Matthew Hersch is a husband, father, grandfather, brother, friend, CDR USN (ret), and is a war veteran of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia. He has been married to the former Kathleen Fessler Hersch for 42 years and has six wonderful children (plus their six outstanding spouses) and 17 grandchildren.
Commander Hersch is a highly decorated Navy officer who served for 22 years in numerous Navy active and reserve duty units. He has served on three battlefields and logged over 2,678 combat convoy miles in HUMVEES, MRAPS, Up-Armored SUVS, C-130/C-160/C-2 transport aircraft and Sea King/Merlin/CH-47 helicopters. Hersch is the Founder of Roman Catholic Knight, an apostolate whose mission is “To get the man next to you to heaven.”
The Roman Catholic Knight ministry consists of the following 9 pillars:
1. Assisting all men to establish a personal relationship with Jesus Christ
2. Catholic Men's Fellowship
3. Catholic evangelization and ongoing education
4. Actively evangelize and bring men who have left the Catholic faith back to the faith
5. Bible study participation and apprenticeship
6. Help men overcome pornography addiction
7. Help men to become better husbands and fathers
8. Support of our female and youth counterparts
9. Support all parish ministries
When Hersch isn’t on his knees in prayer for everything that our good and gracious Lord has given him, he is showing people how smart he is (he almost aced his second grade IQ test with a 98) and making them laugh. Out loud. A lot.
A Partial List of Talks is As Follows (For male audience)
My Appointment with Death - Afghan Mountains (This talk is meant to provide how faith can get you through near death situations). CDR Hersch will share his Afghan wartime military experiences and how his Catholic Faith got him through his near-death incident in the Afghanistan mountains. Matt will then transition into how the Holy Spirit charged him with forming the Roman Catholic Knight apostolate and how this ministry is making a huge impact in the “ministering to men” spaces and helping men become part of a movement and an apostolate that will change their lives.
Just Get to the Next Meal (This talk will provide help in dealing with the stresses of life) CDR Hersch will share his experience as a Navy Officer going through the demanding Army Airborne school at age 44. Matt will describe the stress and uncertainty of getting though this demanding school and how one of his shipmates provided him with a suggestion that changed his entire orientation on how he would deal with stressful situations for the rest of his life. Hersch will then talk about how the Holy Spirit charged him with forming the Roman Catholic Knight apostolate and how this ministry is helping men get through our demanding and stressful world.
