text: First of all, as a former Catholic school teacher and parish staff member, I can testify that that lay pay scale is nothing to write home about. Most families with one parent who works for the Church need two incomes just to get by.
  
  But that aside, vowed religious take a vow of poverty, which means they turn their paychecks over to their communities, where they're used for a variety of needs. The most substantial one is taking care of the current generation of retirees, who far outnumber those earning.
  
  If there's no need for the religious retirement fund in the future it will be because of attrition, not because today's working sisters are building their own nest eggs.