Weekend of November 11-12, 2023

Dear Friends,

Next Saturday, November 18, our Blessed Trinity School will be hosting our first Christmas Bazaar Bash in our gym from 10:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. It will be a day of fun which will include vendors, raffle baskets, crafts and games. The kitchen will be open, and besides all the other goodies you can treat yourself to, there will be a hot chocolate/coffee/and s’mores bar. Get ready for the approaching holidays with a fun day with all of us here at Saint Tim’s/Blessed Trinity. Be sure to bring your family and friends.

During this month of November, the Archdiocese is kicking-off our annual seminary appeal, for the benefit of our present seminarians, as well as to ensure the future of our great seminary of Saint Charles Borromeo. For well over 150 years, the seminary has been located in Overbrook/Wynnewood, Montgomery County. As of this summer, the campus will be moving to Gwynedd Valley, where it will be located at the end of the property of Gwynedd-Mercy University. This historic move will begin a new chapter in the long life of this pivotal diocesan institution, an entity which is, in every way, the heart of the Archdiocese, since it forms and trains our future priests.  

This year’s appeal’s theme is Saint Charles Seminary: For today. For tomorrow. For all of us.  We are reminded, especially in this theme, that the seminary exists not just to prepare future priests, but to also prepare future permanent deacons and their wives for ministry, and to educate lay women and men in theological studies, especially for their work in Church ministries, such as teaching or other forms of pastoral service. You should have received a direct mailing from the seminary for this annual appeal, and may use the envelope enclosed in your mailing to send your contribution directly to the seminary, which is the preferred method. For those of you who didn’t receive this mailing from the seminary, or misplaced it, there are extra envelopes available in the vestibule of the church for your convenience. Mr. Robert Hutz, our seminarian who was assigned to us this past summer, and who is with us for the current school year on Thursdays along with Mr. Caleb Hansen, will be speaking to us about the seminary at all the Masses this weekend. I ask you, as always, to be as generous as possible in this important annual appeal. Thank you in advance for your generous sacrificial gift.

Also this weekend the good folks are here from Bethlehem Olive Wood Carvers. These faith-filled residents of the Holy Land are here to sell their beautifully carved statues, plaques, and other religious articles, all made from genuine olive wood from the Holy Land. Our support of their good work supports in a direct way the Church in the land in which Jesus himself lived, and truly makes a difference in the lives of the faithful Christians who call that land home. The need of these good and faithful people is always great, but especially in this time of war and desolation, their need is intensified. I thank you in advance for your goodness to them, for any purchase you make, large or small, is a help to them.




Next Sunday, November 19, at the 9:15 Mass, our Confirmation candidates will officially begin their journey to this great sacrament with the Rite of Acceptance as Candidates for Confirmation. Our young people will receive this Sacrament of Initiation next spring at the hands of Bishop Michael J. Fitzgerald. Please pray for them as they begin in earnest their preparation to be confirmed.

Our Book of the Names of the Dead is now open. The book is placed by the baptismal font in Saint Timothy’s upper church, and by the baptismal font in Saint Bartholomew’s Church. You are invited to write the names of your beloved dead in this book so that all of us may pray for all the faithful departed. This book will be enshrined in our churches throughout the month of November.

The All Souls envelopes, upon which you are able to write the names of your beloved deceased, have been placed next to the tabernacles in our churches, and will remain there throughout the month of November, as a reminder that we remember all the faithful departed, especially in the Eucharistic Sacrifice. There are extra envelopes available at all the doors of the church.

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

                                                                                    Love and prayers,
                                                                                    Father Olivere