{"id":128750,"date":"2025-11-11T01:05:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T01:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/128750\/"},"modified":"2025-11-11T01:05:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T01:05:09","slug":"diocese-of-crookston-could-owe-24-6-million-to-overcome-employee-pension-plan-shortfall-grand-forks-herald","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/128750\/","title":{"rendered":"Diocese of Crookston could owe $24.6 million to overcome employee pension plan shortfall – Grand Forks Herald"},"content":{"rendered":"

CROOKSTON \u2014 Lay employees of the Diocese of Crookston may see a lapse in funding to their pension plan, according to a letter distributed by the bishop\u2019s office on Oct. 24.<\/p>\n

The letter, sent to current and former employees, said the defined benefit pension plan, managed by an organization called Christian Brothers Services, is \u201csignificantly underfunded\u201d and would require the diocese to pay $24.6 million over 25 years to resolve the shortfall.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have grave concern to care for our past employees,\u201d Bishop Andrew Cozzens told the Grand Forks Herald. \u201cWe\u2019re going to be doing everything that we can to make sure that they receive the benefit that they count on and need.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Diocese of Crookston includes 65 parishes and eight Catholic schools across 14 counties in northwest Minnesota, according to the diocese\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

Christian Brothers Services, of Romeoville, Illinois, provides financial services to Catholic organizations like dioceses and schools and helps those organizations manage and administer benefits such as like health care plans, retirement plans and risk management and coverage programs.<\/p>\n

Cozzens said the diocese was notified by Christian Brothers Services earlier this summer that the diocese\u2019s payment rate for the pension plan was going to increase, which was the first time the diocese became aware of the plan\u2019s lack of funding.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were notified the amount of rate change that was proposed, and that\u2019s where we discovered that there was significant underfunding in the pension,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He estimated that roughly 500 employees, past and present, will be impacted by the plan\u2019s underfunding.<\/p>\n

According to the letter, the funding issues with the pension plan will not affect the 403(b) retirement funds administered through The Standard, a different insurance company.<\/p>\n

Cozzens said the diocese was never told by Christian Brothers Services that its plan was underfunded until earlier this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt may be the case that they weren\u2019t charging enough to keep it up to funding, but then they should have told us that, right?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Cozzens also said there are 180 other organizations with finances managed by Christian Brothers Services \u2014 many of them small dioceses like the one in Crookston \u2014 that have reported that their plans are underfunded as well. He declined to name any specific organizations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a lack of transparency on the part of Christian Brothers,\u201d he said. \u201cAs far as I\u2019ve talked to, other organizations have experienced the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Christian Brothers Services spokesperson declined to comment, telling the Grand Forks Herald that the company can not provide information about its plans.<\/p>\n

The diocese has established a committee to begin discussing the next steps regarding the pension plan, with members including diocese Finance Officer Chad Ryan and Chancellor and Chief Operating Officer Janelle Gergen. The diocese is also working with actuarial and benefits consultants, investment managers and legal counsel.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese people have given their lives in service to the church, and they count on this pension, and so we\u2019re going to be doing everything we can to fulfill that obligation, because we see it as a matter of justice,\u201d Cozzens said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Jordan<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\n Jordan Rusche is the government reporter for the Grand Forks Herald.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CROOKSTON \u2014 Lay employees of the Diocese of Crookston may see a lapse in funding to their pension…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":128751,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[138,246,111,139,69,244,245],"class_list":{"0":"post-128750","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-finance","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz","13":"tag-personal-finance","14":"tag-personalfinance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128750\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}