Francis MacNutt

Francis Scott MacNutt (April 22, 1925 - January 12, 2020) He earned a B.A. degree from Harvard University in 1948, and a M.A. degree in speech and drama from The Catholic University of America, Washington. In 1950, MacNutt joined the Dominican Order and was ordained to the priesthood in 1956. He taught at a seminary in Dubuque, Iowa, for several years before moving back to St Louis in 1966 to become executive director of the National Catholic Preaching Conference. As a young Roman Catholic priest, he was prominent and influential in the charismatic renewal in the 1960s, and during the 1970s he became associated with the practices of speaking in tongues and faith healing and appeared on television with Ruth Carter Stapleton, the sister of President Carter.

He left the Dominican Order to marry Judith Carole Sewell, a psychotherapist whose practice integrated healing prayer, in February 1980 and they settled in Clearwater, Florida, where they established Christian Healing Ministries that same year.

In 2007, the International Catholic Charismatic Renewal Service in the Vatican co-sponsored an international conference with Christian Healing Ministries (CHM) for 450 Catholic leaders from 42 countries. This conference was held in Jacksonville, with the purpose of bringing the MacNutts' teachings to the worldwide Church.