Priests' Retirement Endowment Fund
In celebration of our wonderful priests…
The Diocese is blessed with devoted and holy priests. Our priests serve as ministers of the sacrament": they celebrate Mass, hear confessions, and baptize us. They marry us and celebrate our lives' end. They have been teachers, counselors, builders and friends, contributing immeasurable to the advancement of the Church in Nebraska. They have done all this with little regard for monetary reward. Therefore, one of the most appropriate ways in which the people of the diocese may respond to the gift of devoted priests is to ensure that all priests will be able to live peaceful lives of simple dignity in their retirement years.
The need for an endowment fund to support retired priests…
There are 146 diocesan priests in the Diocese of Lincoln, 22 of whom are retired. Each year, parishes throughout the diocese are called upon to support these retired priests. Because of the increasing number of retired priests, the parish obligation will expand.
It is projected that by the year 2010 it will cost $485,000 to support our retired priests. The special blessing of many young priests indicates that the need for retirement funds will continue to increase for the foreseeable future. Clearly, an additional source of income must be established.
How the endowment fun will benefit our parishes and our priests…
The fund is an investment in the lives of our many good priests and it will provide financial security to their retirement years. The money in the endowment will be professionally invested and managed, and proceeds will be joined with annual parish assessments to cover priests' retirement costs. The effect will be to stabilize and possibly reduce the responsibility each parish must meet through annual assessments.
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT HOW TO SUPPORT THE PRIESTS' RETIREMENT ENDOWMENT FUND
CONTACT THE CATHOLIC FOUNDATION HERE michael-henkenius@cdolinc.net
