Two religious orders in Hawaii received grants last year from the Retirement Fund for Religious which conducts its 21st annual parish appeal this year on Dec. 14.
The five-member Carmelite Monastery in Kaneohe received $5,517 and Benedictine Monastery in Waialua with eight members received $2,442.
Last year, the Diocese of Honolulu contributed $70,410.58 to the fund, a 21 percent decline from 2006 donation of $89,885.81.
In 2007, the Retirement Fund for Religious, which is overseen by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington, D.C., distributed $23 million in grants to 482 U.S. religious congregations.
Since its first national parish collection in 1988, the fund has raised more than $550 million, making it the most successful appeal in U.S. Catholic history. Donations help ensure a quality of life and adequate health care for thousands of retired women and men religious.
More than 37,000 Catholic religious in America are now past age 70. More than 4,900 women and men require skilled nursing care. The average Social Security benefit for religious women and men is approximately one-third that paid to the average beneficiary.