It was a thrill to receive Archbishop Carney's phone call on Aug. 10th of 1983, when I was stationed in Powell River, appointing me as pastor of a new parish somewhere in Surrey. I quickly travelled to my new place and was greeted with a piece of land that was basically bush and overgrown field, with an older home occupied by a rental family, and an empty split level house with a barn-type workshop behind it. It was this house and barn that I could begin to call home and parish center.

We began as a small but very enthusiastic congregation. One of the things we decided upon at the beginning was our name. We wanted one that was not duplicated in the diocese, would be strong and well known, and of all the suggestions, St. Matthew was chosen. We often joke among ourselves that his occupation as a tax collector gave certain character to the life of our parish.

Along with our own efforts at raising extra money for the parish, the Archbishop had his own strategy for doing the same for the needs of the diocese. And so the new parish began to take part in the annual Project Advance Campaign, raising funds for the larger Church, while at the same time doing the same for ourselves by piggybacking onto this campaign in the spring our own hopes for the future. We had committed and very capable volunteers, and the parish's building fund grew year by year.

In early 1984 the Archbishop asked me to take in a refugee student who wanted to go to the seminary. So Joseph Hieu Nguyen came to us, learned to speak English, and learned to use a shovel and wheelbarrow. We worked hard to turn the swampy yard area and the overgrown field area into lawn and garden, and the parishioners helped in all kinds of ways. Joseph stayed for about a year and a half, and then went to the seminary. Our parish site began to be used as a picnic-bonfire-hotdog kind of gathering place. Over the years we have had many happy times in our big backyard, and a season doesn't pass without some kind of celebration for the parish. We also began to mark Canada Day as our very own parish picnic day. Rain or shine we have barbecued chicken for hundreds of happy families, played softball, soccer, volleyball and other games, had our faces painted or splattered with the egg-toss competition, and generally enjoyed the company of the parish on July the 1st, using our neighbouring Bothwell Park as our annual location. And a special day each year for us is Sept. 21st, when we celebrate the feast of St. Matthew.

In the spring of 1992 we decided to take a big step in the preparations for our new church. We lifted up the existing parish center and rectory buildings and moved them back on the property so that the place for our church would now be ready. At first the offices moved into my dining room and living room, as the parish center was stripped and re-located. Then when it came time for my house to be moved, we re-located the parish offices to a rented trailer on the side of the property, and I borrowed a recreational fifth wheel to live in while the house was up on stilts. A large frame was built over this recreational vehicle and draped with a huge tarp, which then covered my outdoor kitchen and dining room. We strung long lines for telephone, cable, water, and electricity, and I began to camp out for the remainder of the year.

As we happily adjusted to our new settings, the office was busy with the plans for the church. Our approvals from the bishop's office were in place, we had gone through the re-zoning process, and the plans were being finalized by the firm that we had engaged. The architect was one of our own charter parishioners, Daniel Kim, and his firm, Pacific Rim Architecture, was designing our building. We went to tender in the fall, and on Dec. 24th the contract was signed with Gauvin Construction Ltd. Our Christmas Masses were especially joyful at the announcement that on Jan. 3, 1994, we would have the ground breaking ceremony and the beginning of construction at our site for the new church we had been long dreaming of.