H
HagiaSophia
Guest
“This newest crisis concerns priestly security in old age. A few decades ago, diocesan priests did not retire. Pastors remained in office until death. Some lived into their 90s. In larger archdioceses, like Boston, the senior curate (ordained as many as 25 or even 30 years) was, in effect, the pastor. He made all the assignments for the other curates (in some parishes there were as many as four or five) and almost all of the important decisions…”
"… Archbishop Sean O’Malley, himself a sandaled Franciscan friar with a vow of poverty, made what is perhaps the least helpful comment in this whole unpleasant affair. According to The Boston Globe, the archbishop said that the changes would “offer a significant adjustment from what priests are accustomed” to, but that the positive results would include that "these policies encourage a simpler lifestyle grounded in Gospel values."
When this crisis was first discussed in the archdiocesan Presbyteral Council some months ago, the archbishop floated his suggestion that priests from neighboring parishes might live together in a central rectory. One of the senior priests, a canon lawyer, cautioned against such an approach.
Diocesan priests, he correctly pointed out, do not have the same vocation and charisms as religious priests, like the archbishop himself. Diocesan priests are not called to communal life, nor do diocesan priests take a vow of poverty. They pay all of their own expenses and, since the pontificate of Paul VI, must provide for their retirement years, over and above whatever their diocese might offer them in terms of pensions, insurance, and reduced rates in various living accommodations…"
"… The clergy pension fund in the Archdiocese of Boston is in dire financial straits, due to various factors, including bad decisions made during Cardinal Bernard Law’s regime. The archdiocese failed to contribute to the fund between 1986 and 2002, when investment returns were high. During that period, the archdiocese used regular Christmas and Easter collections earmarked for clergy pensions for other needs, including the medical care of active as well as retired priests.
If the proposed plan is implemented in Boston, many retired priests will have to move back into rectories because the archdiocese will drastically reduce its support for current assisted-living arrangements. Relatively few priests would be able to make up for the shortfall.
There is even talk of having priests submit copies of their IRS returns to establish their financial status — an obvious invasion of privacy, which wiser heads are likely to remove from the table…"
the-tidings.com/2005/0610/essays.htm
"… Archbishop Sean O’Malley, himself a sandaled Franciscan friar with a vow of poverty, made what is perhaps the least helpful comment in this whole unpleasant affair. According to The Boston Globe, the archbishop said that the changes would “offer a significant adjustment from what priests are accustomed” to, but that the positive results would include that "these policies encourage a simpler lifestyle grounded in Gospel values."
When this crisis was first discussed in the archdiocesan Presbyteral Council some months ago, the archbishop floated his suggestion that priests from neighboring parishes might live together in a central rectory. One of the senior priests, a canon lawyer, cautioned against such an approach.
Diocesan priests, he correctly pointed out, do not have the same vocation and charisms as religious priests, like the archbishop himself. Diocesan priests are not called to communal life, nor do diocesan priests take a vow of poverty. They pay all of their own expenses and, since the pontificate of Paul VI, must provide for their retirement years, over and above whatever their diocese might offer them in terms of pensions, insurance, and reduced rates in various living accommodations…"
"… The clergy pension fund in the Archdiocese of Boston is in dire financial straits, due to various factors, including bad decisions made during Cardinal Bernard Law’s regime. The archdiocese failed to contribute to the fund between 1986 and 2002, when investment returns were high. During that period, the archdiocese used regular Christmas and Easter collections earmarked for clergy pensions for other needs, including the medical care of active as well as retired priests.
If the proposed plan is implemented in Boston, many retired priests will have to move back into rectories because the archdiocese will drastically reduce its support for current assisted-living arrangements. Relatively few priests would be able to make up for the shortfall.
There is even talk of having priests submit copies of their IRS returns to establish their financial status — an obvious invasion of privacy, which wiser heads are likely to remove from the table…"
the-tidings.com/2005/0610/essays.htm
