The Reverend Matthew A. Laferty is the director of the Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome and represents the World Methodist Council to the Holy See. He is responsible for the World Methodist Council’s relations with the Catholic Church and the Holy See (Vatican). He also serves as the co-secretary of the Methodist-Roman Catholic International Commission, the official theological dialogue commission between the World Methodist Council and the Holy See.
Rev. Laferty is a presbyter in The United Methodist Church and maintains clergy standing in the Union of Methodist and Waldensian Churches in Italy. He is a missionary of the General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church. From 2015-2020 he was the pastor of the English-Speaking United Methodist Church of Vienna in Vienna, Austria, and a representative of The United Methodist Church to the United Nations Office at Vienna and UN-related organizations in Vienna. Rev. Laferty served as the executive director of MPC Social Services in Moscow, Russia, from 2011-2015, directing an urban outreach centre working in areas of hunger, medical assistance, integration, anti-racism, and counter-human trafficking. While in Moscow, he concurrently served as the chaplain to the international, interdenominational Moscow Protestant Chaplaincy. Other ministry placements include Tabor Lutheran Church (ELCA) in Branford, Connecticut, USA, The United Methodist Church’s ecumenical agency, and Connecticut AIDS Resource Coalition (now AIDS Connecticut).
Originally from Crestline, Ohio, USA, Rev. Laferty holds a Master of Divinity degree from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, USA, where he was awarded the Downes Prize for worship leadership in 2011. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and international studies from Methodist-related Ohio Wesleyan University where he graduated cum laude and with university honors. He has a Master of Laws in canon law with distinction from Cardiff University in the United Kingdom.
In addition to his MEOR leadership, Rev. Laferty is a member of the World Methodist Council since 2006. He is an ex officio member of the World Methodist Council’s ecumenical and interreligious relations committee. He is the secretary of the international Committee on Faith and Order of The United Methodist Church and a member of the Advisory Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Relationships of the Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church. He was also appointed as a delegate from The United Methodist Church to the General Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Busan, Korea, in November 2013.
He was a Fellow of the KAICIID International Dialogue Centre, a Lisbon-based inter-governmental organization that promotes inter-religious and intercultural dialogue to prevent and resolve conflict, from 2020-2021.
You may contact the Director at director [at] meorome.org.
Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome 