‘Devastating’: Fresno Diocese retirees lose benefits
FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – Retired Fresno Diocese employees will no longer receive retirement benefits starting next year.
Hundreds of former employees are now left scrambling over what to do with their financial future now up in the air.
In a letter to retirees last month, the diocese said the retirement plan was frozen at the end of June.
The church says they contributed the agreed-upon amount negotiated in employee contracts,
But the diocese says Christian Brothers Services, the company responsible for managing the money, is the reason there isn’t enough to continue payments.
The diocese says it explored legal options to transfer the money into a retirement plan of their own. But said that plan would not be possible with the church filing for bankruptcy.
The church is facing a multimillion-dollar lawsuit involving more than 150 claims of sexual abuse by members of the clergy.
Joan Pacella worked at St. Helens Catholic school for more than a decade and is trying to figure out what to do next after Christian Brothers says her last payment would be in December.
“To find out you are going to lose a huge portion of your income, especially for the people who worked there for decades, it’s devastating,” Pacella said.
Pacella says when she called the diocese and the Christian Brothers services to ask questions, she was given the runaround by both.
She is now working with a dozen former employees to weigh the legal options and has a message for Bishop Brennan.
“Please respond to us,” Pacella said. “Please accept the responsibility to us that was promised in our contracts. These people served the church.”
The Fresno Diocese released this statement, which read in part:
The Diocese of Fresno has and will continue to communicate with its current and former employees regarding the matter.
Current diocese employees are no longer receiving retirement benefits as of now. The church says they are working to start a separate plan for employees with similar benefits to the previous one.
