OCSP parishioners will barely have closed their wallets after the Bishop's Annual Appeal and the Seminarians' Appeal when they will be asked to contribute next month to a clergy retirement fund. Clearly the Ordinariates will not be able to attract clergy if they cannot provide basic financial security; however I am rather puzzled by the choice of Msgr Peter Wilkinson as the (anonymous) poster boy. Although he was ordained as a CofE clergyman, Msgr Wilkinson spent most of his working life as a provincial civil servant in Canada and retired with a full government-secured pension before taking on duties as a bishop in the ACCC. As a Canadian, he is covered by his provincial health care plan. Ordained as a priest in December 2012, he served less than two years before retiring as parochial administrator of BlJHN, Victoria in 2014 at 74. Not what I would regard as "the case for support."I have a slight background with insurance and annuities -- would that my late father-in-law, an insurance executive, were here to give advice. But it sounds as if Bp Lopes is somehow thinking about giving OCSP priests, a large cohort of whom will be retiring within a decade at most, some type of pension. So we will be looking at a population top-heavy with retirees withdrawing from the system, with a smaller number still contributing.It is evident that the OCSP regards getting its financial house in order as Job 1 right now. There has been only one issue of the Ordinariate Observer this year, the official website is spartan, social media rarely updated. With Ordinariate Expats apparently out of steam we hear little about what is going on even from unofficial sources, possibly at Houston's request. But the second collections are rolling out regularly with all possible professional apparatus (except a way of giving Canadians a tax receipt for their contributions). I think there could be some backlash.
This will require multimilion-dollar funding, with a very small population involved. Insurance and annuities require large enough populations for the law of large numbers to override exceptions -- if Fr Jones lives to 110, it's important, actuarially speaking, for Fr Smith to pass away at 65 after paying into the system throughout his career.
At minimum, this will require philanthropy far beyond what has already taken place for the OCSP -- second collections aren't going to do it. But what other Catholic projects should have higher priority for this kind of money?
