Archdiocesan Parishes Collection to Aid Catholic Aging Religious

The Archdiocese of Newark will hold its annual Retirement Fund for Religious collection in parishes throughout the Archdiocese on Dec. 10-11, 2022. The collection, coordinated by the National Religious Retirement Office (NRRO), provides much-needed financial assistance for retirement needs to eligible religious institutes. The Fund was initiated in 1988 by the Catholic bishops of the United States to help address the deficit in retirement funding among the country’s religious orders. 

In 2021, the generous Catholic laity throughout the Archdiocese donated $325,581.40 to local collection efforts, and the NRRO’s national collection raised approximately $28.5 million. The organization distributed the funding to 271 religious communities nationally.  

In a letter to all pastors serving in the Archdiocese of Newark, Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, C.Ss.R., stated, “The influence of women and men religious, both in our Archdiocese and in the entire Church as well as the society of the United States, is undeniable. Religious have labored long and hard, with little or no pay to help the Church in the United States become established and to ensure its growth. However, their many sacrifices over decades now leave them in need themselves.”

“The National Collection for the Retirement Fund for Religious helps many religious communities to care for their elderly members, to assess their financial situations, to chart a course toward fiscal stability, and to make all the difficult but necessary decisions called for by the strategic planning processes they undertook,” wrote Cardinal Tobin. “This collection has an enormous and life-giving impact on religious communities, and while it cannot eradicate the need, it has certainly been able to alleviate it… In thanksgiving for all the senior religious have done, please join me in supporting the Retirement Fund for Religious and in praying for the success of the collection and for God’s continued blessing on our nation’s elderly sisters, brothers, and religious order priests.”

For more information or to donate directly, visit retiredreligious.org, call (508) 685-8899, or email Robin Cabral, Campaign Director, at robincabral@retiredreligious.org.