|
|
 |
Anonymous
wrote:
|
|
Hello,
This is not a direct question about Roman Catholicism. I have
a question about how people who leave religious orders get
their mail forwarded. I do hope that you can guide me in the
right direction towards trying to figure this out.
Here is why I'm asking. My mother-in-law was Roman Catholic. She managed a Church
retreat center and lived on its grounds. She was the
only full-time resident. She recently became quite ill, and
her daughter moved in with her for a month. She recently died
and no one lives there now. There is a part-time (day)
worker. My husband is the executor of the will. We live about
100 miles from her (former) home.
The problem is that my mother-in-law has outstanding medical
bills that we need to pay but the United States Postal Service has denied
our request to forward her mail to us. The Postal Service's
reasoning is that it is against their rules to forward mail
from a:
business address (the retreat center) to a personal
address (the home I share with my husband),
and the retreat
center is considered a business address, even
though they processed a mail forwarding request for her daughter. We have
asked my mother-in-law's successor at the retreat center to
forward the mail by putting it back in the mailbox; we even
provided her with pre-addressed please
forward stickers,
but so far she has not done so.
That said:
- When a member of a religious order,
who lives with the order, moves away from the residence, how
do they get their mail forwarded?
- Does the post office do it,
or does a member or employee of the order do it?
- When
a diocesan priest leaves the priesthood and moves out of
the rectory, how does he get his personal mail?
These seem
like analogous situations and I'm hoping to learn from those
who have done this before. We are resorting to changing her
address with each medical provider, but she has more than
20 — she had terminal cancer, plus, it's difficult to know
who she is getting mail from, when it is so difficult for
us to see her mail.
We are trying to find a more efficient
alternative.
Thank you for helping me with this kind of odd question.
Anonymous
|
|
{
When a vowed religious or diocesan priest moves from their abode, how do they get their mail? }
|
|
Richard replied:
|
Hi, Anonymous —
When members of religious orders transfer
from place to place, the provincial superior for that region
keeps track of where they are and what work they do. However, that probably
doesn't apply directly to your mother-in-law. I'm assuming your mother-in-law was a lay employee of the retreat center, and
not a member of a religious order.
Still, it might be helpful to find out what order, diocese, or other
church organization owns the retreat center, and get some assistance that
way. If the center belongs to a religious order, you would want to find the
provincial office of the order and give them a call.
Once you get to that level, the folks at the province's business office
are probably the right people to talk to. They'll know how to proceed to
get the right assistance, if anyone does.
Just as a matter of practicality, the retreat center staff should be willing
to put your mother-in-law's bills in an envelope every couple of
weeks, pay some postage, and forward it directly to your husband,
the executor. That's probably more reliable than using stickers and trusting
the Post Office to re-route a lot of individual items.
With condolences and best wishes —
— RC
|
Francis, a good friend, replied:
|
Michael,
Since Anonymous has already tried to submit a change of address with the
Post Office and this failed, she needs to have the attorney, who is handling
the estate, deal with this.
He or she will know what to do.
Hope this helps.
Francis
|
Anonymous replied:
|
Hello,
Thank you so much for responding to my question. You gave me good advice and
direction about where to go from here.
I'm sorry to trouble you but I really
appreciate your help.
Take care,
Anonymous
|
|
|
|
