Our Mission
St. Matthew’s is a Christian church in the Anglican tradition. Our mission is to proclaim and embody the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our neighbourhood and to invite others to join in as we follow in the way of Jesus.
Gospel
The gospel is the good news of the kingdom of God. In the first century Jesus of Nazareth went about preaching and teaching this good news, that the kingdom of God had come (Mark 1:15).
The Way of Jesus
The earliest Christians were known as “followers of the Way,” (Acts 9:2; 24:14). At St. Matthew’s, we like to think of ourselves as a community of people that are on the Way (Jesus also referred to himself as the Way! John 14:6).
Anglican
The Anglican Communion is the third-largest tradition in Christianity with over 70 million worldwide members.
Our Neighbourhood
St. Matthew’s is located on 135 First Ave., in Riverdale, Toronto.
The People
Our family is made up of people of all shapes and sizes, each of whom is a gift to the community.
Whether you’re a student, young family, or retiree we welcome you to gather with us around the Word and invite you to find your place in the Body of Christ. Our building was opened on Easter Day, April 6th, 1890 (though we’ve been a part of Riverdale since 1874), the architecture of which is almost as beautiful as the people!
Ministry Team
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Rev. Dr. Catherine Sider Hamilton
Priest-in-ChargeCatherine was ordained priest in 1994 and has served as Associate Priest at Grace Church on-the-Hill and the Church of St. John the Baptist Norway, and as chaplain at Havergal College. She is Assistant Professor of New Testament and Greek at Wycliffe College. She blogs on feasts and fasts - exploring the rhythms of the Christian year - at feastfastferia.wordpress.com. It has been a joy for her to join the community of St. Matthew’s and share in the people’s faith and hope and witness. She and her husband David have four (mostly) adult children and live along the Danforth in Toronto's Greektown.
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Rev. Dr. Ephraim Radner
Honorary AssistantEphraim Radner is Professor of Historical Theology at Wycliffe College, an evangelical seminary of the Anglican tradition at the University of Toronto. Before moving to Toronto in 2007, he served as an Anglican priest in Burundi (Africa), Brooklyn (NY), Cleveland, Connecticut, and Colorado, where he was engaged in a wide range of pastoral and teaching ministries. Ephraim and his wife Annette Brownlee (Wycliffe College’s Chaplain and an instructor in Pastoral Theology) live in St. Matthew’s neighborhood, and relish the excitement and diversity of Riverdale. He assists the parish in leading worship, preaching, and teaching, (and sometimes with some music) and has been blessed by the witness and friendship offered by St. Matthew’s members.
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Dr. Samuel Tam
Music DirectorDr. Tam recently completed and successfully defended his doctoral dissertation in Fall 2022 at the University of Toronto. His study, The Orchestral Symphonies of Charles-Marie Widor: Context, Form and Performances will be available on ProQuest and TSpace in the coming months.
Dr. Tam is currently conductor and artistic advisor of the Rose Orchestra Brampton, with whom he first started conducting in 2016. He has conducted the University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra and is on faculty at the Royal Conservtory of Music, where he teaches the Academy conducting course, and has conducted the Taylor Academy Orchestra and Royal Conservatory Orchestra. With the Glenn Gould School, he was Assistant Conductor and Repetiteur for many Koerner Hall opera productions. At both the RCM and UofT, Dr. Tam has had a long association with distinguished Canadian conductor, Uri Mayer. Joining the Canadian Opera Company in 2007, Dr. Tam worked on many main-stage productions over several seasons, most recently COC's re-opening production of Magic Flute with conductor Patrick Lange.
Dr. Tam is also a graduate of McGill University, where he studied conducting with Alexis Hauser, and organ with John Grew.