Walter Matthews

Pentecost Today USA Historical Consultant

Locust Grove, VA

 

Walter Matthews is the former Executive Director for the National Service Committee of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal of the United States. He served in that position from January 1993 to his retirement on December 31, 2020. He began working for the National Service Committee as Associate Director in May 1984.

Matthews graduated from the University of Texas in December 1971 and received an MA in Religious Education from Fordham University in 1976. He has been involved in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal since January 1972 and has served in various leadership positions in the Renewal for nearly 50 years.

He was recently elected to a second term on the CHARIS National Service of Communion, in response to Pope Francis’ establishment of CHARIS on the international level in 2019. He also serves on the Steering Committee of the Charismatic Leaders Fellowship, an ecumenical group dating to 1970. Finally, Matthews serves on the Catholic Ecclesial Movements and New Communities in the US in Conversation under the leadership of Bishop Sam Jacobs.

Prior to working for the National Service Committee, Matthews served in full time leadership in the Renewal in New York City for two years; in a parish in Rochester, Minnesota, as Director of Religious Education for two years and in the Regional Service Committee office in Minneapolis, Minnesota, for three and a half years.

He has spoken at conferences, days of renewal, and leaders’ days throughout the United States.

In April 1990 Pope John Paul II appointed Matthews to a five-year term as a member of the Pontifical Council for the Laity. The Pontifical Council for the Laity is the Vatican department in charge of promoting the participation of the laity in the Catholic Church’s life and mission. The department is at the direct service of the Pope. His term, which had been extended one year, ended in April 1996. From January 1994-November 1996 he served a term as an Advisor to the U.S. Bishops’ Committee on the Laity.

He is a native of New York City and is married to the former Claire Casey (1978). The Matthews have three adult children, all of whom are married, and five grandchildren. The Matthews live in Locust Grove, Virginia.

Updated 1/2023