Weekend of March 5-6th, 2022
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PASTOR’S LETTER FOR WEEKEND OF MARCH 5-6, 2022
Dear Friends,
As most of you know by this time, I have been appointed by Archbishop Perez the Parochial Administrator of Saint Bartholomew Parish, effective March 12. You may recall that, twice in the past several years, I was Parochial Administrator of Saint Martin of Tours Parish. The title “Parochial Administrator” basically means that I have all the rights and duties of the Pastor, without the title. I have been asked to do this because the present Pastor of Saint Bartholomew, Father John LaRosa, has been granted early retirement by Archbishop Perez because of ill-health.
As I said at the Masses last weekend, this new appointment of mine will not have too much of an effect on you, the parishioners of Saint Timothy. It is a stark reality, however, to consider the fact that essentially I am the only priest assigned to two parishes (Father Noone and Father Buck are considered residents, so they don’t count!). You know me well enough to know that I’ll make this work. Please keep Father LaRosa, the good people of Saint Bartholomew, and me in your prayers, and please keep praying for an increase in vocations to the priesthood.
This past October, our Holy Father, Pope Francis, officially convoked a Synod on Synodality. With this Synod, the entire Church is embarking on a journey, which follows in the wake of the Church’s “renewal” proposed by the Second Vatican Council. This journey is both a gift and a task: by journeying together and reflecting together on the journey that has been made, the Church will be able to learn through her experience which processes can help her to live communion, to achieve participation, to open herself to mission.
Each diocese throughout the world will carry out the Synodal Process in a way that best responds to their local circumstances. In the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, we are working with Catholic Leadership Institute to implement the Disciple Maker Index (DMI) survey at every parish in the Archdiocese from March 2 to April 4, 2022. The DMI survey is a nationally recognized survey administered at parishes around the United States and Canada since 2013 by The Catholic Leadership Institute. The survey will ask you to reflect on your own spiritual growth and will enable you to provide feedback on our parish’s efforts to help you grow. All responses are confidential and the parish will only receive information on the community as a whole. Maximum participation in the DMI is encouraged to involve the greatest number of people as possible. I ask everyone to please take the time to participate in the DMI. It will take about ten minutes of your time, and will greatly assist us in pastoral planning both here at Saint Timothy’s and on the archdiocesan level. We will receive the results this spring/summer at which time I will share what we have learned with the entire parish.
To take the Disciple Maker Index survey, please use the link below:
https://www.catholicleaders.org/phila-dmi
PLEASE NOTE: When you open the link you will see a list of all the parishes in the Archdiocese. Please select our parish (Saint Timothy, Philadelphia) to complete the Disciple Maker Index survey.
If you prefer a paper copy of the survey, you may pick up a paper copy after daily or Sunday Mass. The paper copies of the survey will be located in both the upper and lower churches beginning this weekend (the weekend of March 5-6). A printable version of the survey (in multiple languages) is also available at https://portal.catholicleaders.org/d/yd170y
To submit the completed paper survey, please drop it off at the rectory. To make special arrangements for getting a paper copy, please contact Annmarie or Tom at (215) 624-6188.
I call your attention to a few Lenten highlights:
- In addition to our regularly-scheduled daily Masses, there will be an extra Mass celebrated each week on Wednesday at 7:00 P.M., followed by confessions;
- Stations of the Cross every Friday evening at 7:00;
- a Triduum in Honor of Saint Joseph, which will be celebrated from Monday, March 14th through Wednesday, March 16th at 7:00 P.M.; each evening’s services include the Triduum prayers, a homily, and Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament; our homilist will be Father Eric Banecker, Pastor of Saint Francis De Sales Parish in University City;
- our Lenten adult faith formation program, which will be held every Monday of Lent at 7:00 P.M. in the Rectory. This year’s topic is Catholicism: The Pivotal Players, Part III. We will once again be using the acclaimed series of the same name by Bishop Robert Barron as our starting-point for discussion each week, as we discover more about several important figures in Church history and their importance to the Church today;
- we will, once again, be participating as a parish family in 24 Hours for the Lord, an initiative called for by Pope Francis, with Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament beginning on Friday, March 25th at 4:00 P.M. until Saturday, March 26th at 4:00 P.M. in our lower church; confessions will be heard on Saturday, March 26thfrom 9:00 A.M. - 10:00 A.M., from 12:00 Noon - 2:00 P.M., and from 3:15 - 4:15 P.M.; there will be a chart in the church for you to sign up, in half-hour increments, for periods of adoration; our goal is for the Blessed Sacrament not to be left alone during this twenty-four hour period.
Please remember your Little Black Books, your Lenten quarter folders, and your Rice Bowls, all of which are available at the church entrances.
Know that you and those you love are daily remembered in my Mass and my prayers.
Love and prayers,
Father Olivere