Over 37,000 Catholic religious over 70

News Release via Religion News Service
November 2007, For immediate release

The 20th national annual appeal for the Retirement Fund for Religious will be conducted in Catholic parishes in the United States on Dec. 8-9.

Coordinated by the National Religious Retirement Office 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.

In 2006, this appeal distributed $23 million in Basic Grants that benefited 515 of the nation’s Catholic religious institutes, primarily those of women.

“The unfunded retirement liability is difficult and painful to comprehend,” said Sister Janice Bader, a Sister of the Most Precious Blood of O’Fallon, Missouri, and acting director of the National Religious Retirement Office. The appeal, she says, has helped ensure that this liability can become a “manageable concern...”
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More than 37,000 Catholic religious are now past age 70. More than 5,000 women and men require skilled nursing care. While costs for care in a skilled nursing facility in the U.S. average more than $65,000 annually, religious institutes have kept their average cost of skilled nursing care to $49,850....

More at California Catholic Daily here.