Colin Mathewson Named Beatitude Fellow

The Rev. Colin Mathewson, curate at St. Paul’s Cathedral, San Diego, has been named a Beatitude Fellow by The Beatitude Society. He is one of twelve faith leaders in the US recognized for being a game-changer because he is already changing faith communities with innovative ministry. He has been called a soul-changer and a world-changer because he is committed to transforming people and neighborhoods from the inside out for the sake of justice, inclusion and the common good.

As a Beatitude Fellow, Mathewson will receive a financial award and a yearlong leadership development program designed to deepen his capacity to be a resilient, risk-taking faith leader in his community.

Quoting from the website about Mathewson:

“‘The lack of affordable housing, stagnant wages, a broken immigration process, and racial bias in the justice system keep the more than 300,000 families of the working poor in the San Diego region awake at night. As Episcopalians seeking to become a serving church to the marginalized, the reality of poverty in our midst — not just on our streets but in our sanctuaries — has become increasingly clear.'”

Colin Mathewson is priest associate for mission at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral in San Diego, where he serves a growing Latino congregation. Colin is a 2013 graduate of the School of Theology at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, where both he and his wife Laurel completed their Master of Divinity degrees, were ordained, and now serve alongside each other at St. Paul’s.  He is also a 2002 honors graduate of Stanford University.

About his project, Colin says:

‘Our dream is to invite and support Episcopalians of our diocese from every socioeconomic, racial, and cultural background to step outside their comfort zone in the name of Christ and in service of the co-creation of the Reign of God in this time and place.  Our hope is that each one of us will reach across the great dividers of race and class to truly befriend someone who is not like us, and yet is a fellow member of the Body of Christ.  Our goal is to transform these relationships into a powerful faith-based movement to make real, lasting structural policy changes so that one day all people may thrive.  We trust that a partnership with the San Diego Organizing Project (SDOP), a local nonprofit with decades of on-the-ground faith-based community organizing experience, can help us transform these relationships into power for God’s greater glory.

Participation in these organizing campaigns will change the community for the better by amplifying the electoral voice of the marginalized and making the most of public funding to invest in the wellbeing of youth and families, regardless of their race or immigration status.’

Colin listens to NPR and reads the Los Angeles Times and local nonprofit news daily.  He pays attention to the work of Walter Brueggemann, Wendell Berry, Barbara Brown Taylor, Heidi Neumark, Justo Gonzalez, and Brian McLaren.”

Read about all twelve of this year’s fellows here: http://beatitudessociety.org/our_fellows?class=2015-16+Class