# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1956_S643
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

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FINANCIAL MATTERS 643

letters have been written to such Pension Fund members, recom-
mending that these arrears be paid so that at the time of retirement
they may be eligible to receive at least the full minimum Pension
of $1,200 a year, or in the event of their death their widow should
receive the full Widows’ Pension of $720 a year. A large percentage
of those so approached have either already paid their arrears or are
in the process of doing so.

24. Occasionally a pastor or teacher is not able to keep up
his current Pension Fund payments for a year or so because he is
in financial difficulties caused by sickness, accident, or other
unforeseen circumstances.

25. Synod had such situations in mind when at the convention
in Fort Wayne in 1941 it was resolved (see Synodical Proceedings,
page 381, Section Il, C, b. par. 2):

“That workers and congregations who contend that they are
unable to join and continue in the Pension Fund because of
inability to pay the required contributions, shall, after the inability
to contribute is established by the District Presidents and circuit
Visitors and the Board of Support, be granted aid from available
funds (i.e., help him pay his contributions) .”

26. The resolution thus sets forth that the delinquent personal
or employer’s accounts may be paid by the Board of Support
and Pensions, after prescribed investigations have been made.
However, the resolution referred to above did not specifically
indicate the source from which the necessary funds should be
taken. The resolution reads: “Aid should be granted from avail-
able funds.”

27. Aid, as resolved upon by Synod, was given by the Board
of Support and Pensions in a number of cases. During the first
years and until 1953 the Board of Support and Pensions drew
such needed funds from its budget appropriation, calling them
“Special Pension Premiums.”

28. Pondering this problem from year to year, the Board of
Support and Pensions resolved after 1952 to draw on the Pension
Contingent Fund for such funds, inasmuch as the Regulations
regarding the Pension Contingent Fund read as follows:

“10.41 ¢

“The Contingent Fund. The fund to be created by the accumu-
lation of certain amounts set aside for that purpose as provided in
Section 10.45, paragraphs f and g; 10.49, paragraphs a and b; or by
special gifts and legacies. This Contingent Fund will be used for
supplemental benefits at the discretion of the Board.”

29. Keep in mind, the Pension Contingent Fund consists chiefly
of released employers’ Pension Fund payments and in a small part

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