God Bless Bishop Strickland! – Crisis Magazine

it’s no secret In the Church today it is difficult to find a bishop who is not only orthodox, but also forthright in his opinions and actions in the Church and society. We’ve become so used to bishops who seem to tolerate error and blasphemy – even if they don’t privately support such things – that many of us have, in some ways, stopped expecting any overt positivity from our bishops.

In most cases we never even meet our bishops in person, which in some ways is not their fault since they have to oversee a diocese that spans a vast geographic area. For example, it takes about three hours to drive from the southern end of my parish in London, Ontario, to the northernmost point. It’s worth noting that Southwest Ontario, where I am located, is not a remote part of northern Canada; it is a densely populated area with many medium-sized cities and large towns.

Consequently, most of our interactions with the bishop, if any, will take place at confirmation—that is, unless he assigns an auxiliary or a priest to do so—or when the bishop passes a letter Read it in the parish for one reason or another when making a public statement. If we’re lucky, we might see our bishop at an anti-abortion march or some fundraiser. Bishops never seem to miss a fundraiser…

Furthermore, our Bishop’s general public misbehavior was most evident during the Covid hysteria, when the local common people gave more weight to what the public health sector had to say than he did in the Trent Council catechism.

Of course, there are some happy exceptions, but the situation I describe is not uncommon in North America, and I’m sure many people can understand. If you happen to have a Catholic orthodox bishop, or stand up to public pressure from a Marxist bureaucracy, count yourself among the lucky ones.

perhaps the most famous exception Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, supports this general principle of America’s seemingly forgotten prelate. In recent years the good bishop has made a bit of a name for himself as a conservative and traditional thinking Catholic who is not ashamed of his faith and is notorious for a lukewarm and James Martin tolerant crowd .

In recent years the good bishop has made a bit of a name for himself as a conservative and traditional thinking Catholic who is not ashamed of his faith and is notorious for being lukewarm and James Martin tolerant crowd with.tweet this

Not only has he displayed real courage in public — just take a quick look at his Twitter account — but he’s also shown himself to be a man of faith and prayer.

In June 2020, he celebrated his first traditional Latin Mass – without a mask, I might add, like a champ.He described the experience in an interview National Catholic Register:

I can’t even say the words of dedication, because I am so excited and moved. Thank God we only have to whisper it in this ritual because I’m not sure I’d be able to speak above that whisper, so profound it astounds me. For the first time in my life I uttered these words in Latin and I could barely get them together. It’s indescribable.

It is hard not to read the emotion of this magnanimous man of God when he first uttered the words of his father in the faith, hoc est enim corpus meum.

I guess he didn’t have a hard time uttering the hallowed words, since he speaks Spanish very well, albeit with a delightful Texas accent. But, as the saying goes, an old dog can’t teach new tricks, so for someone in his 60s to learn not only the rules, but also the rules of the Pontifical Mass, it must have taken a lot of work, very delicate .

He expressed a deep inner conversion to the national Catholic newspaper, a testament to his willingness to humble himself in public. This kind of humility can only happen to a person who thinks of God more than people.

He again showed great humility in May when he got into “twitter trouble” for some remarks about SSPX. On May 13 – the anniversary of the first apparition of Fatima – he tweets The Society of Saint Pius X was split, only to publicly backtrack on his statement a day later and say that he had been persuaded by another great bishop – Athanasius Schneider – that in fact the SSPX was not split.

Put aside any thoughts you may have about association for a moment, and think about what this public “flip flop” is about. As a friend of the SSPX, the diocesan bishop really gets nothing, at least in terms of prestige of the bishop in the episcopal conference. Therefore, the only reason for him to publicly change his mind must be that he cares most about the truth.

Again, no matter what people think about SSPX, we can’t deny taking such an action courage.

Today, on the feast day of the Sacred HeartBishop Strickland will lead a march of faithful Catholics in Los Angeles to make amends for the disgusting sacrilege promoted by the Los Angeles Dodgers. In case you didn’t know — highly unlikely — the Dodgers are honoring a group of drag queens who call themselves “Sisters” for a lot of anti-Catholic profanity and profanity in the name of “LGBTQ+” bullshit.

Strickland decided to do it, even in the Diocese of Los Angeles explain They will not support the event.

Again, this move by Bishop Taylor won’t earn him any “cool points” among his many Bishop brothers, but he doesn’t seem to care – and neither should he! —because he cared only for Christ.

All of this aside, I can share a story about Strickland that is as impressive to me as any.

I have a good friend who moved to Tyler, Texas with his wife and beautiful, growing family. This friend is a very loyal person, as is his wife. He had fun moving there from Canada, didn’t get a good job, and trusted Providence more than anything.

One day, a few months after he and his family had settled down, he posted some photos to a group chat he and I had with close friends. In the photo, we see a table set for lunch posing with Bishop Strickland, grinning from ear to ear. Another photo shows the good bishop playing with a little girl who I believe is showing him her favorite doll.

Bishop Strickland was not only a man of courage, a fervent priest, but also a humble servant of the Church; perhaps most of all, a loving spiritual father who visited his clergy Spiritual children, play with dolls, drink sweet tea, and eat egg salad sandwiches in Christian joy.

God bless you, Protect, this person. He was one of the greatest generals the Church Militant ever had and we should all thank God and pray for him often.