News & Events - Parish News

April's Pastoral Letter from the Vicar

Posted on Wednesday 1 April 2026 at 7:00am

Fr Nicholas

This year the month of April opens in an unusual and rather beautiful way: it begins in the very heart of Holy Week. The turning of the calendar coincides with the turning point of the Christian story, as we stand on the threshold of he Paschal Triduum – the Three Great Days of Christ’s Passover from death to life.

The word Triduum simply means “three days”, but they are three days unlike any other. From the evening of Maundy Thursday until the dawn of Easter Day, the Church does something remarkable. Rather than marking separate services, we enter a single unfolding act of worship that carries us through the last hours of Christ’s earthly life: the supper in the upper room, the watch in Gethsemane, the silence of the cross, the stillness of the tomb, and finally the blazing joy of the Resurrection.

These are not merely commemorations of events long ago. The Church keeps these days because they draw us into the mystery itself. In worship we are not spectators of the Passion and Resurrection; we become participants in them. The Passover of Christ – his passage through suffering and death into new and indestructible life – becomes the pattern and promise of our own.

That is why these days matter so deeply. The Triduum brings us face to face with the great questions that sit quietly beneath our everyday lives: What does love look like when it is tested? What does faith mean when the world seems dark? What becomes of us in the end?

The Christian answer is given not as an argument but as a story – the story we keep in these days. On Maundy Thursday we see love kneeling to wash feet and offering itself in bread and wine. On Good Friday we stand before a love that goes to the uttermost, even to death. And on Easter morning we discover that death does not have the final word. The crucified one is alive.

It is tempting, of course, to skip straight to Easter Day. The chocolate eggs arrive early enough, and spring itself seems eager to rush ahead. But the wisdom of the Church is that we walk the whole journey. We watch with Christ in the garden. We keep silence at the cross. Only then do we discover how astonishing the Resurrection really is.

And at this time of year the world seems almost to speak the same message. April is full of small resurrections. The trees that looked so lifeless only weeks ago are suddenly tipped with green. Bulbs that lay hidden and dormant beneath the soil push their way into colour and fragrance. Light lingers longer in the evening. Life appears where, not long ago, everything seemed still and sleeping.

Creation itself seems to whisper the Easter promise: that what appears finished may not be finished at all.

For Christians this promise reaches far beyond the changing seasons. The Resurrection of Christ speaks not only of springtime but of eternity. It tells us that our lives are not closed circles ending in the silence of the grave, but journeys whose true horizon is life with God.

That is why, during Eastertide, the Church continues to pray for those we love who have died. We do so not in the shadow of despair but in the light of hope. Because Christ has passed through death and opened the way to life, we trust that those who belong to him are held in that same promise. The love that binds us to one another is not undone by death; it is gathered into God’s own life.

Easter therefore reshapes how we live now. To believe in the Resurrection is not only to hope for life beyond death. It is to live already as people of the new creation – people who trust that love is stronger than hatred, mercy stronger than resentment, and life stronger than death.

Or, to put it more simply: Easter people should look like people who know that hope is justified.

The fifty days of Eastertide give us time to grow into that truth. If Lent is a season of searching and repentance, Easter is a season of learning to breathe again – of rediscovering joy, gratitude, and generosity. The risen Christ greets his disciples not with reproach but with peace, and he sends them out into the world as bearers of that peace.

My hope is that many of us will walk through the Triduum together this year. These liturgies are among the most beautiful and profound the Church offers. But more than that, they help us rediscover who we are. We are people who have passed through the waters of baptism, people whose lives are bound to the death and resurrection of Christ.

We are, in other words, a resurrection people.

So as the days lengthen and the colours of spring begin to brighten our streets and gardens, may they remind us of the deeper springtime that Easter proclaims. Christ is risen. Life is stronger than death. Love is stronger than the grave.

And because of that, the future – both ours and the world’s – is held safely in God’s hands.

With every blessing for a joyful and hope-filled Eastertide,

Fr Nicholas

Building a More Generous Church

Posted on Friday 13 February 2026 at 11:01am

Over the coming weeks you will receive a handout outlining the financial position of our parish and the very real need to grow our regular income if we are to remain sustainable for the long term. Alongside this, during the Sundays of Lent, Fr Nicholas will be preaching and teaching about the meaning of Christian stewardship. This is about far more than balancing accounts. It is about the shape of a Christian life. What does generosity look like in our time, our gifts, our attention, our hospitality – and yes, in our giving? Each week these themes will connect with the season of Lent and with the Sunday Gospel readings, helping us to see stewardship as a spiritual response to God’s grace. The future shape of our life together in God’s name depends, in part, on how each of us responds. Please take time to read the material carefully, to pray, and to reflect. A simple question to hold before God might be: “Is it generous?”

We believe in a generous God who pours out his love without measure. A generous life is therefore one of the clearest signs of Christian faith. As generosity grows, so does our likeness to the God we worship. The ministry and mission of St Matthew’s are sustained through the faithful generosity of parishioners – thank you for all that is already given, and for all that is prayerfully considered in the weeks ahead.

A reminder that we need your consent

Live-streaming, GDPR and Your Consent

Posted on Monday 16 September 2024 at 11:30am

Online live-streaming of services

Some of St Matthew's services (most Sunday mornings and some special services) are live-streamed or recorded for those who cannot attend church in person. Under GDPR, the church must gain the consent of anyone whose image may be captured, as this constitutes collection of "personal data". This includes clergy, readers/intercessors, musicians and congregation.

Whilst every attempt is made not to capture the faces of members of the congregation, this may occasionally happen if people turn around or move around the church during the service. The exception is communion, when the congregation is not filmed. The side aisles and back of the nave are so far as possible film-free areas not covered by the camera. Anyone whose personal data is collected must give their consent. Consent forms are available in church and online . The full policy can be read on our parish website or on the noticeboards in church.

Please read Our Privacy Policy - Filming & Photography and if you are happy to, give your consent by downloading, printing, signing, and handing in the form to a church representative or the Parish Office on your next visit. The consent form can be found at the bottom of the page.

March's Pastoral Letter from the Vicar

Walking the Way of the Cross Together

Posted on Sunday 1 March 2026 at 7:00am

Fr Nicholas

As we enter the latter part of Lent, the Church draws us ever more closely into the heart of our faith. The days ahead are not simply dates on a calendar or familiar ceremonies we observe each year. They are an invitation to step into the saving events at the end of the earthly life of Jesus Christ – events through which our hope was born and our redemption won.

If our Easter joy is to be deep and genuine, we must first be willing to stand at the foot of the Cross. We must allow ourselves to see, to feel, and to contemplate the love for which Christ died. Holy Week is the Church’s great school of love, and its lessons are not learned from a distance. They are learned by entering in – heart and soul.

Our journey begins with palms in our hands and praise on our lips as we accompany the Lord into Jerusalem. The blessing and procession draw us into the excitement and expectation of the crowd. Yet that joy quickly gives way to the solemn proclamation of the Passion, this year from the Gospel according to Gospel of Matthew. In that dramatic reading we are not just listeners; we find ourselves in the story – among the disciples who promise fidelity, the crowds who waver, and those who turn away. From the very beginning of the week, we are reminded that this is not someone else’s drama. It is ours.

As the week unfolds, a quieter, more watchful mood settles over us. We keep company with a tense and waiting Jerusalem. The opposition to Jesus hardens, betrayal draws closer, and the shadow of the Cross lengthens. The Church’s liturgy in these days is rich and restrained, helping us slow down and notice what is happening within our own hearts as well as in the Gospel story.

One of the great treasures of Catholic worship during this time is the Vigil Office of Tenebrae. Candle by candle, the light diminishes. The church grows darker. The symbolism is simple yet deeply moving: the Light of the world seems to be fading from sight. The sound, the silence, the encroaching darkness – all engage our senses and draw us into prayer. This is not outward display for its own sake, but a heartfelt and sincere expression of faith that allows us to feel something of the sorrow and confusion of those days.

Then comes Maundy Thursday, with all its profound contrasts. We rejoice in the reception of the holy oils, signs of Christ’s healing and strengthening presence in the sacraments. We gather for the Mass of the Lord’s Supper and 2 give thanks for the gift of the Eucharist – Christ’s own Body and Blood, entrusted to the Church on the night before he died. We watch as feet are washed, and we see love made visible in humble service. But the joy is fragile. The mood shifts. The altar is stripped, the tabernacle stands empty, and we move to the place of watching. In Gethsemane, we are invited simply to remain with the Lord in his anguish. Even our restlessness, our tiredness, our struggle to pray become part of our offering, as we try to keep him company in his hour of loneliness.

Good Friday brings us to the stark heart of the week. In the morning, the Stations of the Cross allow young and old alike to walk step by step along the road to Calvary. We move with Christ as he falls, as he meets his mother, as he is stripped and nailed to the wood. These prayers are simple, but they carry immense depth, helping us to unite our own sufferings with his. At the Solemn Liturgy in the afternoon, the church is bare and quiet. We listen once more to the Passion, this time according to John, we pray for the needs of the whole world, and we come forward to venerate the Cross. This is a moment of profound encounter. We stand, in spirit, at the foot of the Cross and look upon the measureless love of Christ. Here, words are few. Gesture, silence, and symbol speak more deeply than explanations ever could.

Throughout these days, the Church places before us the treasures of her liturgy – not to impress us with ceremony, but to draw us into the mystery of salvation through beauty, simplicity, and truth. Sight, sound, movement, silence: all are woven together to help faith reach not only our minds but our hearts. We are meant to be changed by what we see and hear. We cannot walk with Christ through these days and remain untouched.

That is why Holy Week asks something of us. It asks us to set aside other things, to make space, to come and participate as fully as we can. Tired though we may be, distracted though life can feel, if we stay close to the Lord in these sacred liturgies, we will begin – like the first disciples, bleary- eyed and overwhelmed – to glimpse the greatness of what he has done for us and continues to offer.

And beyond the Cross… the Church keeps watch in hope. With every blessing for the remainder of Lent.

Your sincere friend and parish priest,

Fr Nicholas

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