By Catholic News Service • Posted August 31, 2016

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Presentation Sister Stephanie Still has been named director of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ National Religious Retirement Office, effective Oct. 3.

In announcing the appointment, Msgr. J. Brian Bransfield, USCCB general secretary, said he was confident that Sister Still’s “skills and background” will bring the National Religious Retirement Office “well-established expertise that will complement and strengthen the office in service to the bishops.”

Sister Still has served as president of her order since 2010. Previously, she held positions within her community as communicator and vocations director. She spent 11 years as a social studies teacher and director of marketing at Presentation High School in San Jose, California. She also served on the national board of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious.

The Presentation sister will replace the office’s interim director, Sister Susan Schorsten, a member of the Sisters of the Humility of Mary, who has been filling in for the job held by Sister Janice Bader since 2008. Sister Bader, a member of the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood, stepped down as executive director of the National Religious Retirement Office in June when she was elected president of her community.

The office oversees and disperses the annual Retirement Fund for Religious, which collects on average more than $28 million each year for religious institutes in the United States so they can care for their elderly and frail members.

Currently in the U.S., there are more than 33,000 Catholic sisters, brothers, and religious order priests older than 70 who benefit from the fund. More than $718 million in financial support has been distributed to religious communities in the United States since its inception in 1988.