Actor answers spiritual calling to support artists, proposes religious institute

Cole Matson believes artistic creation is not just a pastime, but a vocation that can benefit the world if God inspires it.

That’s why the former managing director of Open Window Theatre is working to establish what he believes will be the first Catholic arts monastery in the country devoted to prayer, artistic creation and support of artists.

The proposed religious institute, likely based in the Diocese of Lexington, Kentucky, will share Christ through the fine, performing and literary arts — both sacred and secular, said Matson, 36, who worked at the Inver Grove Heights-based theater from 2019-2020.

“Wanting to spiritually accompany artists and encourage them in their vocation and also help them have a grounding of a solid spiritual community was the second half of that charism,” he added.

The institute, which will have both vowed members and a retreat center mainly for artists, represents nearly a decade of discernment for Matson, who has been met with both encouragement and disbelief while wrestling with his idea.

In a religious institute, members live together in common and make public vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.

Though still in planning stages, the institute’s tentative name is “Servants of Christ in Beauty” because it seeks to make Christ incarnate through beauty, said Matson, a trained actor.

The institute won’t receive members for at least several years, but artists and others are expressing interest.

Matson grew up as a Presbyterian in Texas and Virginia, and he planned to be a clinical psychologist involved in theater. He entered the Catholic Church while studying theology at Oxford University in England and learning about religious orders on campus.

“I realized (religious life) was the thing I had been looking for my entire life, and didn’t know it even existed,” he said.

While completing a doctorate in theology imagination and the arts at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland in 2012, he wrote down his ideas for a community whose apostolic mission centered on art and service of artists. The following year he made private vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.

Seeking to serve artists, Matson worked in theater productions, started an organization to connect Catholic artists called The Catholic Artist Connection and lived in community with artists in New York City.

Serving artists on his own proved difficult, and Matson realized he needed a religious community’s support. He questioned whether he was on the right track.

When he shared his idea for a religious institute, Matson said he sometimes was met with disbelief that artists, who are often unconventional, could live together.

A friend from Oxford questioned pairing the artistic vocation with religious consecration, because Christian artists might feel their art is uplifting or religious according to the community’s standards, when the art might actually be of low quality. Another friend suggested that unless the institute created only religious art, that artists should “live in the world generally,” Matson said.

Despite the skepticism, “every time I get frustrated or there’s a lack of support or maybe this whole thing is falling apart, I meet someone else who just straight out encourages me,” he said.

In 2019, Matson came to Minnesota to pursue his idea and work at Open Window Theatre. He helped the Catholic-inspired theater with business administration, produced a play and helped develop a cultural series.

“He’s just a great networker and connector of people,” said Jeremy Stanbary, theater co-founder and executive artistic director.

When COVID-19 temporarily halted theater productions, Matson saw an opportunity in June to pursue the idea of an institute full time.

“I think he is serving a need,” Stanbary said about Matson’s goal, “and I’m hoping it comes to fruition eventually because there certainly is a need for someone, an institute or order, to be really focused on serving the spiritual needs of artists.”

A priest friend connected Matson with Franciscan Bishop John Stowe of Lexington, who in May gave him permission to explore founding an institute in the diocese.

During the summer and fall, Matson worked to determine where he will start learning this winter about structure, rules and pitfalls of creating a religious institute.

Raising money online to cover his travels, he is visiting and learning from communities in northern California and other parts of the country.

He anticipates the new institute may draw from Benedictine, Ignatian and desert influences to foster the contemplative-active artist vocation that involves listening to God and creating to share with others through the Holy Spirit.

About five male and female artists are interested in discerning vows in the new institute. Twelve men and women are interested in a lay-associate role, he said.

Matson would like to accept men and women, but he said it may be necessary to found separate institutes.

“I want to be very, very careful and make sure that I’m doing this in a healthy way that provides a space for people to be free to be their best selves in Christ and not get forced or coerced into a certain shape because I’m ignorant that that shape isn’t actually the best shape,” he said.

Along with artist-members, Matson envisions running a retreat center for Christian and non-Christian artists.

He envisions the institute’s first house as contemplative and monastic, likely in the Lexington diocese. Matson said he also wants eventually to open houses within and outside larger cities where more artists live.

It may be a long time before a new institute welcomes artists, but Matson believes God will continue guiding him toward it.

“I’m hoping this can be a kind of pilgrimage center where artists can come to experience the local culture and the local beauty, and it can become kind of an arts hub for Catholic artists in the country,” he said.

For more information about Servants of Christ in Beauty visit colematson.com