Retirement Fund Pleas for Catholic Orders Set

The nation’s Catholic bishops Tuesday overwhelmingly approved an annual parish collection to rescue religious orders, especially those with a high ratio of aged nuns, which are faced with a retirement-fund shortfall of more than $2.5 billion.

“It’s a matter of justice, not merely one of charity,” urged one bishop at the annual meeting of U.S. bishops.

While setting no money goals, the heads of dioceses approved, 156 to 10, a plan to start sometime next year an annual collection for 10 years. There was optimism that it will set records for church donations among the country’s 53 million Catholics, even if the total deficit is unreachable within a decade.

Emotional Response

“Sisters (especially the elderly or frail) evoke an emotional response. ‘This makes this cause a fund-raiser’s dream,’ ” said a briefing paper provided to the bishops from the retirement project committee. The committee was citing results from a specially commissioned Gallup Poll on how much people would contribute.

The first national collection for the retirement project will be the 12th such U.S. church-wide fund appeal in the parishes.

The enormity of the need became evident last year when the accounting firm of Arthur Andersen & Co. analyzed the results of a 1985 church-run survey of Catholic orders and concluded that $2.5 billion would be required to support nuns, priests and brothers in their retirement years. The figure would be $3.5 billion unless an estimated $1 billion in saleable assets held by the surveyed orders are sold to reduce the deficit, officials said.

The crisis arose, church officials said, because religious orders--especially nuns, who number 115,000 in America in contrast to 29,000 religious order priests and brothers--rarely had developed retirement or pension plans. Diocesan priests, whose retirement benefits vary from diocese to diocese, were not included in the survey and would not receive money from the special collection.

Retirees Live Longer

Sisters employed in schools, hospitals and elsewhere traditionally supported the relatively few retired nuns in their communities. But in the last two decades many young sisters dropped out and fewer novices joined while retired nuns were living longer. Officials said the 1985 survey showed that about 44,000 sisters were over the age of 70. Next year the median age of sisters will be 66.

The $2.5-billion figure was treated skeptically, as possibly too high, by Bishop John R. McGann of Rockville Centre, N.Y., who presented the retirement program to the bishops. But Sister Mary Oliver Hudon of the School Sisters of Notre Dame, who directs the retirement project, said the figure is real--and even represents only 76% of the “religious,” a Catholic term for members of orders.

“Many small (orders) did not respond to the survey, though we expect to have better data from another survey we sent out last month,” Hudon said in an interview. “Some people think the numbers were exaggerated; if anything, they were conservative.”

Yet, the entire amount is not needed within 10 years. The figures also include the future retirement income that will be needed by many sisters still earning a living. Many religious orders have started retirement funds in recent years. Part of the plan approved by the bishops Tuesday was to help orders develop “compensation packages” and expand their benefits from Social Security.

Some Managed Well

Some religious orders have managed their resources well, noted several bishops.

“I know some orders who have more money than my archdiocese,” said Archbishop Philip M. Hannan of New Orleans.

Sister Hudon disputed reports that some sisters have had to go on welfare. “There are a few individuals who apply for supplementary income and those have serious medical problems,” she said, noting that federal regulations permit such applications. The Wall Street Journal said in April, 1986, that a 1981 bishops’ survey showed 1,000 nuns on welfare and quoted a financial officer for an order based in Wisconsin as saying that she recommends applying for welfare only “as a last resort.”

Organizers of the retirement project decided to spread the obligation nationally because some dioceses have an imbalance of retired sisters living in their areas. One community cited in the report to the bishops has 605 members serving in 58 different dioceses, but 212 of their 289 retired sisters live in one diocese.

Outlook in California

Archbishop Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles said in an interview that bishops in the 12 California dioceses began working on the problem several years ago, dividing it into three areas. “Each year we’ve been increasing the salaries of the sisters who are working and been establishing retirement benefits for sisters who have been working,” he said.

On the more immediate problem of financial liability of religious orders for their older members, Mahony said, “We hope to enhance the national campaign and take a further step by hiring a staff person in Sacramento (headquarters of the California Catholic Conference) to assist in media exposure for the special collection.” Mahony said other types of donations would also be sought.

In Southern California, many orders of nuns indicated that they have been able to keep their heads above water, some by obtaining government benefits for members, others by getting donations from private benefactors and through various church programs. Some retirees stay in their local convents, others move to retirement homes owned by their national organizations.

For example, 30 retired nuns from the Sisters of the Holy Cross order live at St. Catherine’s Convent in Ventura. At the retirement home, they receive room, board and medical care and other necessities.

Result of Foresight

“We are fortunate that our community was foresighted enough to prepare for this crisis by joining the federal Social Security program a number of years ago when it became legal to do so,” explained Sister Frances Eugene Boydston. “It was quite a substantial sum to pay the back payments to Social Security to make this possible. We are thankful for it because it would be very difficult if we didn’t have it, especially the medical benefits.”

Sister Margaret Sennell, who is semi-retired and shares a parish convent with four other nuns in the Crenshaw area, said, “We pool our money, and live simple lives and don’t spend extravagantly.” However, Sennell, a member of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, said some religious orders cannot always afford to house retirees locally because income is so low and expenses so high. Those unable to find such living situations usually move to the religious community’s retirement home in Philadelphia, which now houses about 200 women.

“Things seem to be OK now. But how well we will hold up in the future we don’t know,” she said. “We just hope that Catholics will come forward, because they know the sacrifices and low salary that nuns have accepted so that church members can gain deeper knowledge of faith.”

Times staff writer Carol McGraw in Los Angeles also contributed to this story.