Rather ironically, perhaps their biggest selling point is their age. Everything the send includes several references either to St. Matthew's Church being "very old," or listing their age.
I whopping 57 years.
I get their stuff in the mail sometimes and chuk it right out. They are not Catholic, and their junk has always seemed like it was designed by some protestant with stuff they think will catch a Catholic's eye (at least the stuff that comes in the mail: Catholic-y type terminology and symbols/objects like those that your reader mentioned)
This was the first time I followed a link to their website, though. I was truly amused to see this message on the front page:
"You are welcome to view the website of this very old church ministry. First established in 1951."
Umm... 1951...very old?? I guess if you're a certain flavor of American protestant you could call that old! 
+J.M.J+
I get their stuff in the mail, too, though I've never sent a donation. AFAIK they are not at all Catholic, though they do make liberal use of Catholic imagery, for whatever reason. I'm quite certain they have no connection whatsoever to any diocese, hence they're not Catholic.
FYI, here's a website claiming that it is just a rip-off scheme:
http://www.ripoffreport.com/
repo...poff0030548.htm
Of course, anything on the Internet should be taken with the proverbial grain of salt and/or thoroughly researched.
In Jesu et Maria,
Hehe, I see Justin noticed the same thing I did.
Poking around their website, I see they're big on KJV-only (or KJV-preferred, anyway). Yet they also have instructions (which look like something they photocopied out of an old Baltimore Catechism) for the Stations of the Cross, and pictures of a Catholic Mass (pictures that, again, look like the ones in the back of my kids' Catechism).
Weird!
They aren't a joke, they're a scam operation.
Check the TrinityFI.org link in the url.
Warren
Aha... Wikipedia knows all:
St Matthews Churches
Okay, as fun as poking around their weird website has been, time to get back to work. 
Good to know. Thanks for the feedback.
FWIW, I also laughed at 1951 being "very old"...
Seeing as my dad was born in 1946, I guess that would make him ancient.
I love these letters. They come to us every six months or so, and my wife and I always get a laugh out of them. My favorites are, of course, the 56 (used to be 56, and 55, and...) years old VERY OLD St. Matthew's Churches! Funniest of all are the "Spirit Soaked Bible Prayer Rug"s which you are to pray on, leave under your bed, then send back. There was a warning to leave the rug under your bed for "ONLY ONE NIGHT" because "GOD SEES!" As if the Holy Spirit would become too soaked with dust mites or something if left for 48 hours, and burst forth from the paper "rug" in a rage, killing my wife and me, ala Acts of the Apostles.
+J.M.J+
Is it just me, or is there something unusual about the picture of their alleged church in Texas (no actual address given on website that I can see):
http://www.aboutsaintmatthewschu...hes.com/
P06.htm
If you look at the "Cathedral of Saint Matthew" sign on the building, it almost looks like it doesn't belong there. Like the picture was photoshopped or something.
Maybe I'm wrong, but it looks fishy.
One of the TrinityFI.org articles contains this claim from the founder's lawyer:
Joyce said the church is not a nondenominational church but is also not affiliated with a larger church body and is “like an Anglican church” — more conservative than Episcopal churches because it doesn’t allow homosexual clergy.
Maybe that helps explain some of the traditional Catholic terminology and imagery (yep, many of the pictures on that site were taken from a Catholic Catechism).
In Jesu et Maria,
+J.M.J+
Okay, I found a website for the Cathedral of Saint Matthew in Texas:
http://saintmatthewscathedral.or...l.org/
index.htm
But it's rather short on information and says nothing (that I can find) about an affiliation with "St. Matthew's Churches." Curious.
One photo shows a sign out front that says: "We worship in the AngloCatholic Tradition." Odd than a former tent revivalist preacher like James Eugene Ewing (founder of "St. Matthew's Churches") would be associated by an apparently "High Church" congregation. Not impossible to believe, but unusual.
In Jesu et Maria,
That should read, "would be associated WITH an apparently "High Church" congregation." Sorry 'bout that.
In Jesu et Maria,
Ah, wait, here's a much clearer photo on a sister site:
http://biblicalprayer.com/Page002.htm
Methinks a female clergyperson standeth to the (viewer's) left in that picture. Not too surprising for an Episcopalian-style church, I guess.
In Jesu et Maria,
I, too, got that mailing and pitched it.
The Irvingites were an early 19th C English sect that spoke in tongues. They're described in Msgr. Knox's ENTHUSIAM.
Next people will be asking about Muggletonians and Southcottians.
Methinks a female clergyperson standeth to the (viewer's) left in that picture.
Hmm, a deacon? That's a dalmatic she's wearing, isn't it?
Aren't there segments of the Anglican communion that will ordain women to the diaconate but not the priesthood?
This is a great time waster! Not sure what it says about me that I keep poking around their website though! :P
Looks like an operation designed to appeal to Hispanics in this country.
I see no resemblance of this group to the Catholic Apostolic Church ("Irvingites"), most of whom have died out while waiting for the Parousia. (The last few in New York sold their church to the Missouri Synod.) Or to the New Apostolic Church, who did not just wait for the Parousia when the original Apostles started dying.
Some of the daily prayer intercessions sound as though they'd been copied from the Liturgy of the Hours, including an occasional intercession for the dead. Maybe ICEL's lawyers should go after them for copyright violation.
It was an educated guess about similarities to the Irvingites...
I did a bit of research. The Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston has had its hands full regarding St. Matthew's Cathedral.
+J.M.J+
>>>Hmm, a deacon? That's a dalmatic she's wearing, isn't it?
I guess. I'm a bit fuzzy on Catholic vestments, and even more clueless on Anglican ones (I've heard there are differences).
I pointed her out for the benefit of anyone who might wonder whether that church is Catholic. The presence of female clergy is a "dead giveaway" (excuse the cliche).
In Jesu et Maria,
+J.M.J+
>>>I did a bit of research. The Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston has had its hands full regarding St. Matthew's Cathedral.
I guess this must be one of the articles:
http://www.khou.com/news/local/
h....103085d00.html
So they target Hispanics and present themselves as Catholic, huh? A deacon in a certain Lutheran church in my area was doing the same thing a few years ago. Our pastor said that Hispanic parishoners were coming to him upset because they had had their children baptized at the Lutheran church after the deacon there had told them it was Catholic, only to find out later that it was not.
Sheep stealers. Great. I wonder how much targeting of Latino Catholics goes on in the US?
>>>Some of the daily prayer intercessions sound as though they'd been copied from the Liturgy of the Hours, including an occasional intercession for the dead. Maybe ICEL's lawyers should go after them for copyright violation.
D'ya think they would? They seem pretty lenient in that regard.
In Jesu et Maria,
Yikes! I got one of their envelopes recently, too. It actually weirded me out when my husband opened the "prophecy", partly because it was so mundane and partly... I dunno, it seemed kind of creepy, like a divine chain letter.
Good to know it's just a scam, not a cult. :p
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