Nowak, CSSF, diocesan coordinator of the Retirement Fund for Religious, noted, “During the years when this annual collection has taken place, its great success has been a witness to the affection and the gratitude of so many of us for what these women and men have so generously given, and continue to give, in so many places, now to your children, and/or grandchildren, especially to the new poor among us, children of immigrants who seek a better life in the United States.”

Almost 95 percent of donations are awarded to religious institutes through grants. Administrative and promotional costs absorb less than six percent of the amount collected.

Last year the fund collected almost $30 million, with the Diocese of Buffalo collecting $937,000, behind the archdioceses of Chicago and Cincinnati. Since 1988, donations have totaled almost $500 million nationwide, $18.1 million in the Diocese of Buffalo. Escalating health care costs along with lowered return on investments have dramatically affected religious’ capacity to fund retirement.

For more information, go to http://www.usccb.org/nrro

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