St. Matthias' Church - Église Saint-Matthias, Westmount, Québec

09/12/2026

This Sunday (September 13th) is our "Startup Sunday" affectionately known as "Hot Dog Sunday". Don't forget to bring your backpacks, briefcases, and computer bags and have them blessed.

08/29/2026

15 intrepid people from St. Matthias' braved the rain this past weekend for a great weekend camping at the Kiamika Regional Park in the Laurentians. Great meals, swimming, canoeing, an outdoor Eucharist, hymn singing, and compline by campfire.

08/26/2026

Magnificent Humanity: Reading Pope Leo’s Encyclical on Artificial Intelligence
An Open Enrolment Course
Wednesday evenings September 9th, 16th and 23rd, 7:00pm to 8:30pm, Eastern Time (ET) online.

08/18/2026

Like his predecessor and two following successors, Jervois Newnham, our third rector, was English-born. He came to Canada at 21, studying at McGill and the Montreal Diocesan Theological College. He was appointed to St. Matthias' in 1886 and served for 4 years. He left to answer the call of mission work. He became Bishop of Moosonee (around James Bay) in 1893 and subsequently Bishop of Saskatchewan in 1903. He return to parish ministry in England in 1921. Newnham was not the only cleric to translate experience at St. Matthias' into episcopal service. Reginald Hollis was our curate from 1961 to 1963. He was elected Bishop of Montreal in 1975 and then Archbishop of the ecclesiastical province of Canada in 1989. Similarly, Barry Clarke served his curacy with us in 1978 and 1979. He was elected Bishop of Montreal in 2004.

08/02/2026

St. Matthias's second rector was the Reverend Richard Norman, appointed in 1883. He was ordained in 1853 by the Bishop of Oxford (England) but worked for several decades as an academic, including an appointment at Bishop's College in 1866, which brought him to Quebec. He ministered to our parish for three years before his appointment as Dean of the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity - Cathédrale Holy Trinity in the Diocese of Quebec. He served in this role until 1899 but the latter years were ones of discord as he was frequently at odds with the Bishop, especially over the question of pew rent. The Bishop and public opinion were increasingly in favour of free seating, while the Dean was staunchly against the change. Almost exactly a century after a St. Matthias' rector moved to become Dean in Quebec City, the Very Reverend Paul James moved in the reverse direction, in 1987.

07/14/2026

The Reverend John Empson was St. Matthias' first rector, appointed to the role in 1877. He was born in Kilkenny, Ireland, came to Canada in 1858, earned a BA and MA from McGill University, and was ordained in 1871. St. Matthias started in 1873 as an outreach mission of St. George's Anglican Church, meeting in a parishioner's home until the first wood framed church was completed in 1875. Empson served the parish until 1883 when his other role of Clerical Secretary to the Diocesan Synod became his full-time job, retiring from it in 1898 after almost three decades of service. He died at his Metcalfe Ave home in 1910 and is buried in Mount Royal Cemetery.

06/09/2026

Join us tonight (Tuesday, June 9th) at 7pm at Terrasse St. Ambroise for Pints of View! We will be embarking on our summer schedule, which will be every other Tuesday from now until September, so come out when you're able and join us for some good beer, wood-oven pizza, and some discussion that is always engaging!

05/23/2026

05/14/2026

Spring is here!
We need some green thumbs to tend our lawn and gardens. No experience necessary, just a willingness to get your hands dirty. You will be teamed up with (or told what to do by :) ) an experienced gardener. Please speak to Fr. Patrick if interested.

05/12/2026

McGill University's School of Religious Studies honoured our own Patricia Kirkpatrick yesterday!

Patricia came back to us as Associate minister of the parish several years ago. This is Patricia’s home parish in that she was baptised here and was nurtured in her calling to ordination under the mentorship of Archdeacon Jack Doidge. Her full time employment is at McGill where as Associate Professor of Old Testament Studies she occupies the Historic 1948 Chair in Old Testament Studies. Her main interests extend to Feminist Hermeneutics and Folklore Studies. She has served the wider Church on a number of national and international theological commissions of the Anglican communion. At McGill she has developed programs in Women's Studies and Feminism and served as Associate Dean in the office of Graduate Studies.