‘Transgender’ Catholic ‘hermit’ joins several gender-confused women at Fr. James Martin’s conference

WASHINGTON D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — The controversial transgender-identified “diocesan hermit” known as “Brother Christian Cole Matson” joined Father James Martin’s LGBT conference to promote the admission of transgenders into religious communities.

According to the dissident National Catholic Reporter (NCR), a prominent guest and speaker at the recent pro-LGBT Outreach conference was “Br. Christian” Matson, the woman born as Nicole Matson, who now presents herself as a man.

NCR reported that Matson, who has previously attended Martin’s Outreach conferences, was joined at the event by “five young transgender men,” who joined “him” in a “private retreat” in addition to partaking in the weekend program.

“Matson attended the conference with the intent to support these men [sic], help them connect with the broader community, and learn how to better serve the community himself [sic],” the outlet reported.

As LifeSiteNews has documented, Matson revealed herself as “transgender” on Pentecost Sunday this year. Having undergone so-called sex-change surgery, Matson has been accepted by Bishop John Stowe into the Diocese of Lexington as a diocesan hermit. 

Raised Presbyterian, Matson explained to Religion News Service (RNS) that she converted to Catholicism four years after her “sex change” in college, which she referred to as part of her “medical history,” rather than a “central part” of her “personal identity.”

According to Matson’s own testimony, she subsequently “felt called to minister to those involved in the arts,” and received approval from Stowe to establish herself as a diocesan hermit. Stowe readily accepted, fully aware of Matson’s identity as a “transgender man.”

NCR’s report noted that Matson felt her transgender lifestyle corroborated and supported by the Outreach conference – on which LifeSiteNews has reported – “as it underscored the urgency of completing his upcoming book, which presents a theological argument for the inclusion of trans people in consecrated life.”

Speaking to NCR during the conference, Matson protested that women living as transgender men were being refused admission to religious life. “They just want to serve the church. They just want to be recognized for their love,” he said. 

“These are great men who fully should be in religious communities. They’re excellent candidates. The only reason that they’re not admitted is because of their medical history, their trans status.”

READ: Catholic ‘hermit’ approved by heterodox Bishop Stowe comes out as ‘transgender’

While accepted by Stowe as a diocesan hermit, Matson’s connection with other “transgender men” and participation with them in a joint retreat suggests that she is pursuing her aim of cultivating the groundwork for a religious community which accepts the transgender lifestyle. 

While other such individuals may have hitherto not been admitted to religious communities, Matson’s goals will likely be bolstered through the papal support which the Outreach conference itself received.

In an announcement the day before the conference began, Outreach revealed details of a handwritten note sent from Pope Francis to Fr. Martin, expressing his spiritual closeness to the participants. 

“I am glad that Cardinal Gregory will celebrate the Mass; I will be spiritually with him and with all of you, united in prayer,” wrote Francis in the letter sent to Martin.

This year’s Outreach conference was billed as drawing together “LGBTQ lay people, clergy, scholars, artists, educators, students and family members to build community, share best practices and worship together.”

“I hope that L.G.B.T.Q. Catholics, their friends and families, and those who minister alongside them will leave Outreach 2024 with a renewed sense that not only are they welcome in the church, but that the church needs their gifts, talents and witness,” said Michael J. O’Loughlin, Outreach’s openly homosexual executive director.

D.C. Cardinal Wilton Gregory also praised the conference for purportedly intending to assist the Church become “a more inclusive family of faith.”

However, the keynote speakers of the event are notable for controversy over LGBT issues and promoting a non-Catholic acceptance of homosexuality.

READ: Father James Martin’s conference, endorsed by Pope Francis, to host pro-LGBT speakers

Openly homosexual priest Father William Hart McNichols and Jewish Biblical professor Amy-Jill Levine both delivered talks at the conference. Both McNichols and Levine are noted for their promotion and acceptance of homosexual acts and lifestyle, in contradiction to Catholic teaching. 

The Catechism of the Catholic Church is very clear that homosexual activity can never be approved, and repeats that “[h]omosexual persons are called to chastity.” In 1986 the Vatican’s doctrinal office issued the document “On the pastoral care of homosexual persons,” which highlighted how “special concern and pastoral attention should be directed toward those who have this condition, lest they be led to believe that the living out of this orientation in homosexual activity is a morally acceptable option. It is not.”

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