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Older adults face growing threat of poverty, committee warns March 15, 2006
By Kathy L. Gilbert*
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) — Many working men and women will retire after
a lifetime of service and come face to face with the shocking reality that the
pension they thought would support them for the rest of their lives isn’t
worth the paper it is printed on.
The United Methodist Committee on Older Adults
recognizes that reality and is waving “a cautionary flag” before
the church, asking that attention be paid to actions that will increase poverty
among
older Americans and their
families.
A resolution approved by the committee during
its March 11-16 meeting in Nashville urges “widespread notice and study
of the threat to pension benefits throughout the church.”
“Pensions seem to be one of the ways corporations are trying to increase
their profit margin by decreasing what they are doing for persons who are already
off their staff and out of the work force,” said the Rev. Scott Youngblood,
representative of the South Central Jurisdiction. “They have an obligation
to those folks, and now they are trying to back off on that by putting more
money in their stockholders’ pockets and their management.”
The resolution points out 20 major companies,
including Delta, General Motors, Ford, Lucent, U.S. Steel, have pension obligations
that exceed the company’s
market value. Many federal, state and local government employees are enrolled
in benefit plans that are currently under funded.
"Companies do not try to increase their defined
benefit pension funding since it would require them to report higher levels
of debt and lower profits," the
resolution notes.
Susanne Paul, with Global Action on Aging and a consultant to the committee,
said in response to the deepening crisis of old-age poverty, about 17 developing
countries have adopted social pensions. These pensions are cash grants supported
by national taxes.
"Old-age hunger is a tremendous problem,” she
said. These small grants are often what older adults use to buy food. She
pointed out that even
small, poor countries such as Mozambique have started social pensions. “Almost
every country can afford $2 a month for every person over 60.”
The United Methodist Committee on Older Adult
Ministries wanted “to
take a stand” on the issue, said the Rev. Richard H. Gentzler, director
of the Center on Aging and Older Adult Ministries, United Methodist Board of
Discipleship.
“This is an attempt on the part of the Committee on Older Adult Ministries
to take a stand, to put out across the church that this is something that is
affecting every working woman and man — the uncertainty of the pension.”
Elderly people, people at midlife, and working
men and women are fearful, Gentzler said. People are wondering how they are
going
to maintain a quality
of life that is drastically changing — not because of anything they are
doing, but because of external forces.
“We felt as a committee we needed to at least address this, put out
some sort of resolution that would suggest to the church we are seeing what
is beginning to happen and we want to put up a cautionary note,” he said.
Older Adult Recognition Day
The committee also approved a resolution calling
for the church to observe an Older Adult Recognition Day, preferably during
May, “to
recognize and celebrate the gifts, talents and contributions older adults
make within
and beyond the local church.”
The U.S. and world populations are increasingly older, overall, and the average
United Methodist is 60 or older.
The Committee on Older Adult Ministries will have the responsibility for the
supervision and promotion of the day, which is intended to provide congregations
the opportunity to learn more about the issues and concerns related to aging
and older adulthood.
“I think the United Methodist Church needs to become much more aware
on the national level and global level of the increasing number of older adults
in society and in our church,” said the Rev. Hazel C. Bennett, Southeastern
Jurisdiction representative and chairwoman of the committee. “I think
we have to be aware that most people are in need of ministry and also have
much to offer.”
Other resolutions passed by the committee include
calling for General Conference, the denomination’s top lawmaking body,
to authorize a feasibility study on issues related to mandatory retirement
of clergy and
lay employees.
The resolution notes that people are living longer productive lives, that
the age at which they become eligible to receive certain retirement benefits
in full is increasing in various nations of the world, and that there are shortages
of people educated and trained in certain critical professions and vocations
needed for ministry.
The committee asked the 2004 General Conference to eliminate mandatory retirement
age rules, but the measure was rejected. In the new resolution, the committee
asked General Conference to approve $200,000 for the study for 2009-2012.
The committee also requested a research project
be conducted to document the state of older racial/ethnic women and men with
respect to
income support and
access to health care in comparison to the U.S. national average. Findings
from the research would then be published and provided to the denomination.
Agencies asked to participate in the joint research project include the United
Methodist Commission on Religion and Race, the Commission on the Status and
Role of Women, the Commission on United Methodist Men, the Board of Global
Ministries’ Women’s Division and the nondenominational Global Action
on Aging.
In other action the committee:
- Approved 29 grants for older adult ministries.
That was all the committee had funds for, though it received 91 applications,
said the Rev. Elbert C. Cole,
a consultant on the committee and chairman of the grant subcommittee.
Announcement of those receiving the grants will come in April.
- Started planning a 2007 symposium for older
adults to be held Aug. 16-18 in Nashville, Tenn.
- Called for General Conference to continue
a Comprehensive Plan for Older Adult Ministries for $1.18 million for the
2009-2012 quadrennium.
Part of the funding
will be used for two full-time older adult ministries staff
persons and one part-time support staff beyond the level of support provided
for 2005-2008.
*Gilbert is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville,
Tenn.
News media contact: Kathy L. Gilbert, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.
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