THE KEY

THE KEY is the newsletter of St. Matthew's Church. It is published every month except August. It describes upcoming events, important notices and church news, and chronicles recent events.

THE KEY dates back to 1945. Rev. Arthur Ketchum inaugurated the monthly in the midst of the second World War. At that time, 117 members of our parish were serving in the military. In Rev. Ketchum's own words, "If we are all one family, we are a scattered one. Some of us are in the neighborhood and some, from time to time, away from it. And some--and too many are far away indeed with oceans and continents between them and us who are waiting for them to come back.

THE KEY will only achieve its purpose in so far as it proves to be the means which helps us all, whether we be far or near, to share in some fashion in a common life and feel ourselves to be part of it."

THE KEY took its name from the old brass key that hung from the maple tree just at the gate to the rectory. It was the key to the front doors of the church. That tree is no longer, but the key survives. Is it the original key? Perhaps, for each week it opens the doors to St. Matthew's, and in Rev. Ketchum's words, "it will open to all who come to the place which for many of us is the center of all that is best in our lives." Each Sunday as you enter and exit the church, glance down at the inside keyhole in the right hand door and see the brass key for which our parish paper takes its name.

In 1945, Mr. Kerr Rainsford designed the masthead and the emblems for THE KEY -- as it still appears.

2023