Background: Retirement Fund for Religious
The crisis in unfunded retirement for Catholic women and men religious became evident in the early 1970s. Catholic schools, operated primarily by religious orders, were educating more than 10 percent of the student population in the United States. Catholic hospitals were becoming the largest group of not-for-profit hospitals in the nation. But the salaries and stipends to religious were earmarked primarily for good works, new ministries, and training and education that prepared religious for ministries.
For generations, the care of elderly members had been carried out by those entering religious life. Today, however, elderly religious far outnumber wage-earning religious. Health care costs have skyrocketed and the number of elderly religious in assisted living or nursing facilities has risen dramatically. Retired religious today receive on average one-third of the Social Security benefit paid to the average Social Security recipient.
In 1988, church officials launched the Retirement Fund for Religious (RFR). The National Religious Retirement Office (NRRO), which sponsors the RFR appeal, returns 96 percent of donations directly to its mission, far exceeding the average nonprofit in the percentage of donations applied directly to mission. Special grant awards are used to meet emergency needs. Since it was established, NRRO has expanded its services to assist strategic planning for retirement; the office tracks emerging trends in elder care, property utilization, and publicly funded programs. The NRRO database is one of the most complete sources of information about the status of religious life in the United States today.
NRRO is sponsored by the Conference of Major Superiors of Men (CMSM), the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious (CMSWR), the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), and United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).