Estonian pastors’ widows receive no church pension
Liis Oengo is the widow of the Rev. Hugo Oengo, who
was removed as a professor in the Estonia Academy of Sciences by Soviet
officials when
he refused to deny his faith. UMNS photos by
the Rev. Larry Hollon.
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By the Rev. Kathy Noble*
April 10, 2008 | KURESSAARE, Estonia (UMNS)
Liis Oengo and Erna Kunstimees, both in their 80s, are examples of
"the wives of our pastors, the wives who for years and years and years
have faithfully stood with their husbands," says the Rev. Olav
Parnamets.
"They also deserve support and help," Parnamets says of the two. They
are now among four surviving spouses in Estonia. When their husbands
died, their pensions from the church stopped.
As superintendent of The United Methodist Church in Estonia from 1979 to 2005, Parnamets knows the widows and their plight well.
The United Methodist Church is beginning to respond to the needs of
Oengo, Kunstimees and others like them through the Central Conference
Pension Initiative. The initiative, mandated by the 2000 and 2004
General Conferences, is developing models for pension systems to serve
retired church pastors, lay workers and surviving spouses in Europe,
Asia and Africa. More information is available at www.ccpi-umc.org.
Liis Oengo is the widow of the Rev. Hugo Oengo. In the early 1950s, he
held a high position as a professor in the Estonian Academy of Sciences,
and he was a Methodist deacon.
In 1954, Soviet officials told him he had three days to choose between
being an active Christian and a professor. Telling them he did not need
three days to decide, Oengo was dismissed from the university.
He soon became an elder and began his pastoral years of preaching to
Methodists in Tallinn and in other churches across the city. From 1975
to 1979, he was superintendent of the Estonia Church.
Erna Kunstimees, a widow of a United Methodist pastor in Estonia, receives no pension from the church.
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Throughout most of those years, Liis served beside him. As a surviving
spouse, she receives no financial support from the church. Neither does
Erna Kunstimees.
As a young woman, Kunstimees built good memories of the Christian home
and church in which she grew up. She had to leave her home in Estonia
for several years as a young woman and lived in Russia. "When I came
back home, there was not a home anymore, but then my sister took me."
Several years later, she married a Methodist pastor. Together they
served the congregation at Kuressaare, the mother church of Estonian
Methodism, and another Methodist church on the island of Saaremaa.
Now 81, Kunstimees has been widowed for almost eight years. "God has
blessed us with three wonderful children who have loved me very much"
and who assist her, she says. But she also believes, "The wives of our
pastors, the wives who for years and years and years have faithfully
stood with their husbands, they also deserve support and help."
"Sometimes wives are helping in very special ways," Parnamets says,
recalling how Kunstimees and her husband served Finnish-speaking people
in their church. He praises her for "the extreme hospitality that I and
my wife and many others (experienced as they were) hosted wonderfully in
that home."
Says Parnamets: "I believe the widows of the pastors who have passed away, they need our help and they need our attention."
*Noble is editor of Interpreter Magazine, a publication of United Methodist Communications, Nashville, Tenn.
News media contact: Kathy Noble, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5441 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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Resources
Central Conference Pension Initiative
CCPI Interactive Map |