Catholic diocesan hermit approved by Kentucky bishop comes out as transgender

AP (on their own site) ^ | May 21, 2024 | JACK JENKINS

[Salman]

(RNS) — Diocesan hermits by nature don’t get much attention. A small subset of religious persons, hermits mostly spend their lives engaged in quiet prayer.

Brother Christian Matson, a Catholic diocesan hermit in Kentucky, has spent years doing just that. His monk’s habit might catch his neighbor’s eye, but he is known in the town where he lives primarily through his work with the local theater.

But recently Matson decided that his faith compels him to make a little more noise than usual.

“This Sunday, Pentecost 2024, I’m planning to come out publicly as transgender,” Matson told Religion News Service on Friday (May 17), saying he was speaking out with the permission of his bishop, John Stowe of the Diocese of Lexington in Kentucky.

...

[Cronos]

Since you don't know what religious orders mean in the Catholic (Or Orthodox) sense -- Ditto. I'm pretty sure it's just one of their numerous religious "orders" (denominations.) - let me explain:

Close to me, I have my parish that is run by Diocesan priests, while about 5 minutes walk away is a Franciscan monastery and a drive away is a Jesuit and a Premonstratian. The mass is exactly the same:

1. Entry prayers,
2. Readings from scripture (Old Testament, New Testament, Gospel) -- the same scripture readings everywhere
3. A sermon (this differs)
4. The central part of the mass - the partaken in the ONE sacrifice that Jesus gave of Himself in 33 AD on the cross
5. The communion
6. the blessings

To either the celebrant (i.e. the ministeral priest) or the laity the mass is exactly the same in all 4 of these churches despite the different orders - These can and should be considered like different regiments in the same army of Christ

The difference is the day to day lives of the clergy(whether priests or nuns or lay-brothers): Premonstratians and Benedictines are more contemplative, so a lot more time to community prayer and a rigorous schedule of prayer. For instance their day may look like:

5 am rise
5:30 - Morning payer
6:00 Holy Mass
7:45 breakfast
8:30 Morning chores, work
12:00 Mid day prayer
12:30 Spiritual readings
13:30 lunch
13:30 lunch14:00 Siesta
16:00 meditation/prayer
18:00 Private study of the scriptures
19:30 Supper
20:00 Night prayer (compline)
22:00 lights out

In contrast the Jesuits were originally formed as more active - and the Franciscans to be wandering preachers

So, the differences are more in the type of person who joins these orders

For a lay person, there is no doctrinal, dogmatic or even ritual difference between any of these orders

Now if you get to the Catholic "rites" - there are slight differences in the rituals: there are 23 rites - the largest and the one you probably only think of as "Catholic" is the Latin one, with reporting up through the Patriarch of the West (the Pope) to God. Others are the Byzantine rite, the Syro-Malabar, Syro-Malankara, the Maronite etc. rites each of which have their own Patriarch (and the Pope is technically only the first among equals there) and they have different ritual languages, some more elaborate rites etc., but the dogmas, doctrines are the same

ONE big surface difference is that the Latin rite is the only one with the DISCIPLINE i.e. non-dogmatic, non-doctrinal rule that the priests are to be celibate. Syro-Malabar Catholic priests can be married men who join the priesthood (as do the other non-Latin rite).

Now if you go to a Syro-Malabar mass and a Latin rite you will see the difference: even if both are in English. However the basic structure is the same: Prayers, readings, sermons, Eucharist/sacrifice.

Now in contrast, if you attend a Oneness Pentecostal service v/s a Southern Baptist vs a Orthodox Presbyterian Church service, the differences in dogma and doctrine are plausible and visible beyond the obvious ritual differences: these three have differences in fundamental beliefs.

[fwdude]

I'll say again that a religious sect's true theology is what is allowed among them with impunity, notwithstanding official doctrine. In this regard, the RCC has a wide array of "beliefs" which differ from each other depending on the order (denomination.) Jesuits, for instance, are notoriously liberal and embrace homosexuality in practice as perfectly acceptable. They are more akin the the Episcopal Church in that regard.

[Cronos]

I'll say again that a religious sect's true theology is what is allowed among them with impunity, notwithstanding official doctrine.

And that is what differentiates a Lutheran from a Oneness Pentecostal from a Seventh Day Adventist from a Southern Baptist

The Jesuits do not have a different theology from the Benedictines - they don't "embrace homosexuality in practice as perfectly acceptable".

The Jesuits do say to love the sinners but hate the sin - and I agree they go too far in the first. But at no point do they practice that that lifestyle is acceptable in Christianity

[fwdude]

The Jesuits do not have a different theology from the Benedictines

Yes, they most certainly do. Your denial is just pathetic.

[Cronos]

They do not have a different theology from the Benedictines.

They hold to the exact, the exact theology in detail as given in the Catechism of the Catholic church.

If you think they don’t - please do provide proof for that? Otherwise you should admit to yourself that you have heard incorrect information

[Cronos]

Campion, mark, fidlis - have you ever heard any of our non-Catholic brethren thinking that different orders in the church have different theology?

This was the first time I heard anyone expressing this - it is surprising.

[fwdude]

Is the exact theology of the Catholic church that of supporting same sex “marriage? That’s what the Jesuits support.

And the fact that they face no punishment at all for this stance makes it official doctrine.

[fidelis]

And the fact that they face no punishment at all for this stance makes it official doctrine.

That's ridiculous. All it shows is that the leadership is weak or feckless in not enforcing doctrine that is already established.

[fwdude]

I’ll go back to my original axiom: A church’s true doctrine is what it allows in its midst with impunity.

[fidelis]

Ditto. I'm pretty sure it's just one of their numerous religious "orders" (denominations.)

Orders within the Church are not "denominations." They are a distinct manner of living out one's vocation within the Church. No one breaks with the Church by starting a new Order, let alone starting a whole new Church based on their personal theology, as is done in non-Catholic Christian circles.

[ConjunctionJunction]

The article says “transgender man”, so it’s a biological woman who identifies as a man.

[fidelis]

I’ll go back to my original axiom: A church’s true doctrine is what it allows in its midst with impunity.

That is faulty logic. That would be like saying that since the present Administration pretty much doesn't enforce the established immigration laws, then that makes an open border policy the law of the land. In that that case, we should all shut up about illegal immigrants because, by this logic, it is the law of the land.

[fidelis]

Campion, mark, fidlis - have you ever heard any of our non-Catholic brethren thinking that different orders in the church have different theology?

Yes, I've heard it before. It's based on a profound ignorance of how the Church operates. Unfortunately, I usually hear this kind of twattle from poorly educated ex-Catholics. Such persons should not presume to remark on things they know nothing about.