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Joe Kohn of The Michigan Catholic
Published March 17, 2006

Lansing – In an economy where large companies routinely cut pension benefits, scrimp on bonuses and tailor back their workforces, the Church in Michigan gave its retirees a big surprise in December – a bonus, 13th-month pension check.

And last week, Cardinal Adam Maida and the state's bishops received many thanks for sending along the monetary blessing.

Cardinal Maida flips through the pages of a book filled with thank you letters from some of the 6,000-plus church retirees who received extra pension checks in December. He is joined by retiree Lucille Bohr.

The Lansing-based Michigan Catholic Conference, whose board of directors includes the state's diocesan bishops, provides pension benefits to more than 6,000 retired Church employees across the state. And when the Lay Employees' Retirement Plan experienced a solid financial year, the MCC Board of Directors, chaired by Cardinal Maida, made sure the surplus was spread to those who labored to build the Body of Christ during their careers.

"I'm flattered and honored, and I don't know what else to say," said Lucille Bohr, a retiree from the Diocese of Lansing who was one of more than 160 retirees to write "Thank you" letters to the cardinal and the Michigan Catholic Conference board of directors. "I was surprised. Shocked. It's nice that they recognize us old retirees."

In an informal gathering following the Michigan Catholic Conference's quarterly board meeting, Bohr thanked the cardinal personally. Cardinal Maida also received a booklet containing the thank-you notes that flooded into the Conference after the checks were received.

The soft-covered booklet told many stories of gratitude for the extra checks. Many of the recipients were on fixed incomes, and the bonus helped them have a merrier Christmas season.

"Bless you and thank you for the extra check," wrote recipient A. Jane Bower of the Diocese of Lansing. "It was indeed a wonderful Christmas surprise at this time of year. Your thoughtfulness of us 'little people' gives me a new hope, and appreciation for all the MCC stands for in our community and state."

Some recipients even told the ways the money would be used.

"Because of your generosity, I was able to help someone give a Christmas to his children who otherwise would not have been able to do so," wrote Mary Lou Brown of the Diocese of Saginaw.

For some, such as George and Marge Bowen of the Diocese of Grand Rapids, the money came at a critical time.

"My wife had a stroke 16 months ago," wrote George Bowen. "The check sure came in handy for medicine."

Laura Stearns, vice president of service, programs and operations for the Michigan Catholic Conference, said the conference's ability to issue a full-month's pay in extra check and the fact that the conference hadn't done anything like this before apparently took a lot of people by surprise.

"It's one thing to give 2 or 3 percent per month, but when you give them the equivalent of one-month pension benefit, that's a little bit more substantive and I think it means more – which is why we got the response that we got," Stearns said. "And it was a surprise. And it was Christmas. All of those things played, really, perfectly together."

The idea to issue a single bonus check, Stearns said, resulted from the conference's desire to reward retirees without regularly increasing benefits to a level it wouldn't be able to support should the state's economy remain stagnant.

And when letters started pouring in to thank the conference, those at the Michigan Catholic Conference were moved.

"The responses were so heartwarming," Stearns said.

Hers certainly wasn't the only heart warmed, either.

"Combining my years at the Chancery and St. Mary of Redford," wrote Joanne Emerson, "I happily worked over 20 years for the Church in Detroit. Knowing we are not forgotten means so much."