wfn.org | Clergy may retire earlier with full

[ENS.parti@ecunet.org]

July 17, 1997
Episcopal News Service
Jim Solheim, Director
212-922-5385
ens@ecunet.org

ENSGC-02-07

Clergy may retire earlier with full benefits, committee recommends

By Sharon Sheridan

PHILADELPHIA (July 17, 1997) - Episcopal clergy who have served at least 30 years may retire at age 55 with full pension benefits if the 72nd General Convention endorses a recommendation from the Church Pension Fund.

The bishops are expected to deal with the proposal following a unanimous recommendation by the cognate committees on the Church Pension Fund following a hearing earlier this week. Pension fund trustees have already approved the proposal.

Scheduled for implementation Jan. 1, 1998, the plan would allow 55-year-old clergy with at least 30 years of credited service to retire and begin drawing full pension benefits.

To help cover health insurance costs, retirees also would receive a supplemental annual payment of at least $5,400 until age 62 and $2,700 or more from age 62 to 65, when Medicare insurance for retirees begins. 

The pension fund's Clergy Wellness Initiatives Advisory Committee recommended  the 30-year option following a research process that included focus groups and a survey of active and retired clergy and clergy spouses receiving pension benefits.

The survey found 59 percent of active clergy and 31 percent of retired clergy rated the proposal as excellent or very good, the fund reported. It estimates that 20 percent of currently active clergy might use the benefit. It projects the cost at $79.6 million to $114.4 million, representing 11 to 17 percent of the fund's currently uncommitted reserves.

'A great day for clergy'

The resolution the bishops will consider, proposed by Bishop Peter Lee of the Diocese of Virginia, combines elements of two earlier resolutions (C020 and B007). The combined resolution encourages bishops, standing committees and commissions on ministry to monitor the option's implementation and report to the fund annually during 1998-2000.

"If this goes through, it will be a great day for the clergy of the church," said the Rev. Ken Snyder, a retired priest in the Diocese of Olympia. "I think it will provide an important psychological safety valve to over-stressed clergy," he said during a hearing.

Supporters predict the plan will offer an opportunity for younger clergy to advance to new positions quickly in the church. It also could represent a "giant step toward full employment for women clergy," Snyder said.  

Others noted that retired clergy with full benefits also would be free to work part time in small-town, rural and inner-city congregations which cannot afford to pay full salaries and benefits. Other newly retired clergy also could explore new ministries, overseas service, or other work.

Lee said his reasons for supporting the retirement option included the "simple justice issue" of bringing church retirement policy into contemporary retirement practices; bringing in younger, more active clergy; and accelerating the movement of women into higher leadership positions.

The Rev. Jack Nietert, 56, of Kansas City, took personal interest in the proposal. "My whole ministry has been committed to growing the church," said Nietert, ordained 31 years and rector of a parish with 600 baptized members. "I am probably doing the work of at least two priests. I can't do this for the next nine years."

Some fears expressed

For some, the prospect of an available pool of retired clergy is problematic.

Excerpts read from a letter by Peter Wittenborg, chair of the Diocese of Massachusetts Clergy Compensation Committee, said his diocese already had many retired clergy. He suggested in his letter that Massachusetts has a "large proportion of urban congregations struggling to remain viable yet reluctant to address critical issues of congregational restructuring, mission redefinition and reconfiguring as communities of faith." He worried that "a corps of retired clergy looking for part-time employment would serve as a disincentive to such congregational development."

Wittenborg also expressed concern about the effects of a trend toward converting full-time to part-time positions. "We cannot continue to expect candidates for Holy Orders to incur an expensive, three-year residential graduate degree program ... and only offer them part-time employment," he wrote.

The Rev. Tom Foster, a recently retired priest in the Diocese of San Joaquin (California) said not enough attention is being paid to "people already retired as short-timers."

"I'm happy with my pension," he said, but other retirees don't have enough to live on. "We've got to address that" disparity.

The committee also agreed to forward a resolution containing a recommendation made by the Rev. Lynn Jay of the Diocese of Los Angeles urging the fund "to study future pension needs of those who have been or those who will be ordained later in life."

Many second-vocation clergy don't bring great pensions from their first jobs, the former teacher said. "Mine was so little, I cashed it in," Jay said.

- Sharon Sheridan is a freelance writer living in New Jersey.