News – Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome

Public Conversation on “Ecumenical Relations on the Journey of Synodality” by Abp. Shane Mackinlay on 25 June 2026

June 2, 2026June 2, 2026meorome

The Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome and the Caravita Community invite you to a public conversation with Archbishop Shane Mackinlay of Brisbane on Thursday, 25 June 2026 at 7:00 PM/19:00.

The event will be held in a conversation-style format as Archbishop Shane shares on the topic “Ecumenical Relations on the Journey of Synodality,” sharing about the role of Christian unity in the Catholic Church’s ongoing process of more synodal church.

The event will be one hour and will be held in English.

The event will be held on Thursday, 25 June 2026 at 19:00 (Rome) at the Oratory of Francis Xavier of Caravita, located at Via del Caravita 7, 00186 Rome.

Oratory of Francis Xavier of Caravita

About Archbishop Shane Mackinlay

Archbishop Shane Mackinlay was born in Melbourne in 1965 and attended the local government school until his family moved to Ballarat in 1975. In Ballarat, he was a student at St Francis Xavier Primary School and St Patrick’s College, where he was dux in 1982. He has two siblings and is the uncle of five nieces and nephews.

He studied for the priesthood at Corpus Christi College, Clayton, completing theology studies at Catholic Theological College and a degree in physics at Monash University. As a deacon, he served in the parish of Warrnambool, before being ordained as priest for the Ballarat Diocese in 1991, and serving in the parishes of Hamilton, Colac and Ballarat Cathedral. He then undertook graduate studies in philosophy at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, where he completed a Master’s degree and a doctorate. His doctoral thesis was published by Fordham University Press.

Archbishop Mackinlay was administrator of the Casterton parish for six months and parish priest of the Sebastopol parish for four years. He was parish priest of the Bungaree parish from 2005 until his appointment as bishop; from 2009, he also provided weekend sacramental ministry for the neighbouring parish of Gordon.

For several years, he taught philosophy at Australian Catholic University, Ballarat. Most of his teaching has taken place at Catholic Theological College, Melbourne, where he was appointed Master in 2011. The following year, he was appointed Associate Professor by the University of Divinity.

He was secretary to the Bishop of Ballarat from 1998 to 2001 and was the Chairperson of the Bishop’s Advisory Council of the Ballarat Diocese from its establishment in 2009. He was a member of the College of Consultors of the Ballarat Diocese on two occasions and also served as chair of the two funds that provide support to the active and retired priests of the diocese. From 2012 to 2014 he was the spokesperson for the Catholic Church during the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and other Non-Government Organisations

Pope Francis appointed Bishop Mackinlay as the eighth Bishop of Sandhurst on 23 July 2019. Since then, he has been elected as Vice-President of the Fifth Plenary Council of Australia and as one of the Australian members of the Synod for a Synodal Church. In 2019, he was asked to join the Methodist–Roman Catholic International Commission, and in 2022 was appointed as its Co-Chair.

Archbishop Shane Mackinlay of the Sandhurst Diocese succeeded Archbishop Mark Coleridge and was installed as Archbishop on September 11, 2025, thus commencing his episcopal ministry in the Archdiocese of Brisbane.

Chicago Methodist Pilgrims Visit MEOR – May 2026

May 28, 2026meorome

A group of pilgrims from First United Methodist Church at the Chicago Temple in Chicago, IL, USA, visited the Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome on 27 May 2026 during their pilgrimage in Rome. The group of 12 pilgrims are in Rome exploring the intersection of church history and Christian theology, sacred spaces, and art.

The Rev. Matthew A. Laferty, director of the Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome and representative of the World Methodist Council to the Holy See (Vatican), met the pilgrims at Ponte Sant’Angelo Methodist Church near the Vatican, where he shared about MEOR’s mission, Methodist-Catholic relations, and ecumenism in Rome. The Chicago group took particular interest in the Bishop of Rome, a native of Chicago.

British Methodist-Catholic Dialogue Meeting in May 2026

May 20, 2026May 20, 2026meorome

The national British Methodist-Catholic Dialogue Commission met from 18-19 May 2026 at Barnes Close near Birmingham, UK, for its biannual meeting. During the residential meeting, the commission reflected on baptismal identity and on the recently published document from the international Methodist-Catholic dialogue “We Believe in One God: Sixty Years of Methodists and Catholics Walking Together.” The commission is crafting plans to develop catechetical resources for use in local congregations in Britain.

The commission is a joint initiative of the Methodist Church in Great Britain and the Catholic Bishops Conference of Scotland & the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales, co-chaired by the Rev. Ruth Gee, past president of the Conference of the Methodist Church, and the Rt. Rev. David Evans, Auxiliary Bishop of Birmingham.

The Rev. Matthew A. Laferty, director of the Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome, is a member of the national commission since 2020.

Photo: The British national Methodist-Catholic commission following their May 2026 meeting.

MEOR Director Visits Oklahoma Methodist, USCCB President – May 2026

May 16, 2026May 20, 2026meorome

During a recent trip to Oklahoma (USA), the Rev. Matthew A. Laferty, director of the Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome and representative of the World Methodist Council to the Holy See, visited Oklahoma Methodist leaders and the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

On Tuesday, 12 May 2026, Rev. Laferty visited the headquarters of the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference of The United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA, where he met with Rev. Margaret Johnson, assistant to Bishop Laura Merrill, and Rev. Donna Pewo, OIMC director of connectional ministries. They discussed OIMC’s history, the ministries of the Conference, and Native American spirituality.

First established in 1844, OIMC encompasses 79 predominately indigenous/Native American United Methodist congregations in Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas.

Director Laferty was accompanied by Mr. Caleb Siems who is an enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.

Front row: Rev. Donna Pewo and Rev. Margaret Johnson, second row: Mr. Caleb Siems and Rev. Laferty

Rev. Laferty also met the Most Rev. Paul Coakley, Catholic Archbishop of Oklahoma City and president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, at his office in Oklahoma City on 15 May 2026 to discuss MEOR’s ministry, Methodist-Catholic relations, and the Catholic Church in the United States.

Archbishop Paul Coakley and Rev. Matthew A. Laferty

Visit of the Archbishop of Canterbury – April 2026

April 29, 2026May 5, 2026meorome

The Rev. Matthew A. Laferty, director of the Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome and representative of the World Methodist Council to the Holy See, shared several moments of prayer and fellowship with the Most Revd and the Rt Hon Dame Sarah Mullally, the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury, during her recent visit to Rome and to the Vatican from 25-28 April 2026.

Rev. Laferty joined Archbishop Sarah as she presided at Eucharist at All Saints’ Anglican Church (Church of England) in Rome, preached at Choral Evensong at St. Paul’s Within the Walls Episcopal Church in Rome, and installed Bishop Anthony Ball as her representative to the Holy See.

Photo by P. Cheney/ACR