St. Pius X Church

July 6, 2020
Dear Parishioners:
I extend deep gratitude to a handful of very dedicated donors, who religiously gave to the church during the Church shut-down.  You helped the church pay for utilities and staff insurances and more importantly, you showed dedication and concern for St. Pius X Church.  Thank you as well to everyone for your prayers and patience until we were permitted to open our Church in June. 
 Before we opened our Church, selected volunteers attended the Training conducted by me and based on CA & Archdiocese Guidelines.  Thank you to those, who helped prepare the church to re-open. The attendance at the June 7^th Masses was excellent; the people were congenial to the new rules, and the collection was fine based on the very limited number of attendees. 
I am glad to be celebrating Masses inside our Church with you!  On the following Sundays, June 14^th, 21^st, and 28^th, the number of attendees grew to the point that it became necessary to hook up speakers from church to the parking lot to allow people to hear Mass outside to maintain the California-required headcount inside our Church.
Spiritually, it was very fulfilling!  Financially, the collection decreased as the number of attendees increased every Sunday in June.  As your Pastor, I am obligated to inform you that the church collection is the single source of income in the Church at present; the requests for services; such as Weddings, Funerals, Quincenearas, & others have stopped during the shut-down; they are slowly coming back but they are mostly scheduled for Year 2021. 
It is understandable that parishioners are hard up financially as well due to CA-restrictions on Businesses.  It is not my intent to impose any amount on the collection for you to give to our Church.  It is my intent to make you fully aware of the condition of “our Church’s lack of funds” for daily operations; such as, Staff Insurances, Property Taxes, Parish immediate repairs, and mandatory utility payments.  The money coming in the Church is lower than the money going out of the Church for mandatory expenses. Therefore, we are spending more than we receive.  We have cut down expenses as possible; the office is open 2 half-days a week only. 
WE continue to pray and hope for recovery for our Church and our Nation.   May God bless you all!  Thank you again for your prayers and acts of mercy especially to our Church in the midst of this Crisis!
Sincerely in Christ,
Fr. Art
Pastor