Our Mission

As a warm and welcoming community, we strive to live out our Catholic faith and share Christ’s loving message of salvation. We nurture the gifts and talents of all, to joyfully serve our local and global community.

Our Parish Goals are to:

• To be the spiritual and physical focal point of our community joined together and inspired in our thoughts, words and deeds by our Catholic faith and the teachings of Jesus Christ.
• To enrich our spiritual lives through the sacraments (especially the Eucharist), prayer, education and all of our parish activities.
• To be faithful Stewards by encouraging and enabling one another to contribute time, talent and treasure to promote justice, peace and charity.
• To develop the bonds within our community through social activities that bring everyone together to take joy in life and each other.

What We Do!

Everything we do as a Parish community is aimed at reaching these goals. Some of our parish activities include our monthly “Amy’s Book Club” meetings, Community Sunday (with coffee, donuts, crafts and blood pressure screenings), our annual Parish Picnic, GIFT prayer group, Social Club, and Faith Formation classes. Reaching out to the community, we serve at the Pine Street Inn, collect food donations for the Needham Food Pantry, and visit the sick and homebound, have a prayer line. Seasonally we also have our advent choir concert, giving tree, Christmas pageant, Pancake Breakfast with Santa, and Yankee swap, as well as our Lenten giving, Palm Path (egg hunt) and assorted other holiday activities.  

Please see our calendar for upcoming events, and please check out our ministries and outreach pages to see how you can get involved and be a joyful servant of our Lord!   

If you are homebound or know someone who is, and would like a pastoral visit and/or to receive the Holy Eucharist, or if you are in need of the sacrament of the sick, please contact  us at 781-444-3434, or email us here.   

The St. Bartholomew and St. Joseph joint Eucharistic Adoration is from after the 6:50 Mass until noon every Friday in the Lower Church at St. Joseph’s.

First Saturday devotion is held after the 9:00 am Mass, and the Rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet are prayed immediately following the 9:00 am weekday Mass, except when there is a 10:00 am Funeral Mass.  
Mass Cards and Intentions are available at the parish office. The donation for all Masses is $10. Masses said at St. Bartholomew must be booked at least a week ahead so that they may be published in the bulletin. Mass cards are also available. These names are sent to the Propagation of the Faith Missions and are said according to their schedule.  

History

St. Bartholomew Parish was founded in 1952 to better serve the growing Catholic population in Needham. After the war, there was a tremendous increase in people able to purchase homes due to the GI Bill, and Needham provided the perfect spot for young families to settle down. Archbishop Cushing envisioned St. Bartholomew’s as a church and school, entwined by faith and connected both spiritually and physically. The school/church structure was created with the understanding that if either the parish or the school were to grow, a new church building could be built on the property, and the school could convert the former church into a gym or auditorium. In 1952, Reverend Mark Keohane was named the first pastor. By December of 1953, the first Mass was said in the unfinished church, and, finally, on February 2, 1954 the completed church held its dedicatory Mass.

What is now the rectory and parish offices was originally built to house the Notre Dame de Namur nuns who taught at the school. In 1973, the nuns left the school. That, coupled with the drop in enrollment it had suffered, lead to the closing of St. Bartholomew School, but the parish community remained active. In 1982, St. Sebastian’s school moved from Newton to Needham, and started leasing the school building. They also purchase some land across the street and have created a school complex for their students. The marriage between the church and school was strengthened when Fr. John Arens became the school chaplain while remaining in the service of the pastor of the parish. Fr. John is now the full time chaplain at the school. St. Sebastian’s school, and St. Bartholomew Parish work closely together to provide their parishioners and students with opportunities for spiritual and educational growth.

In 1984, the stained glass windows were installed. They are not only beautiful, they also serve to elevate the experience of worship during Mass and have become a distinctive feature of the church family. They focus on the life of Christ, starting with the Annunciation, followed by the Nativity, The Good Shepherd, the Glorified Christ and finally the sacraments on one side. The other side features the Ascension and Pentecost. There are three spaces that remain open, but we hope they will eventually be home to back-lit stained glass panels, that will complete our story of Christ’s life and work.