YOUNGSTOWN — The annual Retirement Fund for Religious collection will take place today and Sunday in the Diocese of Youngstown.

Beth Kennedy, with the Diocese, said the parish-based appeal is coordinated by the National Religious Retirement Office and proceeds help hundreds of U.S. religious communities to care for aging members. Some 30,000 senior Catholic sisters, brothers and religious order priests benefit.

Kennedy said last year, the Diocese of Youngstown donated $300,178.68 to the collection. In 2019, the Antonine Sisters, Oblate Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Poor Clare Nuns of Perpetual Adoration, Sisters of St. Joseph of St. Mark and the Ursuline Sisters received financial support made possible by the Retirement Fund for Religious.

The 2018 appeal raised $27.7 million, and 360 religious congregations across the nation received funding. Distributions are sent to each eligible congregation’s central house. Communities combine this assistance with their own income and savings to meet a host of retirement and eldercare expenses.

“We are humbled and profoundly grateful for the countless Catholics who honor the service and witness of senior religious through their prayers and generosity,” said Presentation Sister Stephanie Still, NRRO’s executive director.