In honor of its patron’s feast day, the diverse community of St. Bartholomew Church, Elmhurst, gathered to celebrate with a bilingual Mass Aug. 24.
The parish, founded around 1906 to honor the apostle and martyr, has a special celebration on the feast day every year. About 800 parishioners joined 17 priests and many women religious in celebrating the saint. Father Patrick Keating, formerly assigned to the parish, returned to concelebrate with Father Richard Beuther, pastor, and to preach the homily.
“I was blessed to have been part of this great parish for many years,” said Father Keating, who serves as chief of staff for Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens and as CEO of Catholic Migration Services. “St. Bartholomew is a very special place because of the faith of the people at the parish.”
St. Bartholomew also is referred to as Nathaniel in the Gospel of John, declaring Jesus was the Son of God in one instance and being one of the apostles to whom Jesus appeared after His resurrection. Though not much is known about this apostle after Jesus’ Ascension, tradition says that he preached in India and Armenia and died a martyr, being skinned alive for converting people to Jesus.
The Gospel passage of the day explained Phillip introduced Nathaniel (Bartholomew) to Jesus, and Jesus said of him, “Here is a true child of Israel. There is no duplicity in him.”
Preaching in English and Spanish, Father Keating said that just as St. Phillip tells Bartholomew about Jesus, all of the faithful “from the oldest to the youngest are called to share our faith with others.”
“We live in a world that tells us not to speak of faith, to be afraid,” he said. “We must not be afraid of our faith; we must trust in God.”
Before becoming a disciple, Bartholomew asked Phillip, “Can anything good come form Nazareth?” yet he went on to have an encounter with Jesus.
“We must go to Jesus even when we doubt, even when we question,” Father Keating said. “Christ will give us strength. … We must be like St. Bartholomew and go to Jesus each day.”
This message inspired Maria Transito, who had moved to the area about a month ago.
“Those words touch me because they are an invitation to find Jesus within us,” she said in Spanish.
Showcasing the diversity of the parish, the prayers of the faithful at the Mass were read in Indonesian, Tagalog, Spanish, French, Hindi, Bengali, Chinese and English.
“It is a very active parish, it’s bringing a lot of conversions here,” said Michael McNamara, who has been a parishioner since he was married there in 1956.
McNamara, a Korean War veteran and former NYPD officer, said that his five children all went to St. Bartholomew School and still remember the parish as a second home when they get together.
He added that he has not missed even one of the annual feast day celebrations.
“We have prayed for St. Bartholomew to intercede for us and he has come through,” McNamara said.
After Mass, parishioners took pictures with the images of St. Bartholomew and later gathered for refreshments from the parishioners’ countries of origin.
“I have been blessed by this community at St. Bartholomew,” said Father Gregorius Nugroho, a visiting priest from Indonesia who is studying in New York. “We are a small Indonesian community and the church accepts us as we are.”
Another priest who was invited to the feast day celebration was Msgr. Michael Reid, diocesan vicar for financial administration and econome, who had been a priest at the parish in 1978.
Parishioners Erlinda Catimbahg and Marie Liwah were happy to celebrate the annual feast day as newly professed Third Order Lay Carmelites.
“We came to celebrate St. Bartholomew on his feast day and to thank him for all his blessings and inspiration,” Catimbahg said.
I went to school at St Barts, I received First Holy communion there, was Confirmed there and was married there. It is one of the most beautiful churches i ever belonged to