Saint Bartholomew's March 2020 Newsletter
Saint Bartholomew Parish is a welcoming and inclusive Catholic Community of Faith. As disciples of Jesus Christ, we commit ourselves to sharing our Christian Faith as well as our time, talents, and resources for the welfare of all God’s people. Keep up with what is going on in our Parish by subscribing to our Monthly Newsletters, where we provide upcoming events to look forward to and highlight ministries within our parish! For more information, visit our website using the link below!
Recap and What's Coming
This past month, we had many social gatherings and celebrations. We came together in February to celebrate Chinese New Year - The Year of the Rat at the Hong Kong Flower Lounge. We want to give a huge thank you to the Friendship Club for organizing the annual event. It was a huge success and we had a wonderful turnout, meeting many of our parishioners there. We look forward to the next year's celebration.
We also had our first Confirmation 1 retreat that was led by our Youth Group Leaders. The theme of the retreat was "See Through Me." It was a wonderful opportunity for our Youth to lead, learn more about their faith, as well as share their faith with one other. The retreat had testimonies, talks, and prayer services where our Youth was able to learn more and dive deeper with their relationships with God. We hope to have more of these retreats, and continue to have our Youth lead them.
This past month our Youth Group attended the Anaheim Youth Day. Our Youth got to meet others from many different backgrounds throughout the Archdiocese – and beyond. They participated in attending speakers, exhibits, music, liturgy, and prayer that invited them deeper into their relationship with Christ. After the day, they had the chance to join others in a day at Disneyland. We hope to make this an annual event and have more of our Saint Bart's Youth attend! We also want to thank those who donated during the Pancake Breakfast! Because of you, we were able to attend the Youth Day.
Mark Your Calendars for our Upcoming Events!
Youth Mass, Sunday, March 8th, 5:30 pm

Saint Bart's celebrates a Youth Mass every second Sunday of the month at the 5:30 pm Mass. All are welcome! We are looking for youth participants to lead the mass including, singers, instrumentalists, lectors, collectors, altar servers and trained Eucharistic Ministers. If you are interested, please contact the Youth Minister Jacob Tolentino at jacob@barts.org.
Saint Patrick's Dinner, Friday, March 13th, 6:00 pm

Saint Bart's celebrates our Annual Saint Patrick's Dinner Dance! Join us with food, cocktails, and Irish dancing! RSVP by March 9th. Please make checks payable to Saint Bartholomew Church and mail to 600 Columbia Drive, San Mateo, CA, 94403. Please contact Mary Rock at mary@barts.org for further questions.
Youth Group Bowling Night, Saturday, March 14th

Save the Date! The St. Bart’s Youth Group will be having a bowling night! All Youth are invited to join in for a fun night. More details to come, please keep a look on the bulletin for more details! For more information, please contact our Youth Minister at jacob@barts.org.
Taize Prayer Service, Thursday, March 19th, 7:30 pm

Enhance your prayer this Lent! Join us in our Taize Prayer Service. The Taizé community is an ecumenical monastic order with a strong devotion to peace and justice through prayer and meditation. The 100-strong community of Roman Catholic and Protestant monks is drawn from 30 countries across the world. Music will be sung by our choir.
Lenten Outreach Project

This year, our St. Bartholomew parish project will support the St. Francis Center in Redwood City. It is asking for donations of new underwear and socks for adults and children, ages 6-17. Diapers (size 4 and 5) are also needed. During Lent, please place your donations in the collection bins in the church vestibule or the parish office. If you have any questions, please contact stbartslent2020@gmail.com. Thank you for your generosity! 
Want to know about more events?
Upcoming Lent Events
What can you do During Lent?

We will be hosting a four- part lecture series during this upcoming season of Lent. For this brief four-part lecture series we will dive down into the study of conversion, penance, and the Parable of the Prodigal Son, perhaps better understood as Two Lost Sons and the Compassionate Father. What we offer purposes to encourage deeper intimacy with God by appreciating how far we may truly be apart and how much joy we may be missing. We may be moved to discover that, while side by side with our confessor, we are heart to heart with our Lord. The four scheduled talks will survey as well the lives and challenges of three Doctors or Saints of the Church whose ministries and writings on the topic of conversion/ penance and whose expositions of the parable promise to enrich and deepen our appreciation of the hidden joy of Lent—coming to ourselves and coming home to God.

The series will be held at the Parish Center Auditorium from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on:
March 11th—Conversion, Penance, current reading of Luke 15:11-32
March 18th—Life and Ministry of St. Ambrose (4th. c) ; St. Ambrose on the parable
March 25th—Life and Ministry of St. Bonaventure (13th. c.); St. Bonaventure on the parable
April 1st—Life and Ministry of St. John Henry Newman (19th. c.); St. John Henry on the parable 

Other Events During Lent

  • Daily Masses in Lent - Monday through Friday at 8:00 a.m.
  • Stations of the Cross - Friday mornings following 8:00 a.m. Mass
  • Eucharistic Adoration - Friday, April 6th in the chapel following 8:00 a.m. Mass until 8:00 p.m.
  • Parish Reconciliation Service - Monday, April 6th in the church at 7:00 p.m.
Reminders
Online Donations
Saint Bart's uses We Share for Online Donations. We Share is simple, easy, and paperless! Sign up by visiting www.barts.org and click on the "We Share" logo to set up your weekly Sunday Collection Donations. Let's continue to support Saint Bat's and its ongoing mission.

Eucharistic Adoration
All are invited to contemplate, to adore, and to pray to Jesus Christ before the Blessed Sacrament every first Friday of the month. Hours of exposition are from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Please sign-up on-line here.

“So you could not keep watch with me for one hour? (Matthew 26:40)”
Ministry Spotlight
This is a personal journey one can take into the Old Testament while connecting the dots to the New Testament. It is an individual interpretation of the five books that we share in the group to deepen our relationship with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit through the word. Please join this ministry of faith sharing especially during this season of Lent.
For more information, contact Eleanor Britter at estjohn7@gmail.com
"The soul is in God and God is in the soul. God is closer to us than water is to a fish."
-Saint Catherine of Siena
Dear Lord,
We are now in the holy season of Lent. We begin to realize anew that these are the days of salvation, these are the acceptable days. We know that we are all sinners. We know that in many things we have all offended Your infinite majesty. We know that sin destroys Your life in us as a drought withers the leaves and chokes the life from the land, leaving an arid, dusty desert. Help us now, Lord, in our feeble attempts to make up for past sin. Bless our efforts with the rich blessing of Your grace. Make us realize ever more our need of penance and of mortification. Help us to see, in our ordinary difficulties and duties, in the trials and temptations of every day, the best opportunity of making up for past infidelities. Every day we are so often reminded in field and wood, in sky and stream, of Your own boundless generosity to us. Help us to realize that You are never outdone in generosity, and that the least thing we do for You will be rewarded, full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and flowing over. Then we shall see, in our own souls, how the desert can blossom, and the dry and wasted land can bring forth the rich, useful fruit that was expected of it from the beginning.
Amen.
Saint Bartholomew Catholic Church | 650-347-0701 | 600 Columbia Drive
 San Mateo, CA 94402 |  https://barts.org  ‌