December 13, 2025
Dear Bishop Patrick Neary, C.S.C.,
I suspect that when you became bishop of Saint Cloud, you had no idea of the challenges you would be facing. As the best leader I’ve worked with, Abbot John Klassen, OSB once said to me, “No good deed goes unpunished.” I suspect this may have some resonance with you these days. Please know that you will be in my thoughts and prayers as you try to navigate this challenging situation.
My name is Jeff Kaster and I am writing to you about the Christian Brother’s pension fiasco. First, a little about me. I worked as a Catholic school teacher at St. Anthony’s in St. Cloud in 1977 and then worked as the youth minister there until 1984. I then worked as the director of the Fr. Pierz School of Religion from 1984 to 1989. Then I worked as the diocesan youth consultant at Catholic Education Ministries from 1989 to 2000. From 2000 to 2020 I worked at Saint John’s University School of Theology and Seminary as the director of the Youth in Theology and Ministry program and an adjunct professor of theology. I’ve been richly blessed to serve in each of these positions.
Throughout my twenty-two years of working in the Saint Cloud Diocese, I signed contracts with a promise from the parishes and the diocese of receiving a pension upon my turning 65. In fact, every year Christian Brother’s mailed me a document stating the amount of money I would receive. I trusted the diocese that this pension would be paid to me monthly from age of 65 until my death.
Last week I wrote you a letter with a copy of the minutes from a listening session with fifty retired and currently employed workers impacted by the diocesan pension plan underfunding. These workers gathered because they were quite frustrated with how the diocese was handling the situation. This letter, on the other hand, include my personal thoughts about the pension problem.
I’m sure you have a lot of people giving you input about what to do, but as a retired outsider, I have a perspective on this situation that I would like to share. Speaking bluntly, I believe that if you do not fulfill your pension promises, then catastrophic results will occur. If you break trust with the 1,400 workers in the diocesan pension plan, not only will some schools close, but many of your most committed lay leaders in the diocese will abandon the church. From my listening to retired and currently employed workers, the diocese has already diminished trust by the way it has handled communications so far. I’ve heard many folks say, “I don’t trust the diocese.” As you know, the church already has significant trust issues. I believe if you break trust with these committed workers and retirees, the damage will be irrevocable. The downward cycle for the diocese will greatly accelerate because of this broken promise.
How do you gain trust in this situation? Be bold and do something extraordinary. Promise to fully fund the pensions. Does this sound crazy? Absolutely. But if you don’t do this, as I said, the diocese will suffer immense damage, which may be impossible to recover from.
I recommend that you announce the start of a multi-year capital campaign to fully fund these lay pensions. If you did this, you would not only be keeping a promise when contracts were signed, but you would accelerate trust and create good-will. You would also set a shining example of promoting the dignity of workers. I believe this would flip the script from negative to positive.
I think it would be possible to enlist the help of current and retired employees to help with the capital campaign. Imagine 1,400 of the most dedicated Catholics in the diocese actively helping the diocese achieve the goal of a fully funding the pension promises the diocese made. Will this be hard? Absolutely! But transformational leaders use crisis like this to raise the motivation and morality of followers.
One last piece of advice. The diocese has a significant communication and public relations problem. I was so disappointed in the format used in the zoom meeting where all the communication was top down. I could not see who else was in the meeting, the chat function was disabled, and even the questions were only seen by the presenters. Added to this was the lack of any responsibility from the diocese for the problem. I heard, “we didn’t know,” without any recognition that you should have known. Certainly, it was your responsibility to know. I left the zoom meeting feeling like the diocese was simply telling me to sit back and “trust” you all to make the best decision. Yet, you have not asked for any input from those retired or from school personnel. My advice. Set a date for a diocesan wide listening session (or multiple sessions) as soon as possible. The longer you wait, the distrust simply grows.
I can imagine a situation where you have listening sessions to hear the anxiety and anger of those impacted. I can imagine you as bishop showing genuine empathy. I can imagine at the listening session, you floating the idea of a capital campaign to fully fund the pension shortfall. I can imagine you enlisting all those at the listening session for their input on how we all work together to raise the needed funds. I can imagine 1,400 retired and currently employed lay leaders working with you to do the right thing. I can imagine us being church.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Jeffrey Kaster, Ed.D.
320 266-5247
