St. Matthew Parish Directory

St. Matthew Parish is partnering with
Lifetouch photography to publish a
St. Matthew Parish Directory
which includes individual and family portraits.

All parishioners are urged to be a part of the new directory!

Parishioners may check appointment availbility
and set up their appointments by clicking below! 
 

The parish is the place where Jesus touches our lives through the sacraments, especially through the Eucharist which we receive weekly, while some receive daily. Jesus is the center of our life and in the Sacraments of Eucharist and Reconciliation we meet the loving and forgiving God. 

As you will see, our parish is involved with the activities of many people and we try to share the responsibility of stewardship by committing our time, talents and treasure.  Please consider one or two areas of service in which you will be able to serve.  In this way, you will be serving the Church and making this parish your own.  Remember the familiar saying, "Many hands make light work."

Thank you for visiting our parish and I hope you have many years as a member of our special community.

Sincerely in Christ,

The parish community of St. Matthew

Our Mission

St. Matthew Mission Statement:    
We, the members of the St. Matthew Parish community being many parts but one sacramental body, are sent by the love of God to make Christ present in the world. 

Declaración de la Misión de la Parroquia San Mateo:  
 Nosotros, los miembros de la comunidad parroquial de San Mateo, siendo muchas partes, pero un solo cuerpo sacramental, somos enviados por el amor de Dios para hacer presente a Cristo en el mundo.




From Our Pastor:


Our Church and Our School
 
Let’s start first with our church this week. You may have noticed the beautiful granite top that was added to our brick baptismal font. Parishioner Jose Orozco is very talented and wanted to offer this gift to our parish and to our Lord. We are so grateful and also grateful to his friend Alfredo who completed the installation. It is a sign of what I see happening at our parish: there is very solid foundation here and we are able to make things more beautiful. Then we are ready to be filled with God’s life, just as the water fills the font. Most importantly, this is what needs to happen constantly inside of us. God gives us wonderful gifts and this is a rock solid foundation. But he counts on us to work with him and for him to beautify and perfect those gifts so that he can fill us with his divine life. Grace builds on nature, in the words of St. Thomas. The year is still new, let’s tell our Lord we want offer ourselves to him more freely, more generously. How can I be more solid in serving the Lord? How can my life in Christ grow in beauty? Our parish is meant to be a place where we can learn this; we are a school for disciples of Jesus.
 
So it is no surprise that we are blessed to have an actual school where this happens not only on Sunday, but throughout the week. Our St. Matthew Parish school is dedicated to teaching young people how to follow Jesus. As with any school, those lessons include how to learn other things, too, since God has blessed us with the ability to learn many things. Like our baptismal font, our school is also built on a solid foundation that continues to grow under the solid leadership of our School Principal, Mrs. Gina Pestrak. Although she has been here just three short years, she is guiding our school to greater academic excellence and improvement of the physical plant and additional programs. This year we are upgrading our electrical service to the school in order to accommodate greatly needed improvements in technology access and education.
 
Currently, our parish covers about 10% of the school budget, the rest being financed by tuition and development. That means about twenty cents of every dollar you give on Sunday goes to fund the school. On average, it provides each of our over 300 students with a $500 dollar scholarship. It turns out that about half of our students are actually from the parish, and many of our parish school families may not participate in the rest of our parish life. So the financial support of the school can represent a significant responsibility. That’s no surprise—kids will always be expensive but totally worth it (although on a bad day this might not seem so clear). What can we do together? Always be encouraging parents to bring their children to our school and bring them to Sunday Mass. The more students we have, the easier it is to share the financial responsibility. Parents, please enroll your children in our school. Even if there are financial concerns, please contact Mrs. Pestrak, because we have some generous sources of financial aid. And why bring them to Mass, too? It is not me who asks that—it is Jesus himself. He says, “Keep holy the Sabbath,” he says, “Let the children come to me.” Our school must have Jesus at its center, our lives must be centered on Him.
 
So check out our school, especially today at the St. Matthew Parish School Open House: January 25 from 11am to 1:30pm. See your donations at work or put them to work by enrolling your children. May God continue to bless our church and our school. May he continue to bless our St. Matthew parish school.
 
Fr. Jerome