A Catholic Monk Publicly Identifies as Transgender

(PatriotWise.com) — A Catholic diocesan hermit last weekend publicly “came out” about being transgender.

Brother Christian Matson revealed in an interview last Friday that he would speak publicly about his gender identity after receiving approval from Bishop John Stowe of the Diocese of Lexington, Kentucky.

Matson, who became a Catholic in 2010, said he had “issues” with a document the Vatican sent to church leaders in 2000 that declared that those who undergo gender transition were not eligible to enter the religious life or to marry.

The document also instructed bishops not to change the baptismal records to reflect a person’s “gender identity.”

Central to the document was the premise that transgenderism was a psychic disorder and that medical transition does not change a person’s gender. If a man has surgery to become a woman, he is still, in the eyes of God, a man.

Four years after converting to Catholicism, Matson “transitioned” to a man. He said a canon lawyer advised him to consider becoming a diocesan hermit if he wanted to serve in the church. However, many Catholics refused to accept him as a man or even meet with him, Matson claimed.

Bishop Stowe confirmed that Matson sent him a letter in 2020 about his gender identity. Stowe said he was willing to allow Matson to become a diocesan hermit as a way to serve the Catholic Church. He explained that diocesan hermits were “a rarely used form of religious life” and could be either men or women.

Matson took vows to become a diocesan hermit in 2022 and renewed his vows last year.

Matson said he decided to convert to Catholicism after he transitioned because of the Catholic Church’s “sacramental understanding” of creation and the body, and the “desirability of the visible unity of the church.”

Last month, the Vatican published a 20-page declaration on “Infinite Dignity” which outlines the Church’s view on transgenderism. It asserts that men and women were created by God as biologically different, and to attempt to alter that would be to “make oneself God.”