AUTISTIC PRIEST: FR. MATTHEW SCHNEIDER went public with his autistic diagnosis on World Autism Awareness Day and has never looked back. He now has a huge following on social media.
Fr. Matthew Schneider is a priest with the Legionaries of Christ ordained in 2013. He has over 66,000 followers between Twitter and Instagram and some 9,000 on Facebook. Fr Schneider is studying a doctorate in theology and has a book forthcoming in 2022. A native of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Fr. Matthew has worked throughout North America. He is based today in Virginia, USA. Fr Schneider has drawn much popular attention because of his perceptive and persuasive articles on social media. But it was his decision to go public about his autism that has drawn some of the attention as well as much curiosity. In a video released April 2, 2019, World Autism Awareness Day, Schneider decided to publicly reveal his autism diagnosis. “I realize the need to evangelize this segment of the population,” he said in the video. “We’re about 1.5%–2% of the population. We have a much higher chance of being atheists, a much lower chance of attending religious services on a weekly basis. … We need someone to reach out to that community, to inculturate the Gospel to the autistic mind.”