St. Bartholomew Church

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

This past week we celebrated the Sacrament of Reconciliation with our First Communicants. The children were so excited to receive this beautiful sacrament of God's love for them. In the sacrament the children expressed their sorrow for their sins and experienced the mercy flowing from the Cross and Resurrection of Our Savior Lord Jesus Christ. We are so blessed to have so many wonderful families here at Saint Bartholomew.

With this in mind I want to take this opportunity to express my gratitude for our excellent Religous Education program, especially our sacramental program which involves our school and religious education students. Thanks to Barbara Fitzgerald, Linda Carulli, and all our catechists and teachers for their dedicated service to our parish community.

This Monday, January 23, I willl celebrate a 6:30am Mass for all of those who are traveling to Washington DC for the Right to Life March. Please continue to pray for our nation that all human life may be protected from conception until natural death.

In Christ,

Fr. Thomas

[read more from previous From the Pastor's Desk articles]

ServiceworX is a week-long summer program guiding middle school students to explore their Catholic faith through service to those in need. Through ServiceworX, we are offering our youth a precious resource - a faith that speaks to their lives and helps them navigate the world in which they live.

Join us for an information session ... Sunday, January 22, 2012 in the Parish Hall at 11:00 am.

Please email ejones@stbartseb.com or bfitzgerald@stbartseb.com for more information.

- download a flyer -

To date, the Development Department has received pledges totaling $125,969.01 and payments totaling $114,772.12 from 602 parishioners. This represents82.4% of our $152,800.00 goal.

Thank you for your efforts. The campaign continues through the Spring of 2012, so it's not too late to make a gift.

Did you know that there is more than one way to give to the Bishop's Annual Appeal?

1. Make a pledge and spread out your payments - donate online by going to the Diocese's website
2. Have your donation matched by your company with a Corporate matching gift.
3. Make a one-time gift.
4. Give a gift of appreciated stocks or securities.

No matter the way you choose, we thank you. Every gift is appreciated and every gift is important.

Thank you to all who have switched their electric supply to Viridian. You are not only saving money but you are supporting our parish. And you have made a difference by contributing to a greener and cleaner environment.

For those who have switched ... Viridian is now offering natural gas. This is another opportunity for you to save money and help St. Bartholomew Parish. By law, under the New Jersey Energy Choice Program, you have the right to choose your energy supplier.

St. Bartholomew will receive $20 for any customer who switches his gas supply over to Viridian by the end of February 29, 2012?

Please see our bulletin for more details and information ...

Saint Bartholomew's Parish has signed up with Viridian Energy so that everyone supplied by Viridian under the St. Bartholomew's umbrella will enable St. Bartholomew's to earn $2 per month.

Viridian has similar programs with the University of Connecticut, Immaculate HS and Waterbury Hospital.

Viridian is a Green Energy Company that has proven to save you money by switching to them.

• There is no monthly fee and no enrollment fee
• No cancellation fee
• No long-term contracts

Over 125 parishioners are saving with Viridian.

To sign up:

Go to www.viridian.com/stbartsenergy

Click Become a Customer in the upper right corner of the page. You should have your current utility bill to complete the online form.

You can also enroll over the phone by calling (866) 663-2508. Please provide the associate with St. Bart's ID number: 4701 so the parish receives credit.