A Word from Your Pastor June 3 Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

Dear Parishioners:

As June begins, we enter into a time of transition for many.  Graduates of all levels of education are moving into new experiences and adventures.  Families rejoice in the accomplishments of their students, and Schools and teachers and staffs express their hopes for those who have been under their guidance.  St. Timothy Parish and Staff offer our own congratulations to our graduates and to all who have worked with them to reach these new milestones.  Job well done!

Now the real work begins.  As we pass certain milestones, we experience the temptation to leave behind some of the basics.  Remember, the most basic reality and the one that will last for all Eternity, is your relationship with God.  Just as we need to keep working on physical health and to keep growing in knowledge and skills of an intellectual nature, we also need to attend to our spiritual health and knowledge and overall well-being.

Parents:  please continue to bring your children to church while they are in High School and College.  They need to see your example as you put God first in your own life.  Insist that your family will not be like those in the culture around us who treat God as irrelevant, or who postpone attendance at church until a “need” for it is experienced. 

Summer is a good time for leisure and vacation, but please don’t take a vacation from church attendance.  When you are out of town, find a Catholic church where you and your family can attend Mass and bring back a bulletin.  Be sure to make use of your envelopes for St. Timothy Church (or consider starting electronic transfer) for Stewardship, because the bills for your church home continue when you are away, just like your own do in your own household.

Children are invited to attend Mass on Sunday as we are all obligated by God’s own Command, and to come to a weekday Mass at 9 a.m. anytime through the summer.  We miss the voices of the children who are usually at Mass on Wednesdays during the School Year. 

To all, we wish a restful summer with continued growth in grace and in an understanding of God’s ways.

Celebrating our Golden Jubilee:  Getting to know Saint Timothy’s Community of Faith.

We are looking at St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, since Ephesus was the see where St. Timothy served as Bishop.  This may offer some perspectives on the Church and the Community among whom Timothy lived and ministered.

So be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma.  Immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be mentioned among you, as is fitting among holy ones, no obscenity or silly or suggestive talk, which is out of place, but instead, thanksgiving.  Be sure of this, that no immoral or impure or greedy person, that is, an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.  Let no one deceive you with empty arguments, for because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the disobedient. So do not be associated with them.  For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.  (Ephesians 5:1-8)

St. Paul’s invitation to the Ephesians to imitate God and to live in Love is as fresh today as it was when he wrote it.  The world and its temptations for believers may have changed in some modes of expression, but they are in truth the same as ever.  Immorality, impurity and greed still hold us through our fallen human nature.  The Kingdom of Christ and of God to which we belong is all about holiness and light.

This Week in Our History:  June 3-10

1963:   As his spiritual children we mourn the death of Pope John.  He was a great and good man and we thank God that the Church was blessed with his pontificate, short as it may have been. ..The external signs of mourning in the black draping will continue until the election of a new pope.

During this past week we completed the purchase of the property immediately to the east of us consisting of 3.4 acres.  Our property now extends beyond the run and tree line on the East and gives us a total of 11 acres.  The purchase price was $18,000.

School uniform selected for boys – black trousers, long sleeved light blue shirt, black tie.  The girl’s uniform is on display this morning in the Parish Hall.  Uniforms will be available at the Union, Lane Avenue Store.

1964:   Graduation of our first eighth grade class will take place on Thursday, June 11^th, at 7:30 pm.  Graduates Mass will be on Thursday morning at 9:00.

1965:   The new flagpole gracing the church grounds is the contribution of the Men’s Club.  Our thanks to them for this fine addition to the property.

Since the opening of our adult parish library, we find the following list of books among the best read:  “With Love from Karen”, ”Water in the Wine”, “The Vine and the Olive”, “Padre Pio”, “Psychoanalysis Today”, “Three Great Books by Thomas Dooley”, “Be Not Afraid”, “The Emerging Layman”, “Mind of the Catholic Layman”, “Seeds of Contemplation”, “Thinking Life Through”.  Librarian for the month of June is Rita Ries.  Books can be borrowed after all the Masses every Sunday.

1966:   Newly baptized:  Mark Joseph, son of M/M Gerald Atanasoff; Christopher Dennis, son of M/M Dennis Longwell

1968:   Mr. Robert Kennedy is commended to your prayers.  We pray that our country may not erupt further in violence.  President Johnson has asked that this be a day of prayer.

Dennis and Ann Kelly, members of this parish, have gone to Peru to work in PAVLA, the Papal Volunteers Service, which does apostolic work.   We are proud of the work they have undertaken and we hope to hear from them of their work and to take part in it by aid from our parish.

The beautiful flower plot at the entrance to our building is the work of several ladies of the parish who have the help of DeSantis Florists.

1969:   The first Parish Council meeting will take place on Monday evening, June 16, in the parish hall at 7:30 pm.

1970:   Men’s Club officers for 1970-71: Bill Bringardner, President; Larry Kabealo, President-Elect; Jerry Leesman, Secretary; Joe Tortorello, Treasurer.

The Men’s Club wishes to announce to all parishioners that St. Timothy’s football, basketball, and baseball teams won league championships for an unprecedented sweep.  The Men’s Club sponsors these sports through dances, patron books, and other activities.  We thank all of you for your cooperation.

1971:   This week’s Catholic Times contains several stories which describe how the church has officially changed its attitude toward the press, the television industry and the various communications media.  An important new Vatican pastoral instruction calls for freedom of expression and respect for every person’s right to be informed correctly and honestly.

One hundred thousand abortions were performed in New York City in the first nine months of legalized abortion.   One half of these were non-residents.  At least thirty percent of non-residents were Ohioans.

With help, guidance and encouragement, these women would have sought an alternate solution to their problems. Our area needs an organization that can offer such alternatives.  Birthright, Inc. is the organization and it needs you.  Its creed is “The right of every mother to give birth; the right of every child to be born.”  Please help stop this needless slaughter of the unborn.  For information, contact Mrs. John Hoelker.

1975:   Our congratulations to M/M William Davis, M/M Robert Essman, M/M Robert Hathaway, M/M Alfred Sanese, and M/M James Spillers who are celebrating their 25^th wedding anniversaries this year with a Mass with Bishop Herrmann at the Cathedral.

1980:   One of our school pianos is badly in need of refinishing, having suffered through wild parties in the cafeteria.  Is anyone interested in doing the work?  See Father DeVille.

1982:   This afternoon at 2 o’clock the parish will gather to celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving on the occasion of the “burning of the mortgage”.  Following the Mass, we will gather on the parish lawn to symbolically burn the mortgage and rejoice in the retirement of the parish debt.  An Open-House Family Reception will follow.

We shall offer special prayers for Father Augustine Winkler, founding pastor of our parish, and remember with gratitude his tireless efforts and the spirit which he shared with St. Timothy Parish.

1983:   Friends of Mike Dorrian (Democratic County Commissioner and a long time member of St. Timothy Church) are planning to honor him and help his campaign for Mayor of Columbus with a party, June 11 at 8:00 pm in the cafeteria.  For tickets and information, call Jane Haney.

1985:   To All Cafeteria Volunteers:  I did not want to leave without saying “thank you” for making my past eleven years here at St. Timothy so pleasant.

A school cafeteria cannot operate without its volunteers, and because of you, we have the best in the city.  You’ve worked hard without complaining (well, not too much), and I thank you for it.
I’ll miss all of you,
                                                                        Ann Bubenchik

1996:   Congratulations to Michael Flanagan of St. Timothy, who was married to Kathleen Lee o June 1^st at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church.

1999:    Please remember in your prayers Hilda Swain who was buried this past week.  May she rest in peace.

2005:   We congratulate Jeff Pond and Shannon Sergent, and Matt Pusateri and Lindsey Trout, who were recently married at St. Timothy.

2006:   Remember in your prayers, Patty Grady, who died last week.  May she rest in peace.  (Patty was the daughter of founding members Andy and Joanne Andracki and a 1976 graduate of St. Timothy School.)

2007:   The Church’s position, supported by reason and science, is clear:  the human embryo is a subject identical to the human being which will be born at the term of its development.  Consequently, whatever violates the integrity and the dignity of the embryo is ethically inadmissible.  Similarly, any form of scientific research which treats the embryo as a laboratory specimen is unworthy of man.

                                                                                           Pope John Paul II

2010:   Please remember in your prayers Tony Caserta, a former parishioner who died last week and was buried in Marion.  May he rest in peace.

2011:   Congratulations to Kristina Davis and Steve Crossin who will be married on Saturday, June 11^th at 6:30 pm.

Additional members of the newly-formed Bereavement Ministry Team :  Andea Graves, Vicki Foley, Julia (Betts) Randall, Mary Beth Benecke, Mary Zeehandelar, Allana Salimbene