'Thank you for your service.'

By Jennifer Haselberger
Canonical Consultation
August 31, 2015

http://canonicalconsultation.com/blog.html

The diocesan priesthood differs from membership in a religious order or institute (i.e. the Dominicans, Jesuits, Franciscans, etc.) in several ways. Priests who are members of religious orders vow to observe the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience, and they offer their ministry in service of the charism of their order. Diocesan priests, on the other hand, do not take vows. They make a promise of obedience and are obliged to perpetual sexual continence, but unlike religious priests they are under no obligation of poverty, communal life, or the communal ownership of property. Diocesan priests are incardinated into a particular diocese, meaning that at the time of their ordination they offer their life's ministry in service to the people of a particular diocese. In return, the faithful of the diocese are to see that the priests have what is necessary for their decent financial support both while they are in active ministry and during their subsequent retirement (delicately referred to as their 'third age'). Generally, this is achieved through a defined benefit pension plan.

Given the bargain that exists between priests and the dioceses they serve , I am sure more than one priest of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis considered jumping ship after receiving last week's letter announcing that the Pension Plan for Priests is currently funded at only 44%. It has been acknowledged for years that the plan has been underfunded, but I have never seen an actuarial valuation this low before. The letter does state that the Pension Plan Board anticipates that the plan will be fully funded in the next 15-20 years, but that claim is based in part on a continued annual funding level of $17,400 per priest per year. The unspoken variable is the presumed level of mortality of the priests currently drawing a pension.

On the positive side, at least at this point the pension funds have not been liquidated as part of any bankruptcy settlement. Whether that situation will continue remains to be seen.