CORRECTION: Though the National Religious Retirement Office initially planned the special collection for the Retirement Fund for Religious to take place in September, it was moved to Dec. 8 in the Diocese of Richmond.
During the weekend of Dec. 7-8, a special collection for the Retirement Fund for Religious returns to parishes in our diocese.
Since 1988, the Retirement Fund for Religious has helped elder members of religious communities survive in retirement after a lifetime of working for little to no pay, with no 401(k) or pension plan.
Only 6% of religious communities providing data to the National Religious Retirement Office (NRRO) are adequately funded for retirement, and today, religious over the age of 70 outnumber religious younger than 70 by nearly three to one.
In 2023, the Retirement Fund for Religious raised $29 million nationwide, including $109,584.02 from parishioners in our diocese. The NRRO distributed that money to 286 communities of women and men religious around the country.
The Comboni Missionary Sisters, Richmond; Our Lady of the Angels Monastery, Crozet; and Monastery of Poor Clares, Barhamsville, received a combined total of $89,335.96 in financial support. Of the 51 total members of these religious societies, 18 are over the age of 70.
The Dominican Province of St. Joseph, in New York City, and Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia, in Nashville, Tennessee, also received money from the fund for the Dominican priests and religious sisters who serve in the Diocese of Richmond.
“We are privileged to support those who have dedicated their lives to tireless service,” stated John Knutsen, director of the NRRO. “We are immensely grateful for the continuing generosity of U.S. Catholic donors to this vital cause.”
For more information on the Retirement Fund for Religious, go to https://retiredreligious.org/.