Bishop Strickland’s Public Statement to the Diocese

  • Thread starter Thread starter Cathoholic
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.

Scott Hahn​

Yesterday at 12:06 PM ·

Thank you, Bishop Strickland…

Bishop Strickland’s Public Statement to the Diocese

Dear Priests, Deacons, Religious and all Holy Faithful of the Diocese of Tyler:

A letter (see below) by Archbishop Vigano, former Nuncio to the United States, raises grave allegations and calls for the resignation of numerous high ranking prelates including Pope Francis.

Let us be clear that they are still allegations but as your shepherd I find them to be credible. Using this standard the response must be a thorough investigation similar to those conducted any time allegations are deemed to be credible. I do not have the authority to launch such an investigation but I will lend my voice in whatever way necessary to call for this investigation and urge that it’s findings demand accountability of all found to be culpable even at the highest levels of the Church.

As this unfolds I urge all in the Diocese of Tyler to pray fervently for Holy Mother Church and beg the Intercession of Our Blessed Mother. We are the flock of Jesus Christ. He is Lord of His Church and His Holy Spirit will guide us through this darkness.

Almighty God Father, Son and Spirit have mercy on your Church and cleanse her in the fires of your Love.
Blessed Virgin Mary, Pray for us.

All Sainted Popes & Bishops in Heaven, Pray for us
All Holy Men and Women, Pray for us.

I direct all priests to include this notice in the masses on August 26, and post it on their websites and other social media immediately.

Most Reverend Joseph E. Strickland
Bishop of Tyler


 
Regarding Patrick Coffin I’m not surprised having listened to his excellent podcast episode with Bishop Rene Henry Gracida. I’m not surprised these people might be rushing to judgment. There is an obvious deep problem that we’ve known about for a long time and the hierarchy has done nothing to resolve it.

If your career involves defending the Church I can especially see why at this point you’d be disgusted at what has gone on and, as importantly, not gone on. I wouldn’t want to be an apologist for the Catholic Church right now. This problem has to weigh heavily on the good clergy and lay apologists.
 
tafan2 said:
Bishop Strickland was only ordained a bishop in 2011. Based on this timing, I suspect that his hands are relatively clean with respect to clerical abuse coverups. So I don’t think he is being hypocritical. I also see nothing self-righteous in his letter, not do I see that he is crying foul about Pope Francis.
Click to expand...
  1. Publicly crying foul of the pope: There isn’t any indication that these bishops have tried to warn Pope Francis before they went public with calls for the pope to resign. If that’s the case, they are cowards as well.
  2. Hypocrisy: They are all bishops. They all know what the others have to deal with, the various challenges and problems. To accuse other bishops, via a game of semantics, is deceptive of their motives and hypocritical - because they deal with the same problems - if they don’t, they should be saying “but for the grace of God, there go I”
  3. Self Righteousness: Add 1 and 2, then pepper with self righteousness.
 
Last edited:
He did not publicly cry foul of the pope. He said the letter was credible and the case should be investigated, which is what the US Bishops said on Aug 16th and reiterated this morning.

Your second point makes little sense to me. We want the bishops to be accountable. We want them to apply fraternal correction to each other. Yet you seem to be saying any bishop should keep his mouth shut about other bishops simply because he might find himself dealing with the same problems in the future.

And what game of semantics did Bishop Strickland use? His letter is quite clear and to the point.
 
tafan2 said:
We want them to apply fraternal correction to each other. Yet you seem to be saying any bishop should keep his mouth shut about other bishops simply because he might find himself dealing with the same problems in the future.
Click to expand...
What’s happening now is all being aired publicly. Fraternal correction does not involve the public. It’s very unfraternal to do what these bishops are doing to their pope.

Bishop Strickland knows full well that his endorsement of Bishop Vigano’s letter is also a passive endorsement of calling for the pope’s resignation. Unless I am missing something, both bishops, or any bishops, that publicly call for the pope’s resignation without first trying to reconcile with the pope, is a coward. A self righteous coward.
 
1Lord1Faith said:
What’s happening now is all being aired publicly. Fraternal correction does not involve the public. It’s very unfraternal to do what these bishops are doing to their pope.
Click to expand...
Indirect words behind closed doors is exactly what has led to this mess. Fraternal correction is sometimes to the face, and is even made public when things don’t change. This has been the rule of the Church from the beginning.
 
All of the bishops are part of the same hierarchical system that has produced this mess. For one or more of them to now set themselves apart stinks of hypocrisy and self righteousness…and that’s me being nice, I can think of worse motives.

There is no fraternal correction going on in these bishops’ statements.
 
Last edited:
How did they set themselves apart? the US Bishops have requested a full investigation.
 
1Lord1Faith said:
All of the bishops are part of the same hierarchical system that has produced this mess. For one or more of them to now set themselves apart stinks of hypocrisy and self righteousness…and that’s me being nice, I can think of worse motives.
Click to expand...
No, it simply means that someone is shedding light on something. This person may be motivated by self-interest, they may be motivated by spite. What matters is whether or not what they say is true. The words so far are very credible, and that warrants investigation.

Investigation, not execution. The Pope needs to be investigated. The archives of the USCCB and the Vatican need to be fully available to the public. Cut out and couterize, and the Pope may be part of the problem. It has happened before.
 
1Lord1Faith said:
These bishops who are publicly crying foul about Pope Francis are flying either their self-righteousness, or their hypocrisy high on a flag pole. I’m guessing it’s both with this bishop and Archbishop Vigano.
Click to expand...
Well that is pretty uncharitable. Perhaps the Bishop understands that, with the testimony out, the Church HAS to respond, and in a timely manner. We already knew that high ranking officials in the church knew about McCarrick and nothing was done about it. People were rightly outraged at the lack of accountability in the hierarchy. Now a respected Archbishop with clear access to such info has named names.

To simply let this simmer in the public light with no response would only reinforce the image that the church leadership is incapable and/or unwilling to address the issue. The Bishop can only control his own diocese. A response from Rome is not immediately forthcoming. He elected to make a statement acknowledging the issue and calling for an investigation. And to that point, there HAS to be an investigation, or the Vatican will lose all credibility. Trying to smear the character of the Archbishop, or anyone who says it sounds credible, only solidifies the image of corruption and a tone deaf and unrepentant hierarchy.

Maybe Bishop Strickland was hasty, maybe not. But calling him a hypocrite or self-righteous is just an ad hominem.
 
FirstFiveEighth said:
Well that is pretty uncharitable.
Click to expand...
I think I’m being charitable with my accusations. I can think of plenty more that I’m not saying.

It’s amazing to me that so many people seem to buy into what a retired Archbishop is saying. If what he has is so important, why didn’t he release it years ago? Is he implicating himself in his own silence up until now?

The red flags with Archbishop Vigano’s statements are so many that even Pope Francis has said for people to make up their own minds.
 
Last edited:
1Lord1Faith . . .
It’s amazing to me that so many people seem to buy into what a retired Archbishop is saying.
Click to expand...
This is non-sense. Nobody is “buying in” to anything at this point.

All the Bishops, priests, and laity are doing is calling for an open transparent and honest investigation.

This is EXACTLY what Pope Francis has been calling for (transparency) over the last week and a half.

And how because (in part) due to the LACK of transparency, the Church has failed the children.

Haven’t you listened to what Pope Francis has been saying?

Have not you heard our Bishops?

Have you not heard Msgr. Pope?


Why not just prayerfully allow the process to play out?
 
Last edited:
1Lord1Faith said:
It’s amazing to me that so many people seem to buy into what a retired Archbishop is saying. If what he has is so important, why didn’t he release it years ago? Is he implicating himself in his own silence up until now?
Click to expand...
I can see how someone who has dedicated his life for the Church would fear causing problems. He could end up with a terrible assignment for the rest of his life. I can see how someone who has political ambitions in the Church, and sadly such men exist, would not want to cause trouble. I can see how a man at the end of his career would no longer care about keeping a conspiracy of silence. So I can easily imagine how someone could wait until he is retired. That isn’t particularly noble. But it makes sense.
 
Cathoholic said:
This is non-sense. Nobody is “buying in” to anything at this point.

All the Bishops, priests, and laity are doing is calling for an open transparent and honest investigation.
Click to expand...
I’m glad you’re not buying it. But others who have already had their minds made up about Francis are taking this opportunity to take their shots at our pope.

Archbishop Vigano called for Pope Francis to resign, and at least one other bishop has passively endorsed that call. So you are wrong to say that the only thing bishops are doing is calling for an “investigation”.
 
I am a Francis supporter, but the Archbishop’s letter needs to be taken seriously. I have now lost count if the number of Bishops who have realeased statements today in aggreement with Bishop Stricklen. It has to now be more than a dozen.
 
1Lord1Faith said:
Unless I am missing something, both bishops, or any bishops, that publicly call for the pope’s resignation without first trying to reconcile with the pope, is a coward. A self righteous coward.
Click to expand...
This name calling seems somewhat extreme.
 
The Pope ignores direct Dubias from four Cardinals. And we think he would respond to a request for private indirect communication?

Please.

Bishop Strickland appears to be no idiot. He is likely not interested and seeing more Catholics lose faith and leave his diocese, and this was well documented in the news and it is insulting when Prelates pretend we are a bunch of ignorant rubes who dont know what is going on… He is likely trying to head off more Catholics from questioning what the hell is going in, or feeling as though they are being lied to.
 
Last edited:
Dr_Meinheimer said:
The Pope ignores direct Dubias from four Cardinals. And we think he would respond to a request for private indirect communication?

Please.
Click to expand...
I’m not the least bit surprised by the Pope’s actions, but I continue to be disappointed.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top