The Very Reverend S. Matthew Young, SCP serves as the Rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. A native Northern Kentuckian, Fr. Matt earned a Master of Divinity degree from Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio in 1998 and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wittenberg University in 1994. He grew up in Hebron and is a proud graduate of the Class of 1988 from Conner High School.
The Right Reverend Stacy Sauls, then Bishop of Lexington, appointed Fr. Matt as Vicar at St. Paul’s in September 2004. St. Paul’s, at that time, was a mission in the Diocese of Lexington. In 2012, after a period of growth and discernment, St. Paul’s became a parish again in the Diocese and Fr. Matt was called to serve as Rector.
Fr. Matt serves as the Chaplain for the Newport Fire/EMS Department and also the Newport Police Department. Along with four firefighters in Northern Kentucky, he founded Kentucky Firefighter Peer Support which has trained over 50 firefighter/paramedics as peer supporters to listen, befriend, and serve others struggling with stressfulness in their vocations.
For fun, Fr. Matt is the Coordinator of Football Officials of the Ohio Valley Conference (FCS). He is also the assigning secretary for the Northern Kentucky Officials Association for football and has been a football official since 1989. In 2018, he was appointed to the Board of Directors for the Blanton Collier Leadership Group for Sportsmanship and Ethics.
At the diocesan St. George's Day celebration at the Cathedral Domain Camp & Conference Center on April 30, 2022, Fr. Matt was seated as Dean of the Cathedral Church of St. George the Martyr.
He and his German Shepherd, Gerd, reside in the City of Newport.
