News & Events - Weekly Notices

Weekday Masses - Looking Ahead

Fr Nicholas

Earlier this year we introduced an experimental pattern of weekday Masses, including the celebration of Mass at midday on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Although relatively few comments have been received, the attendance recorded in our service registers suggests a modest but encouraging increase in the number of worshippers over the past six months. On that basis, I intend to recommend to the PCC that these arrangements now become our permanent weekday pattern. Assuming that is agreed, our noticeboard on the Kettering Road will be updated to reflect the revised service times and other changes that have taken place over recent months.

Alongside the revised timetable, we have also gently refreshed the weekday liturgy itself. When Mass is celebrated at midday we now begin by praying the Angelus together before the statue of the Madonna and Child in the North Transept before moving into the Lady Chapel for the Eucharist. New service booklets have also been produced. The previous ones had served us faithfully for many years, but were beginning to look rather tired. Some had become well-thumbed; others were held together more by hope than by staples – and even the staples had begun to rust! The new booklets include a brief welcome and preparation before Mass, prayers of thanksgiving after Holy Communion, and a prayer before we leave the Lady Chapel and return to the demands of everyday life. My hope is that these small developments will help deepen our prayer and remind us that the grace we receive at the altar accompanies us into the whole of our daily living.

Fr Nicholas

Thank you!

Fr Nicholas

First, a heartfelt thank you to everyone who helped to make our Patronal Festival and Feast of Dedication such memorable occasions, and to all who supported our celebrations of Our Lady of Walsingham and Michaelmas. There is always a great deal of work behind the scenes in preparing for these occasions, from music and flowers to catering, sacristy work and the many other practical details which most people never see. It is the generosity of so many people that enables us to celebrate our great feasts with such joy and beauty. Thank you to everyone who played a part, whether conspicuously or quietly behind the scenes. It is very much appreciated.

October

October is always a wonderfully full month in the life of St Matthew’s, with Harvest, Confirmation, the continuing rhythm of our devotional life, and the approach of All Saints’ and All Souls’. There is much for which to give thanks, and much in which to share. I hope that you will find time to join us for as much as you can.

The Laying on of Hands

The Laying on of Hands

We intend to develop an opportunity for the laying on of hands after Communion on the second Sunday of each month. At present, this ministry takes place in the Lady Chapel. My intention is to invite members of our worshipping community to share with the clergy in this ministry in the Lady Chapel.

This is something in which we can all share. After the individual has spoken privately with the priest, duly prepared members of the laity may place a hand gently upon the person’s shoulder and join silently with the priest in prayer. It is a simple but powerful expression of the fact that Christian prayer is not something we undertake only on our own: we carry one another before God. Of course, anything shared with the priest remains confidential. I shall say more about how this will work in due course, but I hope that it will become a valued part of our common life and prayer.

Junior Church

Junior Church takes place every Sunday during term time, except on All Age Mass weeks. All Age Mass dates can be found on the All Age Mass page.

Remembering the Departed

As you will be aware, it is our custom at St Matthew’s to pray for those who have died. This is an invaluable part of our parish ministry: praying for the repose of the souls of the faithful departed, that they may be at peace and reconciled to God, and also offering comfort and support to those who continue their earthly pilgrimage

As our lists have grown over time, it seems right to take a fresh look at how we exercise this ministry, while retaining its essential character. The purpose is not to reduce our prayer for the departed, but to ensure that the way in which we maintain our lists remains meaningful, pastorally appropriate, and rooted in the living relationships of the present congregation.

The Recently Departed will continue to be remembered regularly in our prayers until after their funeral has taken place.

Departed loved ones and friends may also be remembered in prayer, whether or not they lived locally or had any particular connection with St Matthew’s. We rightly pray for those whom we have known and loved, wherever they may have lived or worshipped.

With regard to anniversaries of death (Years’ Minds), however, these will in future be confined to those for whom there is a current member of the congregation who knew them personally. We have accumulated a number of names whose connection with the parish is now very remote, including some who were known only to a former worshipper who has themselves since died. While we continue to remember that former worshipper, it does not seem necessary also to maintain indefinitely the complete list of people whom they themselves asked us to remember. Otherwise, we risk creating a kind of remembrance by extension, which can continue without any living connection within our worshipping community.

I hope everyone will regard this as a reasonable and proportionate approach. There is also something appropriate in recognising that, when we have prayed faithfully for a soul over a considerable period, we may reasonably entrust that person to the mercy of God, trusting that our prayers have been heard.

None of this diminishes the Church’s prayer for the departed, nor our confidence in the communion of saints. Indeed, All Souls’ Day and our Monthly Requiem remain important occasions when we gather as a parish to pray for the faithful departed and to commend them to God’s mercy. Please do support these occasions whenever you are able.

Our aim is simply to ensure that this important ministry remains both meaningful and pastorally focused: not less prayer for the departed, but prayer that is properly connected with the living pastoral life of our parish, while entrusting all the departed to the mercy and love of God.

St Matthew's Ladies Group

St Matthew's Ladies Group meetings are on Monday afternoons from 2.00pm till 4.00pm in the Parish Centre, on the second and fourth Mondays of the month. For more information on meetings coming up, visit our St Matthew's Ladies Group page.

Parish Confirmation

Sunday 18 October 2026 at 10.15am

Our Parish Confirmation takes place on Sunday 18 October at 10.15am.

We shall be very pleased to welcome Bishop Andrew Proud, who will be known to many of you. Bishop Andrew is an Assistant Bishop in our diocese and was formerly Bishop of Reading.

We have two adult candidates on this occasion: AJ Rowan Lupita Lush and Michael William Bell. Both have been worshipping regularly with us for some time and have become valued members of our parish community. It will be a particular joy to see them make this important step in their Christian journey. For various reasons, including a number of unfortunate circumstances and health difficulties, several others who had expressed a desire to be confirmed are unable to do so on this occasion. We hope and pray that they will have the opportunity to take this step in due course, when the time is right for them.

Please hold AJ and Michael, and all those preparing for Confirmation, in your prayers.

Monthly Requiem

Monday 19 October 2026 at 7.00pm

The Lady Chapel

Our monthly Requiem Mass will be celebrated on Monday 19 October at 7.00pm in the Lady Chapel. The monthly Requiem is a quiet and prayerful opportunity to commend to God those who have died, and to remember before him those whose lives have touched our own. All are welcome.

House Group

Wednesday 21 October 2026 at 2.00pm

A small alteration to the date discussed when we last met: our next House Group gathering will be on Wednesday 21 October at 2.00pm at the Vicarage.

These gatherings are deliberately informal: an opportunity to meet together, talk, listen and reflect on our faith in good company. New faces are always welcome, so please do come along if you have not joined us before.

The clocks go back!

Sunday 25 October 2026

A seasonal reminder – British Summer Time ends on Sunday 25 October. The clocks go BACK one hour at 2.00am. In practical terms, that means you get an extra hour in bed. Please remember to make the adjustment before you go to bed on Saturday evening, however, or you may suffer the particular indignity of arriving at church an hour early!

Half Term and All Saints’ Day

Sunday 25 October 2026

All Saints' Day

Please note that the school half term falls in the week commencing Sunday 25 October. The choir will therefore have a Sunday off and will return on Sunday 1 November for our celebration of All Saints’ Day. The morning Mass will be for all ages, and in the evening we shall have Solemn Choral Evensong at 5.30pm.

All Saints’ is one of those great occasions when the Church reminds us that the Christian life is lived within a much larger company than the people we see around us. We belong to the communion of saints: those who have gone before us, those who worship alongside us, and those who will come after us. I hope you will make a particular point of joining us for this beautiful feast.

All Souls’ Day

Monday 2 November 2026 at 7:30pm

All Souls’ Day

On Monday 2 November at 7.30pm we shall celebrate our annual Parish Requiem for All Souls’ Day.

Families of those whose funerals have taken place at St Matthew’s during the past year will be invited to join us, and during the service we shall remember by name those who have died. All Souls’ is a sacred and tender moment in the Church's year. We gather to remember before God those whom we have loved but see no longer: to give thanks for their lives, for all that they meant to us, and for the memories which remain part of our lives.

The service acknowledges the sadness which comes with separation, but it also speaks of Christian hope. We entrust those who have died to the loving mercy of God and hold before us the promise that death is not the end. In Christ, death becomes the gateway to resurrection and the beginning of everlasting life in God's presence.

The atmosphere of the Requiem will be quiet and prayerful, giving space for remembrance, thanksgiving and hope. There will be an Act of Commemoration, when we shall remember by name those whose funerals have taken place at St Matthew’s during the past year. Those who are baptised are warmly invited to receive Holy Communion, if that is their custom, or to come forward for a blessing. Family members and friends are very welcome to attend. If you are planning to come, please let our Administrator, Anita Speake (tel. 791251), know so that we can make suitable arrangements.

All Souls’ Day offers us a precious opportunity to support one another in grief and to place our trust once again in God’s promise of eternal life. We give thanks for those whom God has entrusted to us for a while, and we look forward in faith to that day when, in the fullness of God’s kingdom, we shall be reunited with those who have gone before us.

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