our parish...

Visitors, parishioners and those new to St. Matthew Parish, WELCOME!

We at St. Matthew Parish challenge each other to live the message of a spiritual, social, and physical life as Christ intends.

Parish History

St. Matthew Church of Windham, NH, opened in 1953 primarily to serve the summer people who came to Windham to enjoy the recreation offered by the lakes in the area.

It remained a mission church until June 22, 1962. On that date, Windham became a parish and the first Mass of the new parish was celebrated by Fr. Knott and Bishop Brady. St. Matthew Church was named in honor of Matthew Brady, Bishop of Manchester.

Windham parishioners had been accustomed to attending Mass at the Catholic Church in the town nearest to their homes, so that for some time many continued to go to the Derry, Pelham, Hudson and Salem churches. However slowly the parish unified and has grown from seventy-five to twenty one hundred families today.

The original Parish Center was built in 1966. The new Church was built in 1999 and a new Rectory purchased in 1999. The new Parish center was completed in 2004.

The stained glass windows in St. Matthew's Catholic Church are a stunning representation of the beauty of our faith.

The windows occur at two levels. The Upper Windows float high in the lofty ceiling where they symbolize the enigmatic idea of God as the Holy Trinity. The more "down to earth" Lower Windows depict events and teachings from the earthly life of Christ.

To emphasize their spatial and thematic separation from the Lower Windows, an achromatic glass palette is used in the Upper Windows. Variously textured, colorless clear glasses combined with both filmy white and denser white glasses give the Triptych and Rose Windows a transcendent, spiritual quality and a sense of uplifting awe. As a reflection of our human inability to fully comprehend our infinite God, the imagery contained in these windows is more abstract than that of the Lower Windows. The Upper Windows represent God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit both united as One in the Triptych Window and individually in the three Rose Windows.

The stained glass windows in St. Matthew's Catholic Church occur at two levels. The Upper Windows float high in the lofty ceiling where they symbolize the enigmatic idea of God as the Holy Trinity. The more "down to earth" Lower Windows depict events and teachings from the earthly life of Christ. To emphasize their spatial and thematic separation from the Lower Windows, an achromatic glass palette is used in the Upper Windows. Variously textured, colorless clear glasses combined with both filmy white and denser white glasses give the Triptych and Rose Windows a transcendent, spiritual quality and a sense of uplifting awe. As a reflection of our human inability to fully comprehend our infinite God, the imagery contained in these windows is more abstract than that of the Lower Windows. The Upper Windows represent God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit both united as One in the Triptych Window and individually in the three Rose Windows.

Because glass's visual presence extends beyond its two dimensional surface, the windows at St. Matthew's reveal different aspects as the sun transits from day to night and slowly cycles through the seasons projecting ever-changing patterns of light throughout the sanctuary's interior. Views out through the windows also change as shadows, foliage and clouds grow and recede. The windows' exterior appearance also changes as reflected sunlight gives way to the glow of interior lighting at night. This fully three dimensional and constantly changing experience will allow the stained glass to remain a comforting, yet dynamic part of worship at St. Matthews.

CLICK HERE...to see the beauty of the 12 lower windows of our church...