Laferty, Matthew A.

Matthew A. Laferty is a Global Missionary with the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries. He is the director of the Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome (MEOR). He represents the World Methodist Council to 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 Catholic Church.

The World Methodist Council, with The United Methodist Church and other partners, established the Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome in 2014 to be a permanent presence of the worldwide Methodist/Wesleyan family in Rome. The office fosters ecumenical relationships, seeks to represent the Methodist/Wesleyan family in various places and spaces in Rome and abroad, offers hospitality, and amplifies the church’s witness for peace and justice. MEOR provides hospitality and support for Methodists and ecumenical partners visiting Rome and on study leave. Ecumenical work often depends on developing contacts and personal relationships.

Matthew is an elder in The United Methodist Church and maintains his ministerial standing in the East Ohio Conference. He grew up in Crestline, Ohio, USA, where he and his family were active at the First United Methodist Church. From an early age, Matthew’s home congregation fostered a missional and ecumenical spirit within him and encouraged him to engage in local and international mission work.

Matthew holds a Master of Divinity degree from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, USA. He has a Master of Laws in canon law with distinction from Cardiff University in the United Kingdom and a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and international studies from United Methodist-related Ohio Wesleyan University.

He served as a Global Missionary from 2011 to 2020 in Vienna, Austria, and Moscow, Russia. He was a pastor of the English-Speaking United Methodist Church of Vienna and a United Methodist representative to the United Nations Office at Vienna and U.N.-related organizations. As the executive director of MPC Social Services in Moscow, he worked in areas of hunger, medical assistance, integration, antiracism and counter-human trafficking. Other ministry placements include Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church in Branford, Connecticut, USA, and the former Connecticut AIDS Resource Coalition.

Matthew has actively engaged in ecumenical movements, serving as a delegate and a member of various councils and committees.

A part of Matthew’s calling is that of helping Christians who seek the unity of the church. He recalls the foundational moments of ecumenical dialogue and cooperation in his local community as a child. He said, “My community taught me from an early age that God in Christ calls all Christians into communion together for the sake of the mission of the church. Diversity can be a threat or an opportunity to deeper relationship with one another in Christ Jesus our Lord. I learned that diversity is a gift to the unity that we share as Christians as diversity allows the good news of Christ to be shared with all the world.”