Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:
This
summer the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops voted to extend the
annual appeal for the Retirement Fund for Religious. The rising numbers
of elderly religious and the rising costs of health care are well
documented and result in a growing and quantifiable need for help.
Particularly at some contemplative religious institutes and at many
institutes that primarily served in educational and other ministries,
the needs are severe.
Almost
without exception, our elderly and infirm religious offer moving
examples of aging with grace, dignity and faith. They are at the
forefront of an emerging ministry — one that models for the larger
society those characteristics, behaviors and spirituality that provide
genuine enrichment and encouragement to others who are aging.
In
the last few years, we did not take up a collection for our elderly and
infirm religious, and opted instead to replace it with a collection for
our diocesan senior priests’ retirement fund. Ten percent of the funds
collected were sent to the National Retirement for Religious Fund,
along with a fraction of the collection going to our local religious
communities.
Having
engaged in consultation with my advisors, and with their unanimous
consensus, I have decided that it is time now to resume our annual
national collection for retired religious. Because of the severity of
needs of our retired religious, I am personally appealing to your
generosity to this collection that will be taken in our parishes at all
Masses during the weekend of Dec. 9-10.
Please
respond generously to this annual appeal. By doing so, you will
acknowledge the treasure that our elderly religious represent. They
served us so well for so many years for a mere subsistence stipend, and
now that they are in need in their retirement years, let us be generous
in helping them.
Thank you so much for supporting this collection.
With prayerful kind wishes, I remain,
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Most Reverend Larry Silva
Bishop of Honolulu