A few years ago some kind friends urged my cousins and me to enjoy their condominium for week at Bonita Springs, Florida, nearby Naples. As the days passed I began to feel a bit of stomach discomfort. I even moved my return flight reservation up a day in case the malady proved serious. Then one morning, I asked my cousins to drive me to the nearest emergency room, since the stress was more than unpleasant. But before we even got to the car, I told them to call 911.This distress was getting serious. The 911 crew gave me a thorough examination but arrived at no definite conclusion. They told us to proceed to the emergency room. An even more thorough examination followed including needles, intravenous, x-ray, etc. The next hours were spent in a johnny pacing the hospital corridor. Finally the attendant sat me down and announced, “Father, the only trouble with you is that you are a Yankee in south Florida. You’re dehydrated! Drink lots more water!” Greatly relieved, even if somewhat embarrassed, my cousin and I went off to a nearby Olive Garden (yes, Olive Garden) where I enjoyed a bowl of pasta e fagioli and a full glass of water.
About three months later, a statement arrived at my home address from the Bonita Springs emergency room outlining the cost of their medical services.The tally was $7,000.00! Mercifully and gratefully, the tab was entirely picked up by the Providence diocese’s Blue Cross coverage provided to all retired priests. (I do recall a $50 co-pay.) This substantial medical coverage and many other benefits are made available through your generous contribution to the annual Retired Priests Benefit Fund collection to be taken up at all Masses this coming weekend.
Besides generous health coverage, all diocesan priests receive a monthly pension from the diocese, greatly funded by your generous yearly contribution. This pension may be considered a housing allowance which actually may save each priest a portion on his federal income tax.And like everyone else who has worked for a living, priests have been required to pay into Social Security during their active years. However the monthly salaries paid formerly to older priests was never very substantial. (I started out at $100 per month!) Hence the Social Security check received by older priests today is not as substantial as one might prefer. So the annual pension received from the diocese and made possible by your yearly contribution to the annual Diocesan Priests Retirement Fund is all the more important.
In the second reading at Mass this coming Sunday, St. Paul, who perhaps was getting on in years, explains to the Philippians that for the Christian believer “death is gain,” because the end of this earthly life means eternal happiness with Christ in the next life. Yet the Apostle still insists, “If I go on living in the flesh that means fruitful labor for me.” The retired priests of the Diocese of Providence may make the same boast. There is much “fruitful labor” that our senior priests may offer the Catholic people of Rhode Island. Since most pastors today are alone in their rectories, the need for occasional assistance is quite frequent. The occasional or even regular offering of morning Mass, help hearing confessions, offering prayers at a wake or burial, and helping out with emergency calls at local hospitals and nursing homes may keep a retired priest quite busy. Again as St. Paul writes to the believers at Philippi, “...that I remain in the flesh is more necessary for your benefit.” So, like the Apostle, the active retired priest may say, “Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.”
As the Catholic church-goers in the Diocese of Providence approach Mass in their parishes this coming Sunday, the final words of St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians that they will hear applies especially to them on this weekend when they will be asked to be particularly generous toward supporting the diocese efforts on behalf of retired priests. Paul insists, “Conduct yourselves in a way worthy of the gospel of Christ.” This Gospel of Christ has been brought regularly and earnestly to the people of this diocese through the preaching, teaching and ministry of the many pastors and curates who have served them and their families in the various parishes over the years. Kindly and generously remember these ministers of God’s Word and sacraments who are now in their advanced years and perhaps have declining health. A generous contribution to the Annual Diocesan Collection for Retired Priests is one practical way of expressing gratitude for their past services and concern for their present welfare.
