Current and former parishioners of St Matthews Wendouree will be transported back in time this weekend as the church celebrates its 125th anniversary.
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The familiar sight of the yellow brick and tiled gable roof of St Matthew’s Anglican Church on the corner of Howitt and Forest streets in Wendouree is well known to the people of Ballarat.
Father Constantine Osuchukwu is St Matthew’s rector and parish priest, having come to the community a year ago.
He says he expects the celebrations planned for the 125th anniversary this weekend will be successful, and its entirely due to the hard work of his congregation.
“They are, first and foremost, a very lively and vibrant congregation, full of faith and commitment and dedication,” Father Constantine says.
“We’re co-operative in ministry. It’s not ‘Father knows all’; everybody contributes, and it’s the same for this celebration. I just delegated and everybody contributed in one way or the other.”
Father Constantine is keenly aware that his predecessors at St Matthews were long-term incumbents, and he’s equally willing to praise them.
“The previous rectors were here for 26 years and 19 years. The strength of the congregation here is testimony perhaps to having the stability of having long-serving priests in the parish. People feel comfortable, they know each other.”
The interior of St Matthew’s will be filled with memorabilia and archival material sourced from the church itself and its parishioners. Church historian Ann McKee has compiled documents about the church’s past and plan drawings of the different iterations of St Matthew’s which in the past was located on Howitt Street and was moved to its current location in 1912, after the land was donated by a member of the church.
Ms McKee said she discovered letters from various bishops to St Matthew’s during the preparations for the anniversary, giving permission for the installation of the church’s distinctive stained glass windows.
“I didn’t realise you needed permission,” she says.
“The bishop actually has to write out a certificate. Fancy that. We’ve got the originals, so many originals; they were stored neatly in a tin trunk.”
Celebrations at St Matthew’s this weekend include pastoral evensong in memory of past parishioners on Friday September 21; a 9am Mass and hourly readings from the Gospel of St Matthew on Saturday September 22, along with guided tours and displays, slideshows and community singing.
Sunday will see the 125th Anniversary Mass concelebrated by Fr Constantine and The Reverend Canon Dr Timothy Gaden of St Peter’s.
