A Catholic “brother” living in a hermitage in Kentucky recently came out as “transgender” with the support of the local bishop.
“I’m not a Muslim,” said Brother Christian Matson, a 39-year-old hermit from the Diocese of Lexington, earlier this month. religion news service“This Sunday, on Pentecost 2024, I plan to come out publicly as transgender.”
“After my transition, I became a Catholic because of the Catholic understanding of the body and creation, the understanding of the sacraments, and primarily the Eucharist.”
Matson always has a story. First of all, Matson is likely biologically female; mass media And her bishop, John Stowe, uses masculine pronouns to refer to her. Matson told RNS that she had undergone a “gender reassignment” while in college, several years before converting from Presbyterianism to Catholicism, and that this “sexual reassignment” was part of her own “medical history.” She said she thinks it’s part of the.
Matson also felt called to a Catholic religious vocation, but her gender-related “medical history” prohibits her from marrying or entering the priesthood, which is restricted to men. So, although Matson spent nearly a decade earning various graduate degrees in theology and even took personal vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience before a spiritual director, he knew no one It is unclear whether he took an oath of obedience.
She also contacted various religious groups, but none accepted her. Even among the Jesuits, for a long time she was considered one of the best. liberal The Catholic religious community flatly rejected her. “They said, ‘No, we don’t see how this is going to help us,’ and that was a big shock because I felt like that’s where the mission was,” Matson told RNS. Ta.
Later, the church’s lawyer suggested that Matson consider becoming a hermit for the parish. “As long as you have a bishop who accepts you, there’s no problem,” the canon law lawyer explained, Matson recalled. “Because there is no gender distinction, you are not part of a community, you are alone.”
In 2020, Matson connected with Bishop Stowe. Bishop Stowe welcomed the idea of people who identify as transgender becoming hermits in his diocese.
“I was open with him because he is a man of integrity who is looking for a way to serve the church,” Stowe told RNS. “A hermit is a form of religious life that is rarely used…but they can be male or female. Neither pursuing priesthood nor engaging in sacramental service, the hermit is a relatively quiet I didn’t do that because it’s a secluded type of occupation. I don’t think there’s any harm in letting him live out this mission.”
Matson then entered a Benedictine monastery and eventually became a Benedictine oblate. St. Paul’s Monastery In Minnesota, “we are actively involved with Benedictine monasteries; Benedict’s rules As a guide. ”
“Benedictine spirituality is flexible and adaptable, open to all who seek God, and is a way of living the message of the Gospel,” the monastery’s website adds.
Matson said she now lives in a hermitage in Appalachia “with my rescue German shepherd, Odie, and the Eucharist that was installed in my chapel just before Christmas.”
Matson claimed that by “publicizing” her transgender identity, she hoped to prompt a change in the Vatican’s view of transgenderism, which “has no connection whatsoever to science.” “You have to deal with us because God called us to this church,” she continued. “It’s not your church that casts us out. This is God’s church, and God called us and grafted us into it.”
“After the transition, I became a Catholic because of the Catholic understanding of the desirability of visible unity of the body, creation, and the Church, the understanding of the sacraments, and primarily because of the Eucharist.”
Bishop Stowe said that although he and Matson knew that Matson’s transgender identity would cause anger among the faithful, he was confident that Matson had a place and that her spiritual journey was ” It is consistent with that special calling.”
A quick look at Stowe’s X posts reveals that he strongly supports many liberal political causes, especially regarding illegal immigration. In December 2022, he even compared illegal aliens in the United States to the United States. The Holy Innocents They were massacred under King Herod.
he also requested Tightening gun control He also retweeted this tweet a year ago in the aftermath of the transgender mass shooting that killed six people at a Nashville Christian school in March 2023: anti-bullying quotes Pope Francis: “Every man, every woman, every boy and every girl has a duty to be authentic, a duty to be themselves, and a right to be respected.”
In the following video, Bishop Stowe gives a message to Christians during the season of Advent.
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