There seems to be a plan to build up a retirement fund through a combination of member contributions and charitable donations from parish and other sources. The initial candidates for ordination in the OCSP had to provide proof that they were financially self-sufficient. I would estimate that a third of the current OCSP clergy are already receiving pensions from former TEC or other employment. Another fifteen or so are military chaplains or diocesan, etc employees who will draw pensions from other sources. So of the current crop, relatively few will be dependent solely on the OCSP for retirement support. But going forward the supply of pensioners will dry up, and the OCSP will be looking to find vocations among young men who will give their entire ministry to the Ordinariate, and will need stipends and benefits comparable to those of other dioceses to attract them. Otherwise they are up the creek.The problem is that this will be a far bigger project than the chancery in Houston, which I take to be in the $5 million order of magnitude. I have absolutely no idea of what it would take to make a pension fund for 200 people actuarially sound, but this number is simply absurdly small to start with. But let's consider that such a fund will require administrative support -- billing, investment, payout, accounting, actuarial work, and so forth. It would need an annual payroll itself at least in the $1 million order of magnitude.
Now maybe there is a practical plan to join some sort of group pension plan, which would avoid many of these reservations, although none of the group services would be free, and the investment would still need to be there. The problem is that we have absolutely no information about what's being proposed. Certainly if Bp Lopes is looking for multimillion-dollar philanthropy to support this vision, he's going to have to be much more specific. But as an adult with ordinary prudence, I would not waste a five-dollar bill for a second collection given the lack of information we have so far. I have no idea what a financially savvy person of wealth would say.
What are they smoking in Houston?
