Published on National Catholic Reporter (https://www.ncronline.org)
April 16, 2018 at 3:00am
Expert in diocesan finances has 'never seen' pension move like La Crosse's
The façade of St. Joseph the Workman Cathedral in La Crosse, Wisconsin (Wikimedia Commons/Rabbet)
Jack Ruhl, an expert on diocesan finances,
frequently wanders through the thicket of church financial disclosures,
but has never seen anything like the dissolution of the Diocese of La
Crosse, Wisconsin, lay pension plan.
La Crosse lay diocesan retirees and employees received word about their pensions [1]
in a letter dated Feb. 27 from Bishop William Patrick Callahan, who has
led the diocese since 2010. In the letter, retirees were told they
could expect more than 90 percent of the value of their pensions in a
lump-sum payment that will be distributed this summer.
Ruhl, a professor of accountancy at Western Michigan University [2], has studied finance statements of U.S. dioceses since 2004, looking for the impact of sex abuse settlements [3] and their effect on priest pension plans [4]. That issue arose in the aftermath of the scandals that enveloped the Boston Archdiocese.
Meanwhile, he has also studied the impact of the crisis on
lay pension plans. He has seen a number of examples, including massive
transfer of funds to special independent projects, such as the building
of Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral in Los Angeles, that protected
diocesan funds from sex abuse settlements.
But he told NCR he has never seen the approach taken by the La Crosse Diocese [5],
which says it will not be able to meet its promised obligations to
hundreds of retired Catholic school teachers, parish workers and
custodians.
In 2011, the diocese established a separate corporation called St. Ambrose Financial Services [6],
which handles its money issues and the administration of the pension
plan. Ruhl said that St. Ambrose could be a vehicle to avoid paying out
sex abuse settlement claims.
"I have never seen a diocese sweep all net assets (that is,
assets minus liabilities) to a separate corporation and then say they
are cutting pensions," he told NCR.
Ruhl said that St. Ambrose appears to have a single client,
the La Crosse Diocese. By transferring all its assets to St. Ambrose,
there is no evidence in the diocese's public statements that funds are
available for lay or priest pensions, he said.
Laws protecting defined pension plans do not apply to
dioceses, which claim a religious exemption. Ruhl said that the
diocese's plans to cut pensions would normally be prohibited by federal
law if the diocese were a secular corporation.
"I have never heard of an organization just
saying, well, we were unable to fund the pension plan so we have made up
this 'fair' plan to distribute what pension assets we have," stated
Ruhl.
La Crosse diocesan spokesman Jack Felsheim said that St.
Ambrose is an independent agency that the diocese contracts with to
perform financial administrative functions. He said it was not created
to conceal any assets and that no plaintiff claiming sex abuse has won a
judgment against the diocese. Sex abuse issues are not the reason for
the dissolution of the employee pension plan, he said.
The website BishopAccountability.org [8],
which compiles information on church sex abusers, lists 10 priests from
the La Crosse Diocese who have been accused since the 1960s.
Then-Bishop Raymond Burke stated in 2004 that the diocese had paid out
$15,807 in counseling fees for sex abuse victims.
A March 7 press release from the diocese said the pension
changes were needed due to "market volatility" and that "many employees
have found themselves without the support of the retirement funds that
they had planned to receive; the Diocese has made a decision in order to
avoid that distress and best preserve all employees’ retirement funds."
The statement added that the decision to dissolve the
pension fund "was driven by the Diocese's desire to protect as best it
can the assets of each of the participating members."
Catherine Bunke of Medford, Wisconsin, who spent more than
30 years as a Catholic school teacher and is now retired, wrote to
Callahan on March 9 that her $211 monthly payment is needed to pay her
bills. In her 70s, Bunke is single and has no immediate family to
assist her.
"With the ending of this benefit, I will be
forced to either leave my small house, declare bankruptcy or become
homeless. I wonder if Christ would be OK with any of those
possibilities," Bunke's letter to the bishop stated.
She added, "I have no idea where to turn for aid. I have no
idea how many others this is affecting. I only know that I have nowhere
to turn for resources. I was taught to help the less fortunate, give
more than I receive, and I am saddened to be this far in my life and to
be one of the less fortunate."
In her letter, she noted that her Austrian immigrant
grandfather helped build St. Anthony School in Athens, Wisconsin, where
she graduated from and later taught for six years, before going on to
teach at other schools in the La Crosse Diocese.
Mary Kathleen Julian, also of Medford, a retired teacher
and principal, told NCR that her work in Catholic schools "was my
mission" and that she worked at far lower wages than her counterparts in
public schools.
"This is a shock," said Julian, 68, about the news that she
would no longer be receiving her $702 monthly pension after this
summer.
"I feel we are being cheated," she said, noting that calls
to diocesan offices provide no answers on how much she and others can
expect from the promised lump-sum payment.
Are you a La Crosse Diocese pensioner or family member
of a La Crosse diocesan employee affected by this story? We would like
to hear from you. Please contact pfeuerherd@ncronline.org [9].
[Peter Feuerherd is a correspondent for NCR's Field Hospital [10] series on parish life and is a professor of journalism at St. John's University, New York.]
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