At St. Timothy in Mayfair, family comes first

FOR ALMOST 90 years, St. Timothy's Roman Catholic Church in Mayfair has focused on families: the ones people are born into and the ones they create through their church, their school or even (this being St. Tim in Mayfair) their CYO team.

In an era of shrinking congregations, St. Tim's still routinely draws 1,000 worshippers on an average Sunday. More than 3,500 families consider it their church home. Its youth sports program keeps its gymnasium in use almost every night of the year

The Rev. Michael Olivere said visitors new to the church will find a warm and welcoming community. "You'll be impressed by the family atmosphere, which pervades who we are at St. Timothy's," he said.

Where we worship: St. Timothy's Roman Catholic Church is at 3001 Levick St.

Weekend Masses are held Saturdays at 4:30 p.m. and Sundays at 6:30, 8:30 and 10 a.m., and noon. Weekday Masses are at 6:30 and 8:30 a.m.

The church was founded in 1928, when Mayfair was mostly open fields, Olivere said. The cornerstone of the post-Gothic building was laid in 1949. Large stained glass windows depict the lives of saints.

What we believe: That there is one God and that his son, Jesus Christ, "is the instrument by which people can be saved," Olivere said. "Ultimately, it is through the church that we believe we will gain eternal life with God in heaven."

One of the ways the church accomplishes this is through the celebration of the sacraments, and "the sacramental life of the church is very important here," he said. "We have . . . a lot of baptisms, a lot of funerals and weddings. A good number of people celebrate the sacraments daily or weekly."

Go, Tigers! Before its recent merger with Bridesburg's St. John Cantius School to become Blessed Trinity Regional Catholic School, St. Tim's K-8 school sent more than 100,000 students to high school with a strong religious education. At its peak, St. Tim's grade school had more than 3,000 students. Today, the regional school has about 600.

Loyal alumni gather annually at the school's Tigers Roar at the Shore reunion. The most recent gathering, last weekend in North Wildwood, drew hundreds.

Scrimping and Scrip-ing: Tuition is now about $3,000 annually. "It's a big sacrifice for parents to send their children to Blessed Trinity or any Catholic school nowadays," Olivere acknowledged.

One way they offset the costs is by using Scrip, a national program that bills itself as "fundraising while you shop." Families can buy various store gift cards through the school, and a portion of the sale - between 1 and 8 percent - goes toward a student's tuition and the school's bottom line.

"A lot of our people benefit from this, and it's a significant way for people to pay their tuition," Olivere said.

Something that may surprise people: St. Timothy's Convent is still home to 10 Sisters of St. Joseph nuns. For years, this order taught at the school. Now, "they are an important part of our outreach ministry and our community," Olivere said.

Sister Bea McElrone, who has been at St. Tim's for 20 years, serves as the parish social minister and coordinates the outreach program. "She ministers in every way to those in need," he said. "She's very present, doing important outreach not only to the St. Tim's community but the community in general."

Big moral issues we're grappling with: One is the changing definition of family.

"The church teaches that the fundamental definition of the family comes from the sacredness of marriage, children born out of the sacramental union of a man and a woman," Olivere said. "But the reality is the family appears in many different forms today."

He stressed that families in any form are welcome at St. Tim."Everyone is welcome in the name of Jesus," he said. "The church never condemns anyone. The church condemns the sin, but not the sinner. Never the person."

God is . . . Love, as Olivere sees it. "That is something that people have probably heard since before they started school, but it is an important reality. . . . The church needs to be a manifestation of that love in any and every way possible."

Words of hope: "Ultimately, we need to always remember that God is with us," he said. "God is there to lift us up and give us strength and hope, to saturate us with the power of his love.

"No matter what we struggle with, no matter what we deal with, God's never going to abandon us."