St Joseph's Catholic Church Stockport

Priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

The parish was served by the Sacred Heart Fatthers until 31 August 2022

Below are the details of our last SCJ priests

Our vision: Love with open heart and mind

We are witnesses of God's transforming love in souls and society. We spread God's love around the world with open heart and mind.

Our Mission: Adveniat Regnum Tuum

- Your kingdom come

We are especially for people who are most in need and for the young. Our Congregation focuses on education, social work, missions, spirituality and media to announce the kingdom of God. We live in community, are inspired by daily Eucharistic Adoration, and in a fragmented world we believe unity to be possible

Father Jim Matthews SCJ

Father Jim arrived at St Joseph's in 2010
I belong to an Irish family of 11, ten of whom were walking or cycling two miles to school
at the same time at Philipstown N.S. and Dunleer Tech in the 1950s.
In the 1960s I studied with the Sacred Heart Fathers at Woodcote Hall, Shropshire and Malpas, Cheshire.
Both these colleges were surrounded by farms.
In the 70s, 80s and 90s Malpas was appreciated by retreatants from the Shrewsbury Diocese and beyond.
Dehon House, where I worked from 1996 to 2003, was likewise surrounded by farmland. Like mammy and daddy, I was reared on a small farm.
On my Ordination card (24/03/1974) I quoted St Augustine,

"We work from the outside, as do the farmers in the field. But were there not One who works from within, the seed would never sprout nor grow in the field....".

Ad Multos Annos!
Fr Jim Matthews, scj

Father Blaise Nsangou SCJ

One of the ten kids given by God to Felix (our late loving Dad) and Dorothee , our ever caring, faithful and devoted mother, I left the family to join the Sacred Heart Fathers community in Cameroon in 1989 (Summer holidays). I was 19 years old. I remember my father's only words that day : "my son, God will provide", paraphrasing Abraham (Genesis 22, 8). Since then, I followed the formation steps. I did my first vows in 1992 (12th August) in the Sacred Heart Fathers congregation. 22nd January 2000, day of my ordination as a priest, marks a new tone of the 'adventure' as Christ's follower. "I have come so that they may have life and have it to the full ". Jn 10, 10b. I am grateful for all the paths God and my hierarchy are still leading me through. A step forward on this way: the door open to be part of our British-Irish Fathers' mission since 2014 at St Joseph's Parish - Stockport. Thank you all for your warm and friendly welcome. " It is for them that I pray". Jn 17, 9a Blaise Nsangou