UPON THIS ROCK

The diocese encompasses 74 parishes in 22 counties of southeast Iowa. The diocesan offices assist the bishop in fulfilling his role as chief shepherd to sanctify, to teach and to govern the Diocese of Davenport.

The diocese is on solid footing, but the future will bring significant financial challenges as the diocese seeks to fund priests’ retirement and health care costs and the cost of education for seminarians. The campaign also has the potential to strengthen parishes across the diocese.

The diocesan financial picture is strong and the Annual Diocesan Appeal has remained steady in recent years. This is not an emergency situation. The diocese is looking at future needs for retired priests and at the need to remove any obstacles it can for seminarians, those now in formation and those to come.

Seventy-five percent of our commitment will go toward the health care and retirement costs of priests, and 25 percent will go toward the funding of seminarians’ education.

As of late 2021 (when the Upon This Rock campaign started), there were 98 diocesan priests, 39 of them retired. An additional 33 were age 60 or above, which is expected to put great pressure on the retirement system operated by the Priests’ Aid Society as these priests retire over the next 10 to 15 years. (Retirement age is 70, though some stay active beyond that age.) Put another way: In 2021, 73% of the diocese’s priests either were retired or within a decade of retirement age.

For decades the Priests’ Aid Society – an organization separate from the Diocese of Davenport and governed by its own board – has been instrumental in helping diocesan priests cover the costs of health care and retirement. The organization relies on two main income sources: the investment income of its fund and an annual assessment of parishes.

With so many retirements on the horizon and health care costs rising significantly in recent years, the Priests’ Aid Society’s current income structure will not be able to keep up without additional funding.

The Priests’ Aid Society had about $15 million in its fund for the health care and retirement costs for priests as of late 2021. To gain an understanding of how much would be needed to ensure that the Priests’ Aid Society could keep up with its growing costs, the Diocese of Davenport engaged the services of the firm Gabriel, Roeder, Smith and Co. (GRS), a national actuarial and benefits consulting firm that specializes in such questions for U.S. dioceses. In its report, GRS forecast that the Priests’ Aid Society would need an additional $24 million to fund completely the health care and retirement needs of all diocesan priests while also eliminating the Priests’ Aid annual assessment of parishes. The Upon This Rock Campaign’s $28 million goal includes more than $16 million for priests’ retirement and health care costs, a major step toward fortifying the fund for decades to come.

The campaign plan would reduce the assessments by 25 percent for at least five years, freeing up money in parishes’ budgets for other uses. (This assessment is separate from the Annual Diocesan Appeal, which funds a variety of programs and ministries.)

No. Health insurance for priests, retired and active, is covered through the Priests’ Aid Society.

Yes, retired priests are eligible for Medicare. The Priests’ Aid Society covers the costs for supplemental health coverage.

A fund managed by the Catholic Foundation for the Diocese of Davenport has in recent years covered the costs of seminary education and formation. That fund was bolstered by an effort in 2015-16 that generated about $500,000 from donors. That money, as well as several large additional gifts in recent years, has allowed the foundation to continue to cover the quickly rising education costs of seminarians; the total runs about $55,000 per year per seminarian. However, about $100,000 per year is being pulled out of the fund to cover the costs that go beyond investment income and the amount raised during the Annual Diocesan Appeal. That means that at that rate and without additional money, the fund for seminarians will be exhausted as soon as 2024.

There has been a decline in the number of diocesan seminarians. In the 2021-22 class, there were eight. Until recently, a typical year would see a total of 11-14 seminarians in the discernment process. We are hopeful for and praying for more, of course, and the diocese’s Vocations Office is always at work trying to plant seeds that may grow into vocations in future years. A beautiful video spotlighting our 2021-22 seminarians is one good example of how the diocese is trying to inspire young men to consider answering the Holy Spirit’s call. It is important that all of us pray for vocations and invite particular young men to consider a vocation to the priesthood.

Only about $3.7 million, or 17%, of the money raised in that $22 million campaign was for vocations and retired priests. That portion has worked as it was supposed to, helping the Priests’ Aid Society and the Catholic Foundation for the Diocese of Davenport fund those needs until now. (The foundation handles the seminarians’ education costs, operating distinctly from the diocese.) Over that time, the needs have grown dramatically as more priests have retired, health care costs have risen and the cost of educating seminarians has exploded.

There is no plan for another campaign. Our research indicates that with a successful campaign now, these needs for retired priests and seminarians will be satisfied for the foreseeable future.