Voice of the Faithful Focus – Voice of the Faithful Focus – A brief highlight of progress being made as we work together to Keep the Faith, Change the Church.
Two Dioceses Address Concerns About Priest Pensions
With the American economy in turmoil, it’s rather frightening to contemplate the havoc disrupted stock markets can wreak on planned retirement funds. But what if you learned that money slated for deposit into your retirement plan never made it there? For Boston clergy, this was a harsh reality just a few years ago. They learned that no money was deposited into their retirement funds for nearly 17 years.
Voice of the Faithful’s National Representative Council addressed problems such as this when they called on dioceses to place priest pension funds under independent specialists, rather than leaving the local bishop as the sole control (read the resolution here). Now, in Boston, the diocese is taking steps to utilize lay financial specialists to review and then publicly report on the funds allocated for clergy benefits. An article in The Boston Globe details the plan, including the use of lay Catholics on a new Board of Trustees: http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/09/14/
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Some dioceses have already gone farther in taking steps to protect priest pensions. The diocese of Brooklyn, for example, began a plan to ensure the proper distribution and handling of its clergy pension funds earlier this year. According to Monsignor John Bracken, the Vicar General of Temporalities for the Diocese of Brooklyn, the plan initiated in January established an independently operated pension fund with two separate trusts for priest pensions. Neither trust is maintained solely by the local Bishop. Instead, each trust is governed by a board of established diocesan leaders who are assisted by a group of lay advisors.
Msgr. Bracken noted that the change also eliminates an excessive financial burden on the parishes, which previously had been expected to be the sole providers for the pension funds. The diocese hopes these steps diminish worries the clergy have about financial stability after retirement.
