Dr. Jayme Mathias, Pastor of Holy Family Catholic Church in Austin, Texas

Ane look at the e-mail signature of Rev. Dr. Jayme Mathias and you might only be intimidated or astounded (or both) past the numbers of initials that correspond his instruction: Thou.A., M.B.A., M.Div., M.S., Ph.D. I certainly was. The man has 2 bachelor's degrees, four graduate degrees and one doctoral degree—how was I supposed to bear on an articulate conversation without embarrassing myself?

But afterwards only 10 minutes speaking with him, I realized that instead of existence a pretentious supergenius—like I imagined anyone with that many degrees would exist—Mathias is approachable and genuine, two attributes most likely credited to his years of experience as a Catholic priest.

Mathias is one of nine schoolhouse lath members responsible for the educational activity of 86,000 students in the 129 schools of the Austin Contained School Commune (AISD). Final November, he won the District ii seat which serves Eastward Austin and Dove Springs, by fewer than 100 votes over his opponent, a Latino incumbent, and became the commencement openly gay board member.

Serving the East Austin community for many years as pastor at Cristo Rey Catholic Church, Mathias initiated numerous efforts to "requite a hand upwards" to the Latino customs. He served as a Roman Cosmic priest for 11 years earlier he was incardinated in 2011 into the American Cosmic Church of the United states of america, a sect that provides a more inclusive expression of Catholicism.

Path to Priesthood

Born and raised in rural Ohio, Mathias was raised in a conservative Roman Cosmic community. By historic period 12 he was an active member of his congregation and played the organ in church. Growing up, he never thought about becoming a priest; actually, his dream was to get a lawyer.

Mathias quotes Bible verse Jeremiah 20:7 when describing his path to the clergy: "Lord, yous have duped me, and I have allowed myself to be duped." He claims he was "duped" into becoming a priest. When he was xvi, he reluctantly attended a youth retreat considering he wanted to get out of an English language exam. At its decision, the priest who led the retreat approached him to ask if he had ever considered becoming a priest. Mathias said he wanted to be a lawyer, and the priest responded by pointing out that priests have a number of careers, and that there was no reason why he couldn't be both a lawyer and a priest.

Thinking about the proposition, Mathias grew more and more intrigued past the idea. For him, he knew going to the seminary at historic period 18 would be like walking into a shoe shop and trying on shoes to come across which ones fit. "1 is not ordained a priest overnight; you go into the seminary, try on those shoes, walk around in them and come across how they fit," he said. "And if they fit well, some viii or 10 years after, that person is ordained a priest. So for me, I tried on the shoes and they fit."

Mathias left Ohio to nourish Saint Louis University in St. Louis, MO, to pursue two bachelor's degrees in philosophy and classical humanities. His initial degree in philosophy led him to a thirst for more cognition. "Philosophy is all about request questions well-nigh this earth, about God, about what'south right and wrong. One question leads to some other question, which leads to some other question, and then information technology'south been a thirst all of these years: a thirst to learn more and a thirst to know more than."

One afternoon when Mathias was 23 and nigh to graduate, a question posed past one of his psychology professors challenged his thinking. The two were having a give-and-take about sexuality when Mathias shared he was confused by his own. His professor asked, "Do you feel confused or guilty?" At first Mathias was angry that the professor would imply that he was gay. Simply as he drove home, he said, the "lightbulb" went on. "I thought, 'Oh my God, I am gay. I'1000 queer. I'g a faggot. All of these names we hear used to refer to the LGBT community…I was all of that. And it simply made sense."

From the moment of his proclamation, he self-identified as gay. He initially came out to friends and classmates and finally to his parents in an eight-page alphabetic character a year afterward, but information technology wouldn't be until 2011 when he left the Roman Cosmic Church that he would be able to live equally an openly gay human being.

Giving A "Manus Upwardly"

After graduating, Mathias was sent to Austin in 1995 for a 9-month internship at Cristo Rey Cosmic Church building. "That was in an era when pizza companies would not deliver to East Austin and when an 8th-grader showed me a rock of crack cocaine. It was a sobering feel," he said.

When he first moved to Austin, Mathias didn't know what to expect: he had images of hitching posts and tumbleweeds. In one case he was transplanted to East Austin nearly two decades ago, he learned there was a great deal of violence, gangs and drug action. Through his ministry to the youth of Cristo Rey, he witnessed many immature people in the community who were gang members, struggling with and dropping out of schoolhouse and selling drugs.

"For these young people, there was no easy exit from the gang once you were part of it. And then, I was a confidant, a person who could somehow help them in the midst of that hard situation," he said.

That nine-month internship in Eastward Austin was Mathias' beginning time working with the underserved Latino community. His heart-opening experience motivated him to continue his work in the area.

Later on earning his Main of Divinity from the Washington Theological Marriage in Washington, D.C., Mathias moved back to Austin to go a deacon at Cristo Rey Church and was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 2001. He connected to serve Cristo Rey as an acquaintance pastor for five years until 2006.

He noted, "Information technology's a certain empathy, a sure compassion" that continues to drive him to help the people of East Austin. The elevated schoolhouse dropout rate among Latinos, the high percent of teen pregnancies in Latinas and the challenges that undocumented Latinos face everyday "pull at [his] heartstrings."

It's this passion that prompted him to open up La Fuente Learning Center at Cristo Rey during his time every bit acquaintance pastor. The learning centre attracted Spanish-speaking adults to English-language programs that were adjusted for various trades, including structure and the restaurant industry. Twelve years later, the eye continues to thrive in an offsite location. Mathias helped found ii more learning centers: Sí Se Puede Learning Middle and the Centro de Superación Sí Se Puede, a collaboration of the Roman Cosmic and Baptist communities of E Austin.

The Disillusionment

In 2003, Mathias was accepted into five police schools, simply a multimillion-dollar sex abuse lawsuit against the clergy of the Roman Cosmic Church deterred him from enrolling that fall. Instead, he became a Spanish teacher at San Juan Diego Catholic High School. Mathias admits he studied Spanish for 4 years in high school and but learned a single word: "arco iris" (which means "rainbow"). No joke. He said that he learned Castilian "on-the-job" at Cristo Rey, preaching and writing a column on spirituality in El Mundo, a Castilian-language newspaper. After two short years of teaching, he was named president of the school in 2005.

In 2009, the pastor at Cristo Rey was murdered in Mexico. At that place was an immediate need for a Spanish-speaking priest, so Mathias was named.

During his time at the church building, Mathias doubled the omnipresence at Sunday Masses to more than five,000 people. Of course, a per centum of those individuals were members of the LGBT community. For him, it was always a "joy" when a immature person would turn to him for guidance because of struggling with the thought that he or she might exist gay. "Equally a fellow member of the clergy, that was a very cute and holy moment: to be able to accompany them, to be able to assist them to better empathize who they are and to help them navigate the challenges of coming out to themselves and to others. Information technology was a gift," he said.

During the two years Mathias served as pastor, he became "disillusioned" with the Roman Catholic Church and realized he could no longer serve it in practiced conscience. He was advocating for women's rights and immigration rights and giving LGBT youth a positive message, near of which get confronting how Roman Catholic doctrine is typically interpreted.

"Ultimately, I had to choose: Will I stand on the side of the people, or will I stand up on the side of this hierarchy, which is the Roman Cosmic church? And, for me, it was an easy choice."

In 2011, at the end of his time at Cristo Rey, he presided over the double funeral of Norma Hurtado and her mother, who were both murdered by Hurtado'due south girlfriend's begetter later the discovery of his daughter's human relationship. Since he knew he was leaving the church, Mathias shared a bulletin of love and understanding of one'due south sexual orientation.

Liberation

After a year of sabbatical to complete his doctorate and his fourth graduate degree, he incardinated into the American Catholic Church building, where he currently leads Holy Family Catholic Church. The main differences between the Roman and American Catholic churches are their views of women, matters of sex activity and sexuality and "issues of censor." Women tin can be function of the clergy and, instead of saying abortion is evil and condoms are bad, Mathias believes that if you lot're an informed adult, he has to trust "that you are making a pick in skilful censor for a good reason."

Co-ordinate to the catechism law of the Roman Catholic Church, Mathias could not run for whatsoever public office as a priest, just he could one time he joined the American Catholic Church building. Encouraged by others to run for the AISD schoolhouse lath, he wholeheartedly responded. His strategist, Steven Rivas, says that Mathias' campaign was an authentic grassroots endeavour.

Rivas added that "Jayme has an incredible sense of sense of humor" and a "sincereness" when he's with others. "No affair where the spotlight was coming from, he stood firm in everything he believed and he smiled and shook easily, not like a politico, but like he was the member of your family."

Equally a school lath member, Mathias continues to serve minority, low-income, mostly Latino students. He has advocated for same-sex benefits for AISD teachers and staff, and he hopes to serve every bit a role model for LGBT students. The piece of work he does is a nonstop effort.

"People don't know when he'south shutting down. Sometimes I don't fifty-fifty know," Rivas said. "He'll be up till 3 a.m. and he's up at 7 a.m. to be at an unproblematic schoolhouse for Career Day."

As part of the American Catholic Church building, Mathias has a newfound freedom to express his sexuality in a way he couldn't while in the Roman Catholic Church. He has the liberty now to celebrate his birthday at Oil Tin can Harry's—and notice someone to love.

"As a Roman Catholic priest, one must remain closeted," Mathias said. "Then, it was difficult to imagine myself one mean solar day pursuing other options than the chaste life that I had been living. Once I left the Roman Cosmic church, information technology was a lot easier to be honest with myself and
with others."

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