MINNESOTA
MinnPost
By Beth Hawkins
Like pretty much every traditional American pension plan, Catholic clergy retirement funds are struggling to deal with the triple punch of an aging work force, lengthening lifespans and lagging investments.
The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, however, has some special complications with its plan, sparked by recent sex abuse scandals and controversy over its handling of continuing “disability payments” to priests.
In some cases, critics say, the abusers end up with larger incomes from the pension fund than priests who retire with unblemished records.
Among the recent revelations: The woefully underfunded priests’ pension plan has been stretched even thinner by the church hierarchy’s decision to classify some priests accused of abuse as disabled and grant them early retirement.
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