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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)
On Sat. Sept 11th the sponsored Hike 'n Bike takes place, this is a project that the whole family can take part in. If you don't ride you can walk. There are 31 churches in and around Stortford to choose from. 50% of the money goes to Herts & Beds Historic Churches Trust and 50% to the church, in our case, St. Joseph's. A lovely way to spend a Saturday meandering between local churches, so get the bikes and/or walking boots out now and start training! Sponsorship forms are available at the back of the church.
Date for your diary: The official opening of the Windhill Churches’ Centre will take place at 12 noon on Saturday 23rd October in the presence of Bishop George Stack of Westminster and Bishop Alan Smith the Anglican Bishop of St Albans. Light refreshments will be served. LATER: There will be a joint celebration that evening, from 7.30-10.30 in the Centre with food, drink and musical entertainment. Each church will provide a variety of “acts”. Further information to follow shortly.
Youth 2000 - sanctuary@walsingham: International Youth Prayer Festival, 26-30 August 2010. This summer prayer festival for young people takes place at the National Shrine at Walsingham. The aim of the festival is to encourage young people (16-25) back to the church through a programme including Mass, Adoration, prayer, access to the Sacrament of Reconciliation and talks on Scripture and the teachings of the Church,. If you are interested please pick up a card from the information area at the back of the church with all the details
Our Parish Worship - A personal view
Click here for link to all the articles
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.
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