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On June 30, 2022, Mr. Andrew Smith, OCA Treasurer, released the following update on the OCA’s Pension Plan in preparation for discussions at the coming 20th All-American Council:
“The Orthodox Church in America (OCA), as plan sponsor for the OCA Pension Plan (the Plan), has been engaged in a thoughtful, methodical review of the Plan over the last year and a half. In late 2020, His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon asked me as OCA Treasurer to help him understand the Plan in light of questions and concerns that had reached his desk.
Since then, the process has included input from an ad hoc committee, the OCA Pension Board, the officers of the OCA, the Holy Synod, and the Metropolitan Council. In fall 2021, the Metropolitan Council engaged an actuarial firm, Cheiron, Inc., to formally review the plan, and on June 27, 2022 the Metropolitan Council received and accepted this report. This report demonstrates that the Plan is significantly underfunded and has been, in recent years, on a path of decline.
Cheiron further identifies the need for better, more realistic, and more regular reporting to Plan stakeholders regarding the state of the Plan. However, the report also shows that there are potential paths forward for the Plan that would improve its ability to ensure the financial health of current and future retirees. The OCA must now begin a process of facing this reality honestly and forthrightly, with a spirit of calmness, charity, and discernment.”
The upcoming All-American Council in Baltimore, MD will discuss two proposed Statute amendments. The Pension Subcommittee of the Metropolitan Council has led to a proposed Statute amendment which seeks to codify basic expectations of the Pension Plan’s reporting to Metropolitan Council, change the composition of the Pension Board for better representation of the key constituents, Plan participants, and Employers.
