About Us
Learn more about the National Religious Retirement Office, meet our staff, read about the work we do, and how donations are used.
The annual appeal for the Retirement Fund for Religious is taken up the second Sunday of each December in most US Catholic parishes and helps hundreds of religious communities provide for the current and future needs of senior members. The National Religious Retirement Office (NRRO) coordinates the nationwide collection and distributes the proceeds to eligible communities through Direct Care Assistance. Tens of thousands of senior Catholic sisters, brothers, and religious order priests benefit.
In 1988, Catholic bishops of the United States launched the Retirement Fund for Religious collection to address the profound deficit in retirement savings among US religious communities. Since the first appeal, the NRRO has distributed over $1 billion to communities across the nation. This includes $900 million to help underwrite the direct care of senior religious and an additional $103.7 million to help communities bolster savings and develop comprehensive retirement strategies.
In addition to sponsoring the annual appeal, the NRRO offers assessment tools, educational programming, services, and resources that promote quality eldercare and help religious communities plan for long-term retirement needs. The office also coordinates an extensive network of volunteer consultants, including experts in health care and financial planning, who provide hands-on assistance to communities with critical funding deficits.
The NRRO is sponsored by the Conference of Major Superiors of Men (CMSM), the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious (CMSWR), the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).