| The 18th national annual appeal for the Retirement Fund for Religious will be conducted Dec. 10-11 in Catholic parishes. Coordinated by the National Religious Retirement Office (NRRO) of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the appeal benefits the projected $8.1 billion retirement liability of the nation's religious orders.
More than 38,000 Catholic religious are now past age 70 and the cost of skilled nursing care and assisted living for almost 12,000 Catholic religious women and men currently exceeds $1 million each day. While the average cost of skilled nursing care in the U.S. averages $145 per day, religious institutes have kept the cost of skilled care for frail elderly to $126 per day, the NRRO reported.
As autonomous organizations, Catholic religious institutes are not covered by church or diocesan retirement plans. Of the 696 institutes that provide data to the NRRO, 24 percent can pay less than 20 percent of projected costs. Religious traditionally worked for small stipends and returned their earnings to the mission of the institute. The average Social Security benefit for religious women and men is approximately one-third that paid to the average U.S. beneficiary.
Featured in this year's campaign are contemplative religious. Members of contemplative institutes live in solitude and dedicate their lives to prayer. Their earnings from crafts, breads, cheese making, and the distribution of altar breads cover less than 50 percent of operational expenses. In 2004, NRRO awarded grants to 91 of these institutes in 39 states.
 "Especially
for the contemplative, there is no divide between prayer and
ministry," says Sister of the Most Precious Blood Andrée Fries,
executive director of the National Religious Retirement Office.
"We desperately need their prayers of supplication, praise
and thanksgiving. Unfortunately, their needs are like their
gifts --- usually hidden --- and I am profoundly grateful
that the generosity of American Catholics enables us to assist
contemplatives and all religious women and men who are frail
and in need."
More than 95 percent of donations are awarded to religious institutes through basic grants. Administrative and promotional costs absorb less than five percent of the amount collected.
Last year the fund collected more than $28 million, and since 1988 donations have totaled more than $460 million. However, the cost of living for all elderly religious exceeded $910 million in 2004 alone. Escalating health care costs along with lowered return on investments have dramatically affected religious' capacity to fund retirement, the NRRO said.
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