Weekend of June 17-18, 2023

Dear Friends,

With the close of school for the 2022-2023 academic year, our summer season is officially in full swing. I congratulate our eighth grade graduates, who received their diplomas and celebrated a beautiful graduation Mass this past Wednesday, as well as our Pre-K and Kindergarten students, all of whom graduated the previous Friday. I also want to recognize and congratulate our high school graduates, especially those who graduated from our diocesan high schools. As a parish community, we are very proud of all of you, and we pray that God’s choicest blessings will be with you, as you celebrate your achievements and begin a new chapter in your lives.

I am very happy to officially welcome to Saint Timothy’s and Saint Bartholomew’s Mr. Robert Hutz. Bob is a seminarian at our diocesan seminary of Saint Charles Borromeo in Overbrook, and he has been assigned to live and work with us for the summer. Bob will be beginning his theological studies this coming September after having completed his college studies at the seminary last month. Bob’s home parish is Our Lady of Calvary. Some of you have already met Bob, but I know all of you will offer Bob a warm welcome. We are so happy to have Bob with us for these summer months!

This coming Thursday, June 22, we will be hosting in Saint Timothy’s upper church a special prayer service sponsored by the Fraternal Order of Police’s Michael the Archangel Ministry. In this special prayer service, which will begin at 7:00 P.M., we will unite for peace, petitioning God to ensure the safety of our children as they begin their summer vacation, and expressing our gratitude for the dedication and protection provided by our police officers. We, in conjunction with the FOP, have invited all the parishes in Northeast Philadelphia, as well as the clergy and members of other denominations and synagogues. Please join us on Thursday evening at 7:00 as we invoke the blessing of God on all of us, but especially our young people and our police officers, as we begin these summer months.

            We are once again sponsoring a Parish Raffle fundraiser. You should have received a mailing in your home, containing a cover letter from me and five raffle tickets. I would like to explain this fundraiser.

            We are participating in this fundraiser with several other Catholic parishes and institutions. We are asking for a donation of $25 for each raffle ticket, and are asking you to please consider purchasing the raffle tickets for yourself, or selling them to family members, neighbors, or friends. The purchaser keeps the right half of the ticket. The left half of the ticket, along with the payment, should be placed in the envelope enclosed in the mailing for return. We also ask you to include any unsold tickets in the return envelope. All tickets and money should be returned by August 1.

            The raffle will be drawn on Saturday, August 12, 2023 at 8:00 P.M. and can be viewed live at www.parishraffle.com.The prizes for the raffle are excellent. They are all American Express gift cards, and there are 23 prizes in total. The first prize is a $30,000 gift card; the second prize is a $10,000 gift card; the third prize is an $8,000 gift card; and there are twenty $1,000 prizes.  

I am asking every registered family or individual to participate in this important fundraiser. Besides the excellent prizes, the proceeds are of great benefit to our parish. Again, I am respectfully asking everyone to either purchase the tickets that were included in the mailing or to sell the tickets to someone else. If you didn’t receive the mailing, or would like more tickets to either purchase or sell, there are more tickets available at the rectory.

            Thank you in advance for your goodness, and for your willingness to participate in this important fundraiser in support of our great parish.

            Know that you and those you love are daily remembered in my Mass and my prayers.

                                                                                    Love and prayers,
                                                                                    Father Olivere