La Crosse diocese terminates employee pension plan

The Diocese of La Crosse says it’s ending an employee retirement plan from the 1970s to protect the assets of people covered by the program.

Bishop William Callahan announced the termination of the Lay Employees’ Retirement Plan to people enrolled in that plan, saying it had been underfunded for many years.

The plan, which has been frozen since 2007, covered hundreds of church employees in the west-central Wisconsin counties, primarily teachers and workers in Catholic schools.

The diocese says that the decision to pay all the members a lump sum later this year will allow them to decide how to spend their money, perhaps allowing them to put it into other investment plans. Monthly payments will continue until the final payout is made, likely sometime this summer.

The diocese predicts the payouts will be around 95 percent of the total that members had been expecting.

A statement about the plan said people have lost much more money in similar pension plans that have failed due to volatile markets.