Welcome to St. Martin of Tours Parish !

- From Your Pastor -

Father John Meyers

Fr. Meyers' Installation Mass

My dear people,

     As a pastor I am required to handle not only spiritual matters but also temporal ones. Of the two, the latter I find much more difficult. This is why I was so eager to announce a few weeks ago that we are, by all indications at the time, in the black as a parish, including the school, until I came to see three pieces of information that tell a very different story:

· The first is the $40,000.00 shortfall in contributions expected from our parish school families this past calendar year, which I mentioned previously.

· The 2nd is that we are owed over $72,000.00 in unpaid tuition at this time, making optimism very difficult for the remainder of the school year.

· We recently received the recommended teacher salaries for the coming school year and I need to say that our teachers are being paid well under the scale recommended for the current year.

     Please keep these matters in prayer and should you find public commentaries on Facebook or anywhere else, please interject these facts into the conversation to balance the kind of talk that seems to be going around the community. Thank you for your support.

- Fr. John

     One of the many delightful things I have learned about this parish is our presence on the Internet. Facebook also has a parish presence as well. While I don’t have a lot of time to spend on the Internet, it is nice to know that we are well represented there. I want to encourage you to share this information with family and friends.

Sadly, the Internet has a lot of content that is unhealthy for human consumption, but there are a few things I'd like to share with you that have been helpful to me:

· SACRED SPACE – is a site developed and maintained by the Irish Jesuits that offers a very simple plan for daily meditation based on the scriptures of the liturgical year. While I cannot claim to use it every day, I do have it set as my “home page” as a way to keep this valuable tool for personal prayer handy. I have never used it without great benefit and I am sure that you will find it helpful as well.

· REAL CATHOLIC TV – A series of messages regarding the present and future state of the Catholic Church may sometimes seem a bit harsh, but Michael Voris does have a message form a lay point of view that deserves to be heard.

· THE VATICAN also has a very interesting website that deserves attention. Pope Benedict has been teaching a great deal on a wide range of subjects that deserve our attention.

Enjoy!

May 1, 2011 was Mercy Sunday. It was also the beatification of Karol Josef Wojtyla, Blessed John Paul II. It was on Mercy Sunday of 2001 that Pope John Paul II designated Divine Mercy Sunday a celebration for the universal Church.

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CALL TO CONVERSION AND HOLINESS

In the pastoral letter Called to Conversion and Holiness, the pastoral initiatives currently in process in the archdiocese are shared. Throughout the history of the Church in Philadelphia we see the faith of past generations as a rich heritage which encourages us to recommit ourselves to the faith and recognize our place in history. We are called to recognize the challenges our generation faces as the Church in Philadelphia.

You are invited to read the Pastoral Letter that can be found here or on the website of the Archdiocese. The letter in brochure form is here.

Come to church this week ...

Try it - You’ll like it!

Daily Readings

SMT is on Facebook !

Volunteers Needed..

We are in need of volunteers to maintain our appearance and enhance our liturgies - painters, cleaners, singers and musicians. Whatever your talent, we'd love to have you! All are welcomed! Please contact the following people if you are able to help.

Decorating the Church - S. Elizabeth Sewing Liturgical Items - S. Elizabeth
Cleaning/Painting/Repairs - Mr. Rick Kirk Lectors - Fr. Small CYO/Altar Servers - Fr. Cooke School Volunteers - S. Stephen Frances Gardening - Barbara Knobbs
Singers & Musicians - Darlene Silbering

S. Eileen can always use volunteers for various odd jobs. Please call the rectory if you are interested at: (215) 535-2962

Thank You !

GOING GREEN AT SMT !

Attention School Families and Parishioners:

Job well done!

Our Paper Recycling Program is doing well..

April '10       $ 128.05

May                  $ 183.40

June                $ 169.80

July                  $ 161.20

August            $ 194.80

September    $ 185.60

October          $ 211.50

November      $ 169.60

December      $ 199.40

January '11   $ 201.00

February        $ 165.80

March              $ 118.05

This is another way of helping your Parish and School.

Keep up the good work!

Bring all your old paper, newspapers and magazines to the SMT Parking Lot. You'll find a HUGE BIN to deposit your waste paper. Turn your TRASH into CASH and help SMT raise some much needed funds!

Click above to download a copy

Click on the above letter to download a copy for yourself. You can use it to encourage others to bring their old newspapers, magazines etc. to our bin!

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We invite all to deposit their household paper, newspapers, catalogs, magazines, old mail, school and office papers.

Bins are for everyone in the community to use!

RECTORY OFFICE HOURS

Monday through Friday: 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM

Saturday: 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM

Sunday: 9:00 AM to 1:30 PM

SCRIP PROGRAM - CLICK HERE

Come See Sandy Zaleski for all your

Notary Public Needs !

Monday to Friday from 9AM to 4PM

in the Rectory Office

(or email Sandy for More Information)

sandy.zaleski@smtparish.org

ATTENTION: ALL SMT ALUMNI !!

We are in the process of updating our Alumni Database.

Many of the email addresses that we have are invalid.

Please take a moment and update your contact information,

even if you believe our records are accurate.

CLICK HERE FOR THE UPDATE FORM

Thank You !

THE KING'S MEN GROUP at SMT

Wednesday Evenings - from 7:15 to 9:00 P.M.

MEN: If you are interested and would like more information,

please contact any of the following:

Charles Hunt         hunt9906@comcast.net                215-535-5920

Joe Henwood         poppyjoe530@comcast.net           215-535-5742

Mark Pennington    mpennington1@hotmail.com        484-213-2467

We meet in the rectory conference room

Click here for Parish Announcements & Current Events!

Schedules for Altar Servers, Extraordinary Ministers, Lectors & Ushers

Click for New Photo Pages