About St. Matthew Parish

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SAINT MATTHEW CATHOLIC CHURCH

History

In mid-summer of 1964 Bishop Thomas K. Gorman of the Diocese of Dallas-Fort Worth established the parish, named in honor of St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist. It was the second parish in the growing town of Arlington, Texas. Father Hubert J. Neu was named its first pastor on August 1^st of that year. Initially the congregation of some 300 families met for Sunday Mass at Thornton Elementary School on East Park Row Dr., near Sherry St. A plot of land on the northeast corner of New York Avenue and Pioneer Parkway had been purchased for the future parish church. Plans were made for the construction of a school and church, in addition to living quarters for the priests and a house for the teachers from the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth. The first building was designed for the school, with the auditorium serving as a church to seat 450 people. The first Mass was celebrated on June 5, 1966 by Father Neu. The KJZT, a Czech Fraternal Organization, helped with contributions and low interest loans to construct the school and church auditorium. The school which opened in the fall of 1966 had to close in 1969 because of the few students enrolled; the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth also left at that time. Lay ministries began to flourish and community fellowship followed suit.

Father Neu remained as pastor until 1978 when Monsignor Joseph Thomas became the second pastor. He was joined by Father Joseph Nguyen Ngoc Tu, O.P. who cared for the fast growing Vietnamese congregation in the parish. It was about this time that the need for a third cultural language become part of the parish. Hispanic immigrants joined the Anglos and the Vietnamese.

Father Tyl, in 1980, became the next pastor. Masses were celebrated in English, Vietnamese and Spanish each weekend. The congregation had grown to more than 1700 families by the 15^th anniversary of the parish founding.

Father Richard Judge succeeded Father Tyl in 1985. Father Judge and Father Tu led the parish to an important point of parish advisory councils to help in the administration of such a large parish. By 1985 St. Matthew parish had 2700 families, from 16 countries, worshiping in three languages, and working together in the parish family. The senior citizens met at St. Matthew. The parish was the focal point in the implementation of the national Amnesty Program in the Arlington area.

In 1986 plans were made for the permanent church building to seat nearly 1000 faithful at one time. The new church building was dedicated on November 12, 1989. The existing facilities were renovated for office space, meeting rooms, and a large hall across from the cafeteria.

With the death of Fr. Judge on Palm Sunday, 1993, Father Gary Geurtz became our 5^th pastor. He stayed until the following year when he and Father Tu went to other parishes.

Father Joseph Schumacher was the pastor August, 1994 to June 2006. Father Hilary Tran Cong Ly, CMC joined the parish that summer as associate pastor, working with the Community of the Vietnamese Martyrs. In 1996 a second Vietnamese Mass and a second Spanish Mass were added. The Vietnamese Community established their own parish (the Church of the Vietnamese Martyrs) during 2000.

Fr. Hector Medina became our pastor July 1, 2006 and today there are more than 7,000 families in the parish. The language and cultural breakdown is truly the Church of Pentecost: 22% speak English, 72% speak Spanish, 3% speak Vietnamese, 3% speak other languages. There are 7 Masses on a weekend (3 English and 4 Spanish), with an attendance of 4800+ and more than 1700 in religious education during the school year.