wfn.org | ELCA Board Offers Help for Low-Income Pensioners

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

March 8, 2001

ELCA BOARD OFFERS HELP FOR LOW-INCOME PENSIONERS
01-045-SS*

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Low-income pensioners of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) will receive some help, thanks to
recommendations trustees of the ELCA Board of Pensions approved at their
Feb. 2-4 meeting here.  The Minneapolis-based Board of Pensions
administers pension, health, disability and survivor benefits for ELCA
pastors, lay leaders, employees and their families.
     Earlier, the board established a "Blue Ribbon Committee" to find
ways to increase the Special Needs Retirement Fund set up by the 1993
Churchwide Assembly.  The fund is meant to supplement the incomes of
some retired pastors and pastors' surviving spouses, raising a minimum
standard of pension benefits from all sources.
     Board trustees endorsed the committee's recommendation to revise
eligibility guidelines to meet the needs of more low-income pensioners
and surviving spouses -- a resolution the ELCA Church Council will
consider at its April meeting, and which will take effect when the fund
reaches a sufficient level.  Trustees also approved freeing $240,000 as
seed money for the Special Needs Retirement Fund and finding other ways
to increase the fund.
     The pension unit will debut an option in 2002 that offers
pensioners the opportunity to contribute to the Special Needs Retirement
Fund by marking a box on their pension check.
     The trustees also:
     + Approved health plan changes, pending Church Council approval at
its April 5-8 meeting.  The changes would expand Preferred Provider
Organization (PPO) benefits to 45 states and offer members a choice
between Aetna U.S. Healthcare and Blue Cross and Blue Shield in 45
states in 2002.
     + Approved an "open window" to allow members with funds in the
Transitional Pension Fund a one-time opportunity to move funds to the
balanced fund.  This allows members to access pension account
distribution options they didn't have when they moved their money into
the transitional fund.  The additional options will become effective for
plan members in 2003, but the open window for transitional fund members
is effective this year.
     + Endorsed new simplified minimum required distribution rules for
the Optional Pension Plan and Master Institutional Pension and Savings
Plans.
     The Board of Pensions trustees held their meeting in Chicago for
the first time in the board's 13-year history.  The site offered
trustees the chance to hear from several churchwide staff about projects
and ministries that relate to the pension unit's activities.  One such
project is the report, "Ministry Needs and Resources in the 21st
Century" prepared by the Division for Ministry and the Department for
Research and Evaluation to look at issues around a possible clergy
shortage.
     Because of this visit, "the church came much more to life in
personal ways for our trustees," said John G. Kapanke, president of the
ELCA Board of Pensions.  "Likewise, other ELCA leaders learned of the
challenges we face in providing benefits to help this church achieve its
initiative to 'strengthen one another in mission.'"
     In addition to hearing from churchwide staff, the trustees learned
more about "predatory lending" from Edward M. Gramlich, a member of the
Board of Governors of the U.S. Federal Reserve System, Washington, D.C.
Gramlich spoke to the full board and also met with the board's corporate
social responsibility committee during its joint meeting with the ELCA
advisory committee on corporate social responsibility.

[*Sonia C. Solomonson is managing editor for The Lutheran, the magazine
of the ELCA.]

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html