Organizers, speakers, and clergy involved in the 2026 Return to Tradition Women’s Conference in Littleton, Colorado last month have come under fire since Rachel Mastrogiacomo was unceremoniously ushered off the stage during the middle of her remarks without a public explanation.
This year’s event was held on September 25-26 at the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter’s Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church, which is overseen by Fr. Matthew McCarthy, FSSP. Jane Brennan was the organizer and Archbishop James Golka of Denver is the local ordinary. Remnant Newspaper editor Michael Matt, commentator Matt Gaspers, and Fr. Chad Ripperger were among the several public figures who delivered speeches at the gathering. In his remarks, Matt made news when he oddly referred to the Blessed Virgin Mary as a “feminist” while urging the woman to “lead us back to sanity.”
Integrity Magazine has emailed Brennan and the archdiocese asking if a statement is forthcoming. As of the publication of this article, Integrity has not received a response. As a result, Catholics on social media have been forced to speculate as to why Mastrogiacomo was not only canceled by the event’s emcee in real time as she gave her remarks but why her headshot has since been taken down from the event’s website, and why the video of her speech has not been made public.
Anthony Stine, Chris Jackson, Fred Simon, podcaster SedePicante, and others have reported on the story in recent days while Gaspers said on X recently that he would not reveal any information about what he knew. He also urged Mastrogiacomo to simply offer up the pain and suffering she experienced and move on.
On Facebook, Mastrogiacomo has received an outpouring of support from Catholics who were at the event and those who were not present. Hundreds of positive comments have been left on her and other Facebook accounts that have been posting about the cancelation. At the event itself, an estimated 50 women walked out into the hallway to greet and thank her for her speech after she was escorted from the stage.
A few voices on social media, however, have challenged Mastrogiacomo’s story. In the comments section of a Facebook post published by Chris Jackson, a woman named Carly Elaine, who claims to be Brennan’s daughter, alleged that Mastrogiacomo “crossed the line” in her speech when she brought up “topics” that organizers “were not comfortable having discussed at this conference, and those boundaries were made clear to you. You chose to blatantly disregard that direction.”
Conference speaker Abby Johnson has also broken her silence. In a Facebook post on Mastrogiacomo’s wall, she said that speakers “had to agree to a statement to not disparage the church in any way or to encourage the SSPX in our talks.” Johnson also insinuated that she went rogue. “I know that Rachel had to submit a pre-approved talk before her speech and was told not to deviate from her submitted speech.” Johnson, however, admitted that she was not present when Mastrogiacomo gave her talk. It is unclear if she listened to the audio later on.
Integrity Magazine has obtained emails between Mastrogiacomo and Brennan and has listened to a phone call recording of the two that was conducted in the weeks leading up to the event. Integrity has also spoken to various parties who attended and have insider knowledge about the conference.
On the phone call, Brennan explicitly tells Mastrogiacomo that “you don’t have to provide me with the outline [of your speech] … I have full confidence that you can tell your story the way you want to tell it, and it’ll be fine.” These words contradict Johnson’s claim that Mastrogiacomo submitted a “pre-approved” transcript.
Elsewhere on the call, Brennan is heard reading Mastrogiacomo a letter that Fr. Matthew McCarthy received from the archdiocese. He had been consulting with the archdiocese over concerns with Michael Matt’s appearance. “I had to provide all his [Matt’s] videos that he does and his website, and I guess they took time to review it all,” Brennan explained to Mastrogiacomo. She apparently did not do the same with Mastrogiacomo. The text of the letter, the one that Brennan’s daughter and Johnson presumably are referring to, is as follows:
Brennan: After consultation with Archbishop Golka and the Chancellor regarding this year’s conference, authorization is being granted for the speaker’s currently proposed for this particular event, including Mr. Michael Matt.
This authorization should not be understood as a general endorsement by the archdiocese of any individual speaker, their public statements, publications, associations, or positions. Rather, it represents a limited and credential accommodation for this year’s conference. This authorization is expressly contingent upon each speaker conducting themselves in a manner consistent with the doctrine and discipline of the Catholic Church, and with the communion that properly exists among the faithful, their archbishop, and the Holy See.
No speaker should use this conference as an occasion to advocate positions contrary to Catholic orthodoxy, undermine legitimate ecclesiastical authority, encourage separation from ecclesial communion, or otherwise speak or act in a manner that could reasonably cause scandal or confusion among the faithful. Okay?
Mastrogiacomo: Okay.
Brennan: Okay. So, you’re all set to go. And, of course, just as I read, you can’t talk about the SSPX or your affiliation with it or any support that you have for it.
In her speech at the conference, Mastrogiacomo did not mention the SSPX. She also maintains that she did not violate Brennan’s other instructions on the phone. Again, Brennan told her “you don’t have to provide me with the outline [of your speech] … I have full confidence that you can tell your story the way you want to tell it.”
The Dispatch
Gaspers confirmed in an X post on October 7 that he, too, was “never made aware of ‘new restrictions’ (plural) for speakers prior to” the conference. He only said he was instructed to “avoid” bringing up the Society of St. Pius X. Emails between Mastrogiacomo and Brennan show Brennan knew of her attendance at the Society and that this was not an issue with her but rather something the archdiocese was taking into consideration.
Integrity has learned that Gaspers was in all likelihood who urged Brennan to consider Mastrogiacomo as a speaker for the conference in the first place. It is believed that he sent her a video of Mastrogiacomo’s address at the 2025 LifeSiteNews Rome Life Forum. Mastrogiacomo informed Integrity that remarks she made in her Rome Life Forum speech were similar to what she said at the Restore Tradition conference.
At the Rome Life Forum, Mastrogiacomo said, among other things, that “a legitimate Satanic Black Mass is the inversion of a Pontifical High Mass done according to the traditional latin. The Satanists don’t even take the new rites seriously.” At the women’s conference, Mastrogiacomo also spoke about Novus Ordo exorcisms, echoing what Fr. Ripper previously said about how demons find Latin “particularly difficult” to tolerate. “We also can’t ignore the fact that exorcists use the traditional Latin prayers when they confront the diabolic. Nearly every exorcist attests to the power of the Traditional Rites,” she said before being interrupted. She also spoke about the Pachamama scandal while stating the following:
Our stories are a clear and shocking example of how deep the occult influence has become not just in the world but in the Church. It is not simply a plague affecting those who reside in remote parts of the world, nor simply those in the general population, but also those who have made their way into the highest echelons of the Church. The Church will never be reformed until its darkest secrets are revealed.
Until the Archdiocese of Denver, Archbishop Golka, Jane Brennan, or Fr. McCarthy issue a public statement clarifying whether these or other specific parts of Mastrogiacomo’s remarks are what lead to the emcee shutting down her speech, gossip and speculation on social media — as well as unverified accusations that she violated the conference’s guidelines — will only continue. It therefore behooves the parties involved to explain who made the decision to have her remarks cut short, why that person made the decision, and why her photo and speech were removed from the event’s website.
Mastrogiacomo has since recorded her remarks for a separate podcast on YouTube here. She has also emailed Brennan asking her to “consider making amends by restoring my name and photograph to the conference website, making my full interview available to the women who attended the conference, and issuing a public clarification? These actions would be truly restorative; I would embrace them as your olive branch.”
Mastrogiacomo also said in an email to Brennan that she rejects the claim she went against her wishes. “To be clear, I never received a ‘list’ of topics from the archbishop that I was instructed to avoid. Did you tell people that I did? It also is not true that I ‘maliciously’ took the microphone intending to go ‘rogue.’ Those assertions create a false narrative about my conduct and motives, and they deserve to be corrected publicly and unequivocally.” As of the publication of this article, Mastrogiacomo has not received a response.
Traditional Catholic commentator Catholic Esquire has weighed in on the situation. His remarks suggest that McCarthy may have had motivation to give the green light to take the microphone away from Mastrogiacomo.
“I can add to this from direct knowledge that the Pastor at this FSSP parish where the event was held is vehemently anti-SSPX. He said there is no real crisis in the Church and defended Vatican II. He openly denies sacraments to anyone attending SPPX and did so before July 1,” he said.
At the same time, Brennan told Mastrogiacomo on their phone call that McCarthy had no problem with her speaking. “He’s fine with it. He has no problem … He said, you know, you’re here to tell your story, and he thinks it’s an interesting story, and he thinks everyone will like it.” Mastrogiacomo did tell Integrity that when she was in the hallway after being escorted from the stage, McCarthy — whom she went to confession to earlier after he agreed to — walked past her with his head turned the other way.
Email exchanges between Mastrogiacomo and Brennan prior to the conference indicate that Mastrogiacomo was asked if she had ever publicly supported the SSPX in the past. Brennan recalled that as the organizer she had to defer to the authorities to decide who could appear, although she sympathetically noted that “the Church’s own documents do not say that every layperson who attends an SSPX Mass is in schism, is excommunicated, or is no longer a full member of the Catholic Church.”
Mastrogiacomo then wondered why she was being singled out because “Michael Matt, Matt Gaspers, and Father Ripperger — have defended the SSPX so strongly? Is their presence at the conference also being challenged?” Brennan said that “Michael Matt is being challenged a lot more than you. Fr. Ripperger and Matt Gaspers because they live here in Colorado and are in good standing do not come under this. Just speakers coming from outside the diocese.” Brennan also allegedly told Mastrogiacomo that Archbishop Lefebvre would one day be declared a saint. In another email, Brennan remarked, “on the advice of council we will not be putting anything in writing or allowing a third party to be a part of these discussions.”
After Mastrogiacomo was eventually informed that her appearance had been approved, she told Brennan that she was overjoyed at the chance to speak:
I am deeply grateful that the Archbishop of Denver has not chosen to cancel me. As SSPX faithful, to be seen by the archbishop as a ‘Catholic in good standing’ is a tremendous gift for which I am profoundly grateful. I would like to join you in putting all of this behind us and moving forward with our eyes fixed on Jesus and Mary in preparation for this beautiful conference in service to traditional Catholic women.
For respectful comments only:
- Archdiocese of Denver, Archbishop Golka’s Executive Assistant, Flor Sandoval, (303) 715-3100, office.archbishop@archden.org
- Archdiocese of Denver, Archbishop Golka’s Priest Secretary, Rev. David M. Hall, vice.chancellor@archden.org
- Our Lady of Mt. Carmel FSSP Parish, 5612 S. Hickory St. Littleton, CO 80120; (303) 703-8538, Secretary: secretary@olmcfssp.org
- Restore Tradition Women’s Conference website; Jane Brennan: authenticwoman5@gmail.com, (720) 354-6459
