The report above reflects our income and expenses for the past fiscal year.

 

I want to make a comment about the money we spent towards the poor. It is important, especially as Catholics, to be generous to the poor. It is difficult to be generous, but it is what God asks of us.

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One of the stories that inspire me to love the poor is the story of how Flower Village (꽃동네) started. Fr. Oh (오웅진 신부님) was a young priest and when he got to the parish, he noticed a homeless person walking by, and decided to follow him. The homeless man was an older man named Mr. Choi (최기동 할아버지). After some time, Fr. Oh saw that Mr. Choi went around begging for food and taking to an area where there was a community of homeless people that were in terrible shape. What Mr. Choi had been doing for decades was going around begging for food, so that he can feed those who were worse off than he was. This inspired Fr. Oh to realize an important principle of Flower Village: “Even the mere strength to beg for food is a grace.” He realized that if somebody in Mr. Choi's position could love the poor that much and do so much for them, he should do far more in his position for the poor. And that was the beginning of Flower Village that serves the poor and abandoned not only in Korea but all over the world. 

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During the pandemic, we struggled financially. And even though we were going through a tough time, we made an effort to help those who were worse off than we were. When it is difficult for us, each act of love and sacrifice means much more.

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If we pat ourselves on the back, it can make us prideful. My hope is that we do not become prideful but are able to form our identity as a parish that cares about the poor with a pure intention.

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Here are some of the things we were able to do with your financial contribution during this time:

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-We were able to help some of our own parishioners who were struggling. It was like a family helping each other when one member struggles. There were people who specifically asked me to help struggling parishioners and gave me donations. Many gave towards the special collection with this intention in mind.

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- Some of the poorer parishes are struggling severely during the pandemic, especially the poorer inner city parishes. Many parishes have had to let go of employees or furlough them.  We contributed to the alleviation of the financial difficulty of parishes.

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-The stipends received for Mother's Day Mass intentions went to mothers struggling to feed their children and families that are struggling. It was given towards the purchase of food for a program at a parish in Pomona. The food that we collected on Pentecost (the first Sunday we were able to open the doors for prayer) was also donated to the same parish.

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-We continue to help missions abroad, Peru and Ethiopia. We are working with religious sisters in both of those countries and supporting their work with the poor there. During the pandemic, the representative sister from both Peru and Ethiopia reached out with a plea for extra help because of the severity of the struggle there.

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-We were also able to continue our day to day operations without a problem. We have savings that gave us a safe cushion, thanks to the previous pastors and your contributions through the years.

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Here is a breakdown of all the income that was designated for the poor:

-The parish has been giving 10% of annual budget towards the poor, and that is approximately $60,000.
-The special COVID collections to help the poor (over $20,000)
-All the donations from Easter season house blessings during the pandemic were designated for the poor (approx.  $6,000)
-Pastor's matching donation ($6,000)
-Mother's Day collection was designated for the poor $1,500
-Help from the diocese to help parishioners (over $4,800)  

-Hand-made rosaries from the mom's group (a little over $1,000)
 

That adds up to $99,300. More came from private donations. 

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Mother Teresa said to give until it hurts. If we do not give until it hurts, it’s not really love. When you hear $100,000 it may sound like a lot. But after giving that to the poor, we are still pretty comfortable.

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I hope all of you are grateful to be a part of a church that helps the poor and that your desire to help the poor will continue to grow. The gospels make it very clear that this is what Jesus wants us to do with our money.