Weekend of February 3-4, 2024

Dear Friends,

You will find in this bulletin an insert with a letter from me and a financial report for Saint Timothy’s Parish for the fiscal year spanning July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023 (Saint Bartholomew’s financial report will be forthcoming).

This report reflects the fact that, despite many challenges, Saint Timothy’s is in a relatively good financial position as a parish. Your generosity, especially in the Sunday offertory each week, is vital to our financial sustainability, and I am grateful that so many of you make your weekly sacrificial contribution a priority. I am also grateful that, not in this past fiscal year, but in the previous two or three years, several folks remembered us in their wills, leaving us bequests that have significantly assisted us financially in many ways, both for the present and for the future.

I remind you once again, as I have in the past, that we have achieved an important financial goal of mine: Blessed Trinity School is now financially independent from Saint Timothy Parish and from the other parishes who send children to our school. Our school is presently in a strong financial position, allowing us to discontinue the subsidy of the parish(es) to the school (you will recall the fact that, for many years, much of our parish’s financial resources were used to keep Saint Timothy and, later, Blessed Trinity School sustainable). This is truly a great achievement, and it was a goal that was reached along with a strong student enrollment and the dedication of a phenomenal administration and faculty.

We still have our challenges, the principal one being the fact that our parish population continues to decrease, thus decreasing our revenue, and the fact that a large percentage of our registered parishioners/households do not support the parish financially. While trying our best to address these issues, I ask you to read my letter and the financial report carefully, especially since our successes and our achievements far outweigh these challenges.

I would once again be remiss if I didn’t publically thank Tom Sullivan, our parish Business Manager. Tom’s hard work, organizational skills, and financial acumen have had much to do with our financial success. Tom, as well as Lex Nugent, Annmarie Haag, and the members of our finance council, deserve our praise and gratitude.

This weekend, the Archdiocese officially kicks-off the 2024 CATHOLIC CHARITIES APPEAL, the theme of which is Giving Hope to All. The Catholic Charities Appeal reaches out to those among us with special needs, and the fact that the Archdiocese is the single largest provider of social services in the Delaware Valley is a testament to its far-reaching effects.

I take this opportunity to sincerely thank everyone who made a contribution to the 2023 Catholic Charities Appeal. Your sacrifices make a difference, believe me, and on behalf of Archbishop Perez and the many people in need who are the direct beneficiaries of your goodness through the work of Catholic Social Services, I thank you.

I now ask you to please prayerfully consider making a sacrificial gift to this year’s Appeal, for this very important campaign of the Archdiocese, which directly helps our ministries to those who are most poor and vulnerable. Every gift counts, and it is my hope that every family and wage earner will make a significant contribution to this year’s campaign, as their means allow. Our parish goal for Saint Timothy’s is $21,864 and for Saint Bartholomew’s is $11,165. Both of these goals are unchanged from the past couple years.  I sincerely believe that our parish goals can be met, and even exceeded, if everyone does his or her fair share.

I remind you that Catholic Charities is no longer a second collection in church, like so many other special collections we take throughout the year. It is now a direct mail campaign that basically lasts for a whole year. You should have received a mailing from the Archdiocesan Catholic Charities office, containing a campaign brochure and a gift/pledge card, along with an envelope within which you would be able to send your gift or pledge. The Archdiocese prefers you to use this direct-mail method to make your Catholic Charities gift. In light of this preference, I would ask you not to place your Catholic Charities contribution in the collection basket in church. Thank you for your cooperation and your understanding. (If you did not receive a Catholic Charities mailing from the Archdiocese, there are extra pledge cards/envelopes available on the tables at the entrances to the church.)

I invite you to pray, once a week, as an individual or as a family, the official 2024 Catholic Charities Appeal prayer:

God, our Father, we thank you for all the gifts and blessings
that you give out of your love for us all.                                                                                                               
You call us to open our hearts to share what we have been given.
Grant that through giving to the Catholic Charities Appeal,
we may bring joy, hope and strength to those most in need.
Our charity towards those in need is a real way in which
we show our gratitude and love for you.
Through this year’s Catholic Charities Appeal,
may we help as many people as we can, including
a young person striving to learn and grow in Faith;
a deaf child receiving a quality Catholic Education;
a veteran who is struggling with homelessness;
a parish carrying out vital local missionary work;
a retired priest who has dedicated his life to the needs of the faithful.
Help us to do all we can to make sure
the “poor have their fill” of your blessings.
We ask this through our Lord, Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
God for ever and ever. Amen.

OUR LADY OF CHARITY, PRAY FOR US.
SAINT KATHARINE DREXEL, PRAY FOR US.
SAINT JOHN NEUMANN, PRAY FOR US.

Because February 3^rd is the Memorial of Saint Blaise, Bishop and Martyr, who is the patron of those suffering from ailments of the throat, we will be blessing throats at all the Masses this weekend.

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

                                                                                    Love and prayers,

                                                                                    Father Olivere