The Washington Nationals are in hot water over a player who dares to stand up for his Christian faith.

James O'Keefe's guerrilla journalism outfit published undercover footage on Tuesday featuring an apparent admission by the Washington Nationals' director of community relations that the team has avoided using pitcher Trevor Williams in Nationals social media content on account of his criticism of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence — a group that mocks the Catholic Church, its rituals and beliefs, and its nuns.

Background

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence is a San Francisco-based radical group that touts itself as a "leading-edge Order of queer and trans nuns."

'The public has a right to know whether that view is tolerated, encouraged, or operationalized by the organization.'

Since its inception on Easter Sunday 1979, the SPI — whose motto is "go forth and sin some more," an inversion of Christ's command — has ridiculed Catholic teaching and doctrine, mocking the church's orthodox views on marriage, sexuality, transgenderism, and abortion.

This anti-Christian group regularly holds "Hunky Jesus and Foxy Mary" contests; held a "condom savior mass"; saw one of its members arrested for allegedly masturbating in public; routinely mocks the crucifixion; participated in drag shows targeting children; and according to Brian Burch, the U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, once "tricked an archbishop into giving them the Eucharist — the most important sacrament of the Catholic faith — so they could defile it."

Pitcher Trevor Williams, who is Catholic, was among the handful of players in the Major League Baseball league who spoke out in 2023 after the L.A. Dodgers decided to honor the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence with a "Community Hero Award" for "their countless hours of community service, ministry, and outreach to those on the edges, in addition to promoting human rights and respect for diversity and spiritual enlightenment."

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"A Major League Baseball game is a place where people from all walks of life should feel welcomed, something I greatly respect and support. This is the purpose of different themed nights hosted by the organization, including Pride Night," wrote Williams on May 30, 2023.

"To invite and honor a group that makes a blatant and deeply offensive mockery of my religion, and the religion of over 4 million people in Los Angeles county alone, undermines the values of respect and inclusivity that should be upheld by any organization," added the pitcher.

"I believe it is essential for the Dodgers to reconsider their association with this group and strive to create an inclusive environment that does not demean or disrespect the religious beliefs of any fan or employee," Williams continued. "I also encourage my fellow Catholics to reconsider their support of an organization that allows this type of mockery of its fans to occur."

Blacklisted

Sean Hudson, the community relations director whose LinkedIn page was recently deleted, appears to tell an undercover reporter in the footage published by James O'Keefe that Trevor Williams "is very Catholic."

"He's super Catholic — all these tattoos that mean a lot," Hudson appears to say. "But last year, I don't understand the full scope, the Dodgers had a group out to the stadium who were drag queens who sometimes dressed up as nuns. ... He went on like a social media like — 'this is wrong, this is my religion, you all are mocking it.'"

"So we don't use him," continued Hudson. "Because of that, we don't use him on social."

Later in the video, Hudson appears to state, "If you're a sports fan and we piss you off, where else are you going to go?"

The Washington Nationals X account does not appear to have referenced Williams since September 2025 and has only sporadically made mention of him since he criticized the SPI in 2023.

Neither the MLB nor the Washington Nationals responded to Blaze News' request for comment.

O'Keefe's journalism outfit suggested that Hudson's "admission raises legal questions under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which explicitly prohibits employers from discriminating against employees based on religion, including limiting their opportunities or visibility due to sincerely held beliefs."

When later confronted by conservative commentator Alex Stein about his claim, Hudson said, "That doesn't sound like something I would say."

The team, however, told EWTN News that it was "aware of comments made by an employee, which were recorded without the employee’s knowledge and disseminated without his permission."

"The statements are not only factually incorrect, but do not reflect the views, opinions, or actions of the Washington Nationals," the team said in its statement. "The Nationals are dedicated to creating a welcoming and inclusive environment for our players, fans, and staff, and we vehemently deny any allegations to the contrary."

Backlash

Kelsey Reinhardt, the CEO of CatholicVote, wrote to Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon on Wednesday, urging the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division to "investigate possible unlawful religious discrimination by the Washington Nationals Baseball Club against pitcher Trevor Williams."

Reinhardt suggested that if Hudson's remarks are accurate, an MLB "franchise may have taken an adverse employment-related action, reputational action, promotional action, or workplace action against a player because of his religion and his sincere public expression of Catholic belief."

"This matter is not merely a private dispute between an athlete and his employer," said Reinhardt. "The Washington Nationals are a Major League Baseball franchise in the nation's capital. Their conduct sends a public message. If a senior executive of such an organization believes that a player should be excluded from official team communications because he is 'very Catholic' and because he defended Catholics from religious mockery, then the public has a right to know whether that view is tolerated, encouraged, or operationalized by the organization."

Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert (Colo.) has also asked the DOJ to take "decisive action."

Williams, who hasn't posted on X since 2023 and hasn't posted on Instagram since January, said in an Instagram post on Friday, "The first reading from today comes from 1 Peter 4:7-13. The writer of this epistle is addressing newly baptized Christians, reminding them that they are holy and they should act like it. This entire chapter really addresses the social costs of the faith — not necessarily persecution, but the sometimes awkward 'ehh I don’t do that anymore.'"

"As my friend Fr. Joshua said 'Sometimes we lean into it and bravely bear witness to Christ’s truth; sometimes we dodge it and regret it later, feeling we’ve let Jesus down,'" continued Williams. "Therefore Christians are called in those moments to love, to suffer, and to sacrifice, for when we act like Christ in those moments, we imitate Jesus. We even share in the merciful work of Jesus when we choose to act like him in the face of even the smallest insult."