By Marie Galetto-Dugoni
One of the great joys of our work is being the bearer of GOOD news for parishes in the form of grant checks. Through the generosity of our donors and the growth of our endowments, we are able to provide grants for programs at parishes all over the Diocese of San Jose every year. This year, I was fortunate enough to visit a few parishes to hear about their programs and how they’re coping with the pandemic.
When I arrived at Saint Maria Goretti Parish on a Thursday morning, a well-attended outdoor Vietnamese mass was wrapping up. By the time I left, a Spanish outdoor mass was already underway with many people in attendance. The pastor, Fr. Justin Le, informed us that he and two other priests celebrate 19 masses every weekend in three languages – English, Vietnamese and Spanish. Nineteen! Plus daily masses in three languages. You can tell the moment you step on the property that Saint Maria Goretti is a busy parish, even despite the limits of the pandemic.
When I spoke to Fr. Justin, Elena Musselman, the Parish Administrator, and Fr. Dat Luong, one of the Parochial Vicars, they explained that the parish has three distinct locations on the property where they host outdoor masses. One of the six grants awarded by the Foundation helped fund the installation of 30 “shade sails” which will protect parishioners from the elements in one of their mass locations. Fr. Justin noted that they are looking forward to welcoming parishioners back inside the church, however the health and well-being of the community is the top priority and so they were still strategizing the best and safest way to welcome people inside for worship. They hope to continue the outdoor masses as long as possible and hope that the installation of upgrades like the shades will allow them to continue outdoor masses even as the weather starts to turn toward winter.
Like most every parish, faith formation for Saint Maria Goretti’s 5,500 registered families is being provided completely online. The parish took advantage of one of the Foundation’s new grant categories, the Family Life category, to apply for a grant to help pay for online faith formation resources for families. They found that there was a need for these kinds of resources since churches and schools are closed and families are now doing a lot of faith formation on their own at home. The parish hadn’t planned for this expense in their budget at the beginning of the year, so they applied for, and received, a grant from the Foundation to fill this need.
In total, Saint Maria Goretti Parish received six grants from six of the Foundation’s seven grant categories this year. The Foundation, on behalf of all the generous donors who have contributed to the endowments that fund these categories, is pleased to provide support to our local parishes for worthy and necessary programs during these difficult times.
To support the Spring Grant Cycle, donate to one of the Foundation’s “Field of Interest” Endowments here: cfoscc.org/endowments