African theologians warned that young priests fear a lack of care infrastructure will leave them dependent on charity when they reach retirement age.
Clergy reported apprehension caused by the experience of older priests in Africa who are forced into dependence.
They were speaking on a webinar on 16 September organised by Church groups including the Pan African Theology and Pastoral Network (Pactpan) and the Christian Association of Nigeria.
Fr Hyacinth Ichoku, vice chancellor of Veritas University, said that after the vocations boom of the 1970s and 1980s, thousands of priests in Nigeria and Africa are expected to retire within the next few of years.
Without the requisite infrastructure to take care of them, they risk falling into a life of indignity and penury.
The sociologist Roger Dayamba cited the case of a retired priest who now lives in an old people’s home but has been virtually abandoned by family, friends and the people he spent a lifetime serving.
“I remember visiting a priest years ago while I was a seminarian. He had been a popular, hardworking priest, but when he could no longer perform his ministerial duties, he was sent to a retirement home,” said Fr Dayamba.
“I saw him shedding tears. It felt like he had been dumped there: he could not do anything for himself, and after long years of ministry, nobody cared to visit him anymore.”
The theologians proposed different ways of supporting retired priests. Fr Dayamba discussed “models of retirement” that he has witnessed in several parishes which can become instructive in dealing with retirement for priests.
“The first model is general retirement homes. Initially, as priests reached an age where they could no longer perform ministry work, the diocese would simply place them in public retirement homes alongside the general population. However, these facilities are often few and far between, making the arrangement difficult,” he said.
The second model, he said, is the establishment of specific welfare homes for retired priests “to live in community, but this model has been criticised for not being ‘African enough’.”
He continued: “The third model is retirement within a parish. Some dioceses return a priest to a parish to be looked after by the active clergy and parishioners, usually providing him with a room there.”
However, he said that this too has its challenges.
“Experience shows that once a priest retires without children or immediate relations, people begin to forget him and lose contact once he is no longer in active ministry,” Dayamba said.
“The fourth model is retirement in the family home. This involves the priest returning to live with his original family – brothers, sisters, or other relatives. Unfortunately, this often creates friction due to familiarity. It also becomes a resource issue where the priest must struggle for available resources, alongside his nephews, nieces and siblings.”
The last model, he said, is based on a priest constructing a personal home, but this too has problems when it comes to funding, due to the small salaries of priests in Africa.
“This model works in non-African countries like Europe and America, but one must ask: would this really work back home given the financial constraints, unless one has a benefactor?” Dayamba asked.
The theologians proposed a range of ways for supporting retired priests, including setting aside a percentage of parish earnings for priests’ retirement, registering them in pension schemes, building homes for retired priests, increasing their salaries so they can save for retirement, and equipping them with skills so they can remain active in retirement.