Financial dreams become reality

Last year, we were reminded about our dream of becoming a parish with our own facility to worship God and gather as a community. With much hard work, guidance from our very talented parishioners, and the intercession of the Holy Spirit, we would realize our dreams. We told you that we would meet and exceed the expectations of many, and we would finish our worship center, and Memorial Gardens, soon and be under budget.

We have indeed accomplished those dreams. We have completed our worship center, the first phase of the Memorial Garden, and were named an official parish offering weekly parish services for over 800 families who consider themselves Mother Teresa parishioners. Thank you so much.

For our Fiscal Year 2023 operations, we set a lofty goal to increase our offertory 22% over 2022. We fell short of our goal by only $10,450. This was actually good news since we were simultaneously asking parishioners to buy a niche in our columbarium and contribute to our generational legacy fund and diocese programs which are excluded from the offertory figure. 

We posted a gain from operations of $219,175, due mainly to having only two months of worship center loan payments and generous donations from parishioners. We closed our loan for the worship center in April. We were approved to borrow $3.9 million, but because of your generosity and since we managed construction costs so well, it was only necessary to borrow $2.7 million.



Going forward, we have a few challenges:     

• Paying for our monthly $80,000 operating expenses, which includes $17,632 per month payments (for 18 years at 4%) on our worship center loan from the diocese.
• Providing staff for a full parish operation.
• Inflation pressure.
• New parish needs.

How can you help?

• Use WeShare online giving for your weekly donation, which will help us to plan and overcome the challenges this coming year.
• Consider increasing your offertory gifts. 
• Volunteer your time to help our parish run smoothly.
• Purchase a columbarium niche or memorial wall plaque so we can build the next phase.

We had a very successful year. I’m confident that with your continued prayers and support, we will once again exceed our expectations and continue to make Mother Teresa Catholic Church a model parish in our diocese.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, please contact Michelle Yeh, MTCC Business Manager, or Michelle Lombana, FY 2023-24 Finance Council Chair.