St Philip Benizi Parish, Fullerton, CA -- Parish News

   All are invited to a Zoom Interfaith Memorial Prayer Service on Tuesday, July 9th at 12:15 PM for the 31 people who died "Without Fixed Abode" in OC in July, 2024.  Zoom  info below. At the mid-point of the year, the number of deaths among those people "living without fixed abode", homeless, in the County is 22.1% lower than last year. That is something to be thankful for.   However, for the first time in months the number of deaths, 31, among this population in June was comparable to the number of deaths in June in previous years -- 30 (2020), 31 (2021), and 33 (2023).   Further, there are a number of longer-term concerns on the horizon:  (1) the apparent lack of credible planning in the County to provide significant cold weather shelter for the County's unsheltered homeless population this coming winter,  (2) the effect of the recent Grants Pass decision by the Supreme Court that significantly altered previous Boise Decision of the ...

  All are invited to a Zoom Interfaith Memorial Prayer Service on Tuesday, June 11th at 12:15 PM for the 24 people who died "Without Fixed Abode" in OC in May, 2024.  Zoom  info below. This is the first year since we began publishing the names of those who died "without fixed abode" in our County where the number of dead has been consistently lower than in previous years (173 so far for the year compared to 228 last year and 205 in 2022).  Still the number of deceased remains double of what it was in 2019, the last year before COVID, when the number of deceased for the year through May was 85.  And so we continue to remember those who have died and we pray.  Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83641913998 Meeting ID: 836 4191 3998 One tap mobile +16699006833,,83641913998# Prayer Service Text --   https://tinyurl.com/ya9sojzk   The List of the Names of OC's Homeless Deceased in May 2024 -   https://tinyurl.com/2024-05-OC-homeless-...

   All are invited to a Zoom Interfaith Memorial Prayer Service on Tuesday, May 14th at 12:15 PM for the 28 people who died "Without Fixed Abode" in OC in April, 2024 as well as the 1 other who died in March, but whose death was recorded only now.  Zoom  info below. The death count for the year stands at 149, which is a significant decrease over what it was it was last year (2023) when it was 185, and two years ago (2022) when it stood at 165.  However, in the years prior, the death rate was significantly lower still 132 for 2021, 100 for 2020, 71 for 2019.   Last week the County's 2024 federally mandated bi-annual homeless census (PIT Count) was released.  By the new numbers there were 7322 people who were homeless in Orange County, 4173 unsheltered in January 2024.  This is significantly up from the 5718 persons who were homeless, 3057 unsheltered counted in last PIT Count taken in January, 2022.  However, the 2022 figure always seemed...

  All are invited to a Zoom Interfaith Memorial Prayer Service on Tuesday, April 9th at 12:15 PM for the 33 people who died "Without Fixed Abode" in OC in March, 2024 as well as the 1 other who died in January, but whose death was recorded only now.  Zoom  info below. The death count for the first three months of the year stands at 120, last year (2023) it stood at 151, two years ago (2022) it was 123.  So it remains an improvement over last year.  However, in the years prior, the death rate was significantly lower still 100 for 2021, 66 for 2020, 52 for 2019.  During the same period of time, by the federally mandated PIT counts, the number of people who found themselves homeless was about the same or higher than it is now.  So despite declining from last year, the death rate among those who find themselves homeless in OC remains higher than it was in the recent past. And so we pray...   Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83641913998...

All are invited to a Zoom Interfaith Memorial Prayer Service on Tuesday, February 12th at 12:15 PM for the 33 people who died "Without Fixed Abode" in OC in February, 2024 as well as the 1 other who died in January, but whose death was recorded only now.  Zoom  info below. Despite some fairly heavy rains, the death toll for February was significantly lower than last year when it was 48 dead.  Still in 2019, the last year before COVID the February death toll was 20.   So our services may be getting better over last year, but the death toll remains far higher than it was only five years ago when there were arguably more people sleeping on our streets than today. And so we pray...   Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83641913998 Meeting ID: 836 4191 3998 One tap mobile +16699006833,,83641913998# Prayer Service Text --   https://tinyurl.com/ya9sojzk   The List of the Names of OC's Homeless Deceased in January 2024 - -   ht...

  All are invited to a Zoom Interfaith Memorial Prayer Service on Tuesday, February 13th at 12:15 PM for the 48 people who died "Without Fixed Abode" in OC in January as well as the 1 other who died in December, 2023, but whose death was recorded only now.  Zoom  info below. The numbers for January are exactly the same as they were last year, and the rains really hit hard only this past week, already in February.   There have been significant actions on the part of several of the County Supervisors -- Sarmiento followed by Chaffee -- in regards to homeless prevention.   This year however, the County hasn't (yet?) been able to stand up at least a few emergency shelters (it can't without constituent city cooperation, and that appears to be lacking).  So one fears what the next month will look like. And so we pray...   Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83641913998 Meeting ID: 836 4191 3998 One tap mobile +16699006833,,83641913998#...

  All are invited to a Zoom Interfaith Memorial Prayer Service on Thursday, January 11th (note the special day) at 12:15 PM for the 34 people who died "Without Fixed Abode" in OC in December, 2023 as well as the 2 others who died in November, 2023, but whose death was recorded only now.  Zoom    info below. All told, 499 people "without fixed abode" currently have died in the County this year (and as has been generally the case, 1-2 others will have died in December, who'll be remembered only next month, so the number will break 500 for the year).   Last year the death toll at this point in the year was 490.  This is a 5% increase for the year over last, and an equivalent of  8.7% of the County's homeless population (counted to be 5718 in the last PIT Count conducted in January 2022) died in this County in 2023, a mortality rate over twenty times (20x) higher than the mortality rate in the general population. Eulogy to Joseph Saenz: Finally, among...