Diocese makes generous contribution to religious retirement fund

Parishioners in the Diocese of Corpus Christi contributed $69,036.57 in support of the 2014 appeal for the Retirement Fund for Religious. That is $5,000 more than was raised the previous year, said Greg Seagrave, Financial Officer for the diocese. Over the last 26 years, parishioners in the diocese have donated more than $1.8 million to this collection.

"Words cannot express our gratitude for their generous and prayerful support of our nation's senior sisters, brothers and religious order priests," Sister Janice Bader, CPPS, executive director of the retirement fund said.

Since 1989, the National Religious Retirement Office has distributed nearly $608 million to help underwrite the day-to-day care of elderly religious. An additional $79 million has been allocated toward self-help projects initiated by religious communities, including collaborative health-care facilities.

Many communities have made significant progress in stabilizing their retirement funding. But the overall needs of senior religious remain profound, and so the mission continues, Sister Janice said.

"Our office continues to work with religious institutes to implement strategies for improving their financial situation. We are happy to see that many of the institutes that have participated in our planning and implementation process are making significant progress," she said.

More than 34,000 women and men religious past age 70 benefit from the collection.