Saint Matthew's Episcopal Church
I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? [Isaiah 43.19
St. Matthew’s is here for you.
Are you called to be here with us? 695 Southbridge Street Worcester, Massachusetts 01610 508-755-4433 www.stmatthewsworcester.org 
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Who we are:We are a community of people from different places in the world, with different faith experiences, joined to worship and serve God, learn, and build relationships. Rooted in the South Worcester neighborhood, our landmark building (1893) houses a beautiful sanctuary with historic Tiffany stained glass windows, a contemporary chapel and a newly refurbished kitchen designed for community meals. We welcome everyone: inquirers, life-long disciples, long-time residents, newcomers, immigrants, college students, children, youth and families, singles, and seekers.
We are a diverse, faithful, “Home and Hearth” community. “St Matthew’s is high on the theological diversity scale and flexible with worship.” We are traditional, stable, secure, dependable, clear “guardians” welcoming, and grounded. The open posture of the Prodigal Father best represents St. Matthew’s. (Holy Cow Survey) |
Campaign 150...
...marks our 150th anniversary (Sept. 21, 1871)
We are poised to continue building a worship community in newly renovated and welcoming spaces. Re-designed Chapel worship space, kitchen facility, parish hall, parlor/meeting room. 
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Ministries and Outreach
Many groups meet within our parish walls including several Recovery Groups.
4 Corners food distribution on 4th Sunday of each month. Active participation in the Diocesan Creation Care Initiative. WOOFridge community fridge partnership: our fridge and pantry are open in the church parking lot at all times on all days and nights. Part of the Episcopal Church of Worcester (ECOW): “One Church with Five Altars.” A close association with the South Worcester Neighborhood Center, making weekly food and clothing donations, school supplies, and handmade knitted goods. (http://www.swnic.net/) With our Covenant Parish, Sacred Heart/St. Catherine of Sweden Roman Catholic Church, a yearly joint Epiphany dinner served to the neighborhood, a holiday music festival, and Stations of the Cross on Palm Sunday. |
About Worcester MA
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Hear what parishioners are saying:“My first visit to the church with my family, everyone was very welcoming and concerned. That encouraged my family to stay.”
“It’s a great congregation...acceptance and the style of worship teach the youth and adults about the ways of God and the importance of life.” “I feel that I am part of a family, welcomed and supported.” “The most meaningful part of our worship is participating together in the service and sacrament of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” I knew St. Matthew’s cared about me “when they went to visit a relative who has mental illness.” “When parishioners visited, did yard work, and sent cards after my husband’s surgeries.” “The prayer book is important as a foundation but we are open to some experimentation.” St. Matthew’s cares for others. “The Lenten collections are split 50/50 between world and local charities.” “The prayers show care and concern for our congregation. Parishioners care and support St. Matthew’s by volunteering in various capacities, altar guild, reading group, knitting and crocheting, baking and SWNIC.” “I love the church in every form.” |
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Download our printable brochure:
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We are Saint Matthew’s Parish
We welcome you to learn more “About Us” on this website and to visit us some Sunday morning. Please contact us at 508.755.4433 if you have any questions or if we can be of any help to you.
About us
Our Mission is to build on the past, while looking towards the future, and provide a Christian community for worship and fellowship that extends to others in joy, witness, and outreach.
St. Matthew’s was founded by English immigrants in 1871 as a mission chapel of All Saints Church. Since that time, St. Matthew’s has served the neighborhood of South Worcester on the corner of Cambridge and Southbridge Streets. During the past twenty years, our Parish Family has grown to include immigrants from Liberia, Ghana, the Sudan and other countries. St. Matthew’s shares the hopes and dreams of its neighbors, and it has been a center for spiritual growth, inspiration, and support for more than five generations.
Serving the community, the Parish Hall is busy every day and evenings, offering space for twelve-step groups, deaf senior group and organizations. The church is actively involved in outreach, responding to needs both near and far. We collect weekly food donations for the South Worcester Neighborhood Center Food Pantry in addition to school backpacks, Christmas gifts, winter jackets, and hand-knitted hats and mittens. Also locally we support Laundry Love, Marie’s Mission, and the homeless youth at South High Community School. Beginning in September 2019 we will serve a community dinner with entertainment on the fourth Sunday of every month. We participate every year in the shoebox collections for Samaritan’s Purse and we support Episcopal Relief and Development in times of crisis. Our youth group walks every year in the CROP walk and participates in the 30-Hour Famine, both efforts to end hunger.
Members of St. Matthew’s participate in a variety of ministries: The Women of St. Matthew’s and the Men’s Group, “Sconeheads” Book Group, the Green Team, Crocheting and Knitting Ministry, Prayer Shawl Ministry, Adult Choir, Bible Study, and liturgical ministries. Church School meets on Sunday mornings at 9:45 and children join in the worship service at communion. Our Youth Group of middle and high school students meets monthly. The “Thursday Night Crew” meets weekly to work on maintenance projects on our buildings. Our Annual Winter Wonderland Church Fair has become not only a great source of revenue but also a time for fellowship for the parish and for the neighborhood.
Serving the community, the Parish Hall is busy every day and evenings, offering space for twelve-step groups, deaf senior group and organizations. The church is actively involved in outreach, responding to needs both near and far. We collect weekly food donations for the South Worcester Neighborhood Center Food Pantry in addition to school backpacks, Christmas gifts, winter jackets, and hand-knitted hats and mittens. Also locally we support Laundry Love, Marie’s Mission, and the homeless youth at South High Community School. Beginning in September 2019 we will serve a community dinner with entertainment on the fourth Sunday of every month. We participate every year in the shoebox collections for Samaritan’s Purse and we support Episcopal Relief and Development in times of crisis. Our youth group walks every year in the CROP walk and participates in the 30-Hour Famine, both efforts to end hunger.
Members of St. Matthew’s participate in a variety of ministries: The Women of St. Matthew’s and the Men’s Group, “Sconeheads” Book Group, the Green Team, Crocheting and Knitting Ministry, Prayer Shawl Ministry, Adult Choir, Bible Study, and liturgical ministries. Church School meets on Sunday mornings at 9:45 and children join in the worship service at communion. Our Youth Group of middle and high school students meets monthly. The “Thursday Night Crew” meets weekly to work on maintenance projects on our buildings. Our Annual Winter Wonderland Church Fair has become not only a great source of revenue but also a time for fellowship for the parish and for the neighborhood.
History
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Founded by English immigrants, St. Matthew's had its beginnings as a mission chapel of All Saints Church and grew to become a prominent institution in the Village of South Worcester. The early parishioners, who had journeyed to America to work in the carpet mills, overcame hardship and obstacles through courage and determination to "build up their little church."
On September 21, 1871, St. Matthew's Day, the first service of worship was held in a small chapel built, in part, with funds raised by the women at All Saints. When this first house of worship was destroyed by fire in 1893, plans for a new church commenced. Designed by Stephen Earle, the beautiful Gothic revival building features Romanesque motifs and exhibits one of the most impressive displays of Tiffany stained glass windows on the East Coast. St. Matthew's is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. |
For almost 150 years, St. Matthew's has cultivated its English parish roots, nurtured by the first immigrant community it served, and to this day we cherish its rich heritage of music and liturgy. The Anglican choral music tradition was reflected in the choir of men and boys which flourished for some fifty years. Today, the parish has incorporated more recent immigrants from Africa and other parts of the globe who have added their own gifts to this increasingly exciting and diverse community. St. Matthew's has shared the hopes and heartbreaks of its neighbors, and has been the center for inspiration, spiritual growth, faith and support for more than five generations.
St. Matthew's parish hall has served its community well over the years by providing space for after-school programs, twelve-step groups, ethnic congregations and other outreach programs as well as the parish Sunday school, youth group, church fairs and gatherings, meetings and activities, office and chapel. Recently renovations and improvements have made the hall handicapped accessible and energy efficient.
Eight rectors have served St. Matthew's in its history, along with clergy assistants and interim clergy. We are currently preparing to search for our ninth rector.
On May 26, 1994, at a celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the laying of the church cornerstone, Bishop Robert S. Denig urged the congregation, as they went forward, to "bear this in mind: Your goal is not simply to endure, to carry on as those who have gone before you in this place have carried on for 100 years. That is a truly noble accomplishment but that, alone, is not your goal. Your goal must be to lose yourselves, to spend yourselves, to pour out yourselves for this part of the world God loves and Jesus died to save."
As St. Matthew's looks toward the future to which God calls us, its members continue as people of faith and hope, sharing the Good News of God's love with all who enter their doors. St. Matthew's call to new mission for the twenty-first century is the call of our Lord: "Go then, to all people everywhere and make them my disciples..." Matthew 28:19.
drawn from A History of the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts, From the Blackstone to the Housatonic.
For a more detailed history of the church, copies of Forward Through the Ages: A History of St. Matthew's Episcopal Church 1871-1995 in the village of South Worcester, Massachusetts, written by parishioner Paula Rowse Buonomo, are available at the church office, the Worcester Public Library and the Library of the Worcester Historical Museum. Highlights include:
History of St. Matthew's written by Holy Cross students
St. Matthew's parish hall has served its community well over the years by providing space for after-school programs, twelve-step groups, ethnic congregations and other outreach programs as well as the parish Sunday school, youth group, church fairs and gatherings, meetings and activities, office and chapel. Recently renovations and improvements have made the hall handicapped accessible and energy efficient.
Eight rectors have served St. Matthew's in its history, along with clergy assistants and interim clergy. We are currently preparing to search for our ninth rector.
On May 26, 1994, at a celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the laying of the church cornerstone, Bishop Robert S. Denig urged the congregation, as they went forward, to "bear this in mind: Your goal is not simply to endure, to carry on as those who have gone before you in this place have carried on for 100 years. That is a truly noble accomplishment but that, alone, is not your goal. Your goal must be to lose yourselves, to spend yourselves, to pour out yourselves for this part of the world God loves and Jesus died to save."
As St. Matthew's looks toward the future to which God calls us, its members continue as people of faith and hope, sharing the Good News of God's love with all who enter their doors. St. Matthew's call to new mission for the twenty-first century is the call of our Lord: "Go then, to all people everywhere and make them my disciples..." Matthew 28:19.
drawn from A History of the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts, From the Blackstone to the Housatonic.
For a more detailed history of the church, copies of Forward Through the Ages: A History of St. Matthew's Episcopal Church 1871-1995 in the village of South Worcester, Massachusetts, written by parishioner Paula Rowse Buonomo, are available at the church office, the Worcester Public Library and the Library of the Worcester Historical Museum. Highlights include:
- St. Matthew’s was founded by English immigrants who had journeyed to America to work in the carpet mills. (Vestry Minutes, 1875) Immigrants from Kidderminster, England worked at the Whittal Mills and worshipped at St. Matthew’s.
- It was the first of four Episcopal missions to be founded in Worcester through the encouragement of the rector of All Saints Episcopal Church.
- In 1869, the women of All Saints held a Christmas bazaar for the purpose of founding a mission chapel fund. By the Spring of 1871, building commenced on the new chapel.
- The original chapel was destroyed by fire during the night of January 6, 1893.
- The cornerstone of the new church was laid on May 26, 1894. St Matthew’s church was consecrated on May 22, 1895.
- In 1911 sixteen clerestory windows were dedicated. . . . The subjects for the Tiffany windows were chosen by the Rector and approved by the Vestry. The Rector spoke “As the sunlight pours itself through the windows, so must the Christ, the Light of the World, shine through the windows of our hearts, dispelling the darkness of sin.” (Parish Paper, 1911)
- St. Matthew’s is proud to exhibit one of the best displays of Tiffany stained glass windows on the East Coast. The main window over the altar shows our Lord’s ascension into Heaven and is listed on the National Historic Register.
History of St. Matthew's written by Holy Cross students
We join with Sacred Heart/St. Catherine of Sweden as our Covenant Parish. Both parishes are stronger together and share many fellowship opportunities, such as the annual Epiphany Dinner, Palm Sunday Neighborhood Walk of Stations of the Cross, and the Blessing of the Animals.
Clergy, Staff & Leadership
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Presiding Bishop - The Rt. Rev. Michael Curry
Bishop, Diocese Western Massachusetts - The Rt. Rev. Douglas J. Fisher Rector - the Rev. Dr. John McGinty Organist/Choir Director - Donald Irving Parish Secretary - Audrey Cronin Church School Superintendent - Karen Baldwin Nursery - Kim Rossi Youth Group Advisors - Kelly & Steve MacGregor |
Executive Committee
The Rev. Dr. John McGinty, Rector Dennis Wilson, Warden Keith McKenna, Warden Helen Turano, Clerk Kelly MacGregor, Treasurer |
Direct us, O Lord, in all our doings with your most gracious favor, and further us with your continued help; that in all our works begun, continued, and ended in you, we may glorify your holy Name, and finally, by your mercy, obtain everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Members of the VestryKaren Baldwin (20__) [Sunday School]
Emmanuel Ndebeh (20__) Joe Chilton (20__) Paula Buonomo (20__) Doreen Herbert (20__ Debborah Smyth (20__) (20__) Diocesan Delegates Alternate – |
Committee ChairsAdvertising/Publicity/Website - Paula Buonomo, Ellie Keohane
Altar Guild - Episcopal Church Men - George Gailor Newsletter - Audrey Cronin Outreach - Wendy Piscitelli Property - Dennis Wilson Spiritual Formation: Cathy Goodwin Stewardship - Millie Cummings, Charlotte Townsend, Festus Konneh Ushers - Deping Yang Women of St. Matthew’s - Millie Cummings Youth Group - |
"Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for this time together and for the opportunity to serve You as members and leaders of this Christian community - the Parish of Saint Matthew’s in South Worcester, Massachusetts.
As we leave this place, we pray not only for strength, courage, wisdom, discipline and patience; but also insightfulness and the ability to discern where You are calling us to go and who You want us to be as a Parish and as Disciples of Christ.
Please continue Your blessing on us as we strive to grow in mission, service and education. Amen”
written by Dennis Wilson, former Jr. Warden