Welcome to the website of St Joseph and the English Martyrs. Our church is situated in the Hertfordshire Market town of Bishop's Stortford and is part of the Diocese of Westminster.


Priest : Canon Edward Matthews

Parish Office:
Open 10.00am - 3.00pm Weekdays



Email Address: bishopsstortford@rcdow.org.uk

Parking arrangements (pdf)

Canon Eddie's Letter - Our weekly contributions(pdf).
Pledge Form(pdf).
Download Notes from meeting to set up fundraising committee for the new parish centre (pdf).
Results of Parish Liturgy Audit 2008
Information about the Parish Pastoral Council
Download the Parish Pastoral Council Constitution (pdf).
Saint of the Day
Today's Readings
Daily Prayer
Vocations information page

Sacrament of Confirmation 2010 –forms are available in the information area for those who wish to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation this year on 27 April 2010. Forms to be returned to No3, Windhill by this Friday 12 February 2010. Candidates must be born on or before the 31 August 1995

VALENTINE’S PARTY NIGHT - Saturday 13th Feb -7.30pm -11.30pm at St Josephs School Cost £10. Proceeds in aid of funds urgently required for St Joseph's Primary School and for our New Parish Centre. Tickets on sale after all Masses

Catholic Women’s League – next meeting is on Thursday 11 February, 8pm at St Mary’s School.

Encounter Meeting: Next Friday 12 February in St Theresa's Parish Centre. Theme -"It's my Passion"; a collection of memories, hobbies and interests from a wide range of experience. 10-10.30am Coffee; morning discussion, shared lunch, prayer & reflection; day ends at 2.45pm. All welcome for all or part of the day

Poverty & Homelessness action week –There has been a magnificent response to our request for donations of food, 2 carboot loads of goods will be delivered to the Harlow Food Bank. Sincere thanks for your generosity

Archbishop’s Mass of Thanksgiving for the Sacrament of Marriage - 22 May, 3pm, Westminster Cathedral. Couples married for 10, 25, 40, 50, 60 and 60+ years can apply for invitations to this Mass by handing in/emailing names, address, phone number/email to No 3 Windhill as soon as possible these details will to be sent to Archbishops House on 26 February 2010

This coming week (fron Monday 8/02/2010) work is expected to commence on repairing/replacing the garden wall at No 3 – while work is in progress there will be no access to the church via Cardinals Walk. On Tuesday the heating grills in the church will be cleaned out between 10.30am and 1pm (approx). We apologise for any inconvenience either of these necessary works may cause.

4. Gathering with Christ - and the priest

Last time (and it seems so long ago - I apologise) we reminded ourselves that when the parish community comes together to worship, Christ is really present in the community and that this presence is as real as in the consecrated bread and wine. That's not all. He is also present in the presiding priest, for this is what the Church teaches in the Second Vatican Council (Constitution on the Liturgy, 7): 'To accomplish so great a work Christ is always present in his Church, especially in her liturgical celebrations. He is present in the Sacrifice of the Mass not only in the person of the minister, "the same now offering, through the ministry of priests, who formerly offered himself on the cross" [Council of Trent], but especially in the Eucharistic species. By his power he is present in the sacraments so that when anybody baptises it is really Christ himself who baptises'.

Just as well that is so, because if the sacraments depended for their effectiveness on the presiding minister, priest or deacon (a deacon can baptise and preside at marriages), they wouldn't be sacraments as we understand them. They must be the action of Christ, otherwise they would not work.

For me, that is a great consolation because I sometimes say to myself, ‘Who am I that all these people should depend on me for leading their worship?' The answer is it's not me, it's Jesus Christ. Baptising a baby, absolving a penitent from his or her sins, or consecrating bread and wine, is me doing the actions and saying the words but Christ working his power through me. I am all too aware of my distractedness, my lack of effort, and all my other faults and foibles which get in the way of the community's worship; yet it is Christ who for some reason uses me as his minister.

Before each celebration of the Mass I pray a little prayer which goes something like this, "Dear Lord, help me to help these people worship you". I like to think that, ideally, people will go away from Sunday Mass, not thinking about the priest's 'performance', but about how they experienced a true encounter with their Saviour, Jesus Christ.

I use the word 'priest' of the one who presides at Mass, but that is not strictly correct because it appears to assume that there is only one priest - the ordained minister. The full truth is that all baptised people share in the priesthood of Jesus Christ; indeed, that is how the entire People of God is empowered to offer full and proper worship to the Father. The ordained priest's job is to enable or activate the baptismal priesthood of everybody else, to lead them in the exercise of their priesthood. His ministry is truly one of service.

In some parts of the world the title 'presbyter' (= elder) is increasingly used of the ordained minister. It has good scriptural pedigree as well as being more accurate.

The Church in this country, like so many others in Europe, is facing a down-turn in the number of ordained priests. Not so far from Bishop’s Stortford, East Anglia has had to amalgamate many parishes under a single priest. Our diocese of Westminster does not yet have as great a problem, but with a high average age of currently active priests real shortages are not far away in the future. All of us, laity and clergy, families and schools, must do our utmost to promote in young men the consideration of a life in the ministerial priesthood. After all, the sufficient supply of priests guarantees the future of our liturgy.