Catholic Diocese Backs Monk After He Comes Out as Transgender
who publicly said he was a transgender individual on Pentecost Sunday."Brother Christian has long sought to consecrate his life to Christ in the Church by living the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience.
He has consistently been accompanied by a competent spiritual director and has undergone formation in the Benedictine tradition," the statement from the diocese said."He does not seek ordination, but has professed a rule of life that allows him to support himself financially by continuing his work in the arts and to live a life of contemplation in a private hermitage.
Bishop John Stowe, OFM Conv., accepted his profession and is grateful to Brother Christian for his witness of discipleship, integrity and contemplative prayer for the Church," the statement added.Last week, Matson spoke with the Religious News Service, following approval from the bishop, and said that he was planning to come out as transgender."You've got to deal with us, because God has called us into this church," Matson told the outlet. "It's not your church to kick us out of—this is God's church, and God has called us and engrafted us into it."The Vatican published a 20-page declaration last month titled the "Infinite Dignity," in which Pope Francis discussed the Catholic Church's views on transgender individuals.
The declaration said God created men and women as biologically different beings, and that no one should try to alter that plan or "make oneself God."The Vatican said that gender-affirming surgery violates God's gift of human dignity as attempting to play God on the surgeon's table during a "sex-change intervention."According to the Religious News Service, Matson converted to Catholicism in 2010, four years after he underwent his transition.
