Our History:
St. Matthew the Apostle Parish was established in 1988, after Bishop Frank J. Rodimer invited the members of Resurrection Parish, close to 2,000 families at that time, to form another parish in Randolph Township. A small group of 65 families from the Ironia area quickly developed a pilgrim community, working under the guidance of Father David McDonnell, founding pastor. The new parish of St. Matthew’s celebrated its first Mass on June 24, 1988, in the cafeteria at Ironia School, the date of the fiftieth anniversary of the Diocese of Paterson.

Each weekend, transformed into a spiritual environment that encouraged worship, the school cafeteria hosted Mass until the fledgling members were confident that they could build a church structure. Despite humble beginnings, early members of St. Matthew’s bonded as they joined for Mass, pancake breakfasts, dances, Christmas caroling, and of course, the annual Parish Picnic.

Building a Church!
Plans to construct the church began in 1990. By March of 1992, committees formed to oversee the first phase of the building. Phase 1 was to include the worship space, one meeting room, office space, a vesting sacristy and the Pastor’s office.

Finally, having grown to 260 families by then, parishioners gathered at the property on Dover-Chester Road on Sunday, November 21, 1993, to bless and break ground for the building. The footings were poured just before winter and as the forsythia bloomed in the spring, commuters on Dover-Chester Road began their day with the sight of St. Matthew’s bell tower reaching for heaven.

In August of 1994, the parish families spent the weekend raking topsoil in preparation for planting what is now a spectacular lawn. Two more weekends in the fall were devoted to installing trees and shrubs. The glorious grounds parishioners enjoy today were a labor of love completed by the founding families!

On October 9, 1994, Bishop Rodimer dedicated St. Matthew’s Church in a sacred and joy-filled ceremony.

It wasn’t long before…
In spring, 1999, the St. Matthew’s family was obviously outgrowing the church building. The parish couldn’t continue to conduct faith formation in rented facilities, or juggle the needs of multiple ministry committees in only one meeting room, so the planning began again! The ground-breaking ceremony was July 28, 2001, which initiated the construction of 17 meeting rooms, a community room, a teen room, administrative offices and, at long last, Heritage Hall, where the Church family would celebrate special events together.

On November 23, 2002, Bishop Rodimer again joined St. Matthew’s parishioners to dedicate Phase 2 of the building.

St. Matthew’s Today
St. Matthew’s continues to thrive, with more than 1,000 registered families. In June 2009, Father Dave McDonnell was transferred to Our Lady of the Lake parish in Sparta. Bishop Arthur Serratelli appointed Father Dan Murphy as pastor. Our parish community is blessed with two permanent deacons and a committed staff of lay women and men.

St. Matthew’s has a faith formation program that includes over 600 children, taught by over 80 volunteer catechists. Beyond daily and weekly services, the parish is a constant beehive of activity with meetings, on-site Cornerstone retreats, interfaith educational events with other local religious organizations, youth programs, Cub Scout and Boy Scout activities and much more. Parishioners, under the direction of Father Dan, continue to view St. Matthews as a central focus of spiritual and communal life.

And Now, the Future:
For our faith to thrive, the challenge for all Catholics is to remain involved, serve the community, and give back by sharing the talents and treasures God has given each of us. St. Matthew the Apostle Parish, as entrusted to us by St. Matthew himself, encourages all of its members to become involved in parish life as well as in various ministries in outreach to the larger community.

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”   –Matthew 28:19 (NASB)

These efforts include work in the areas of social concerns and faith formation for youth and adults. With that goal in mind, we have established programs to reach out to God’s people on an international, national and local level. On the international level, St. Matthew’s supports the Missionary of the Poor Mission in Cap Haitian, Haiti, and recently has established funding to help educate children in the mission. Nationally, in addition to helping the recovery efforts for natural disasters, we conduct an annual Hope Builders mission trip to Appalachia in Kentucky, where our youth and adults complete desperately needed home repairs for economically challenged residents. Locally, in addition to providing food and clothing to those in need within our own area, we have adopted Holy Trinity Parish in Passaic, offering them ongoing support.

St. Matthew the Apostle Parish is proud of our humble beginnings and our evolution into a warm, welcoming and vibrant community. While we have grown from 65 founding families, we have worked very hard to maintain the “small parish attitude” which continues today and allows us to do God’s work as a family of faith.