Catholics must speak up when shepherds contradict the Gospel
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
182.88791
Summary
In this episode of the John Henry Weston Show, John Henry talks with Terry Barber, host of the Bishop Strickland Show on Life Site News, about the current state of the Catholic Church and the need for the laity to fight the good fight.
Transcript
00:00:00.700
Hello, and welcome to this episode of the John Henry Weston Show, where I'm very pleased
00:00:04.680
to bring you a stalwart warrior on life, faith, family, and freedom, who has been in this
00:00:13.180
Not, of course, to make fun of your age, but we are very pleased to bring you Terry Barber
00:00:18.940
and to talk about the place we're in right now in Catholicism, in the church, in the
00:00:24.720
It's just absolutely unbelievable, but you're going to want to stick around.
00:00:30.000
Let's begin, as we always do, with the sign of the cross.
00:00:51.280
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
00:01:00.000
John Henry Weston, I am honored to be here, and I'm excited to share the gospel with your
00:01:06.040
listeners, because that's what really matters in life.
00:01:10.120
Now, all of LifeSite will know you as the host of the Bishop Strickland Show, but tell us a
00:01:17.860
little bit about your background so that people know where you're coming from.
00:01:20.680
Well, 42 years ago, I started promoting Archbishop Fulton Sheen cassette tapes off a record player
00:01:28.160
I wrote to the Propagation of the Faith in 1978, and I was promoting those on different
00:01:34.880
Catholic periodicals, and that started St. Joseph Communications, which then I started
00:01:42.140
I started, let's see, Lighthouse Catholic Media, Catholic Resource Center, a variety of different
00:01:48.620
And now, 42 years later, I'm involved with Virgin Most Powerful Radio, and I've been sharing
00:01:58.000
We've got millions and millions of cassette tapes and records and CDs out and now downloads.
00:02:04.080
And I'm excited because Bishop Sheen had it right when he said that the laity is going
00:02:10.740
John Henry West, and you're a good example of that at LifeSite News, and we promote you
00:02:15.220
guys every day on our radio stations, which we promote the Catholic faith, and LifeSite's
00:02:22.160
So I want to thank you for saying yes, because I know your conversion story, and both of us
00:02:32.080
I think many people will remember, particularly that one apostolate of yours, the Lighthouse Catholic
00:02:37.680
Media, for seeing all those incredible CDs at the back of the churches, which have, I
00:02:44.000
think, really revolutionized the life of many, many Catholics to make them more faithful in
00:02:54.480
John, can I interrupt you to say any good that I do comes from God, and I thank Him for it.
00:02:59.520
But I got to tell you, John Henry Weston, I want to encourage your listeners to fight the
00:03:04.360
good fight, because after 42 years, I've got stories where most people would have given
00:03:12.200
But what inspires me right now is 42 years later, seeing the laity standing up and proclaiming
00:03:19.720
the teachings of Christ, even when our leaders, our priests, our bishops, and even the Pope
00:03:24.280
have let us down, we're still fighting the good fight, because we know that we serve a
00:03:30.040
God, we serve Jesus Christ, and we know that His bride, the Church, is in need of help, and
00:03:36.920
we're standing up to help Holy Mother, the Church, with the truth of Christ, the perennial
00:03:44.840
You entered this fight when I was eight years old.
00:03:54.040
But it actually is great, because right now, there is so much consternation among Catholics
00:04:01.860
They're looking at a Pope who seems to be saying all the things that they only saw in
00:04:10.300
They often saw priests, or maybe even bishops, you know, back a decade ago or more, who were,
00:04:16.180
you know, saying these weird things and not really being pro-life, being very lackluster,
00:04:21.080
if even that, in their support of the pro-life movement, particularly when our kids went through
00:04:26.680
school and were bombarded with the LGBT agenda, they were always silent about it or weak, and
00:04:32.920
now we're getting that seemingly from more and more bishops, from tons of priests, and
00:04:39.580
So there's a lot of people dejected and down in the dumps and really don't know what to
00:04:43.900
But the worst part is, some have said, I think I've got to throw in the towel.
00:04:49.600
I think I've got to leave the church or something.
00:04:57.120
Well, I appreciate that, because, you know, I did write a book called How to Share Your
00:05:01.000
Faith with Anyone, and that's what it's all about, is, you know, living out the Catholic
00:05:10.560
I'm sure your listeners are familiar with St. Pope Felix III back in 475.
00:05:16.920
He said something that really deals with us today.
00:05:25.880
And indeed, neglect to confound evil men when we can do it is no less a sin than to encourage
00:05:31.920
Well, I look to our older brothers and sisters, the saints, and I say, wait a minute, what
00:05:38.840
What do you think, you know, St. Ignatius of Loyola would do?
00:05:44.040
I call him a saint because I was at his funeral, you know, almost 50 years ago as a young man.
00:05:49.220
But I think that all of the saints would have one thing in common.
00:05:54.560
And that's what we have to do right now is don't put your head in the sand.
00:06:01.740
Our souls are in danger of losing the salvation.
00:06:07.100
We put on the spiritual armor of God, and we fight like a man.
00:06:13.120
You know, I think of something, John Henry, that Joan of Arc said that is really an amazing
00:06:19.860
She said this when she was going to be martyred.
00:06:23.600
She said, one life is all we have, and we live it.
00:06:29.460
But to sacrifice what you are and to live without belief, that is a fate more terrible
00:06:36.140
So I thought, wow, what a great statement from Joan of Arc.
00:06:46.760
And this is just encouraging words to say, fight the good fight.
00:06:56.160
Jesse and I have our daily show, the Terry and Jesse show on Virgin Most Powerful.
00:07:00.200
And we end every show and we ask the people, what state should you be living in, Jess?
00:07:08.320
So my point to everybody listening is get fired up about your faith because there's
00:07:16.080
And remember what Bishop Sheen said, unless souls are saved, nothing is saved.
00:07:20.520
There can be no world peace unless there is soul peace.
00:07:23.660
Bishop Sheen says, world wars are only projections of the conflicts wage inside the souls of men
00:07:29.060
and women, for nothing happens in the external world that has not happened within a soul.
00:07:38.880
Forget about these people trying to scare you with COVID-19.
00:07:45.520
Take the vaccination of Jesus Christ, the holy precious blood and body of Jesus and the holy Eucharist.
00:07:52.740
We need to have a supernatural outlet rather than this vertical outlet that most people
00:07:59.340
We've got to center our lives on Jesus Christ and also ask our blessed mother and St.
00:08:04.480
Joseph to help to be faithful sons and daughters of the church.
00:08:09.360
Now, what if people say to you, wait a minute, this guy founded all these things and met with
00:08:19.720
He's never been jostled around or thrown out or shoved under the rug or thought of as,
00:08:24.740
you know, worse than the scum of the earth by his own pastor or anything.
00:08:30.980
Well, I got to tell you, brother, you just had an article about the Congress out here in
00:08:36.720
Los Angeles, the Religious Ed Congress and showing how bad it is.
00:08:42.720
I've been thrown out of that Congress several times.
00:08:50.020
Joseph radio and they wouldn't let me have a booth at the conference.
00:08:53.460
So I printed 14,000 bags, plastic bags for the vendors so that I could get my message
00:08:59.540
out that we have daily Catholic radio back in the mid 80s.
00:09:02.920
And I gave them all to the vendors and they all used the bags because they didn't want
00:09:11.800
And I was happy because we got our message across.
00:09:18.380
And, you know, tell me you're banned from coming to the Congress.
00:09:23.680
I can go, you know, that's free country the last time I looked.
00:09:26.120
So then in 1990, I had just recorded Dr. Scott Hahn's conversion story and Father Joe Fessio
00:09:32.640
from Ignatius Press let me in his booth because they wouldn't give one to me.
00:09:36.500
And the coordinator for the booth saw me and she went nuts on me, John Henry.
00:09:48.760
I'm going to continue doing what I'm doing because you're out of control.
00:09:52.760
And then a charismatic priest from Fresno looks down and sees the situation.
00:09:58.380
So he starts praying over this lady deliverance prayers.
00:10:04.420
And so finally, the security people calm her down.
00:10:07.600
And I didn't get thrown out because she was out of control.
00:10:10.720
Now, one other time, I got thrown out and put in a jail there with a World War II vet
00:10:16.460
because we were handing out flyers for our radio postulate and handing out books on apologetics
00:10:25.560
And I'll make a short story on this, but they wanted to arrest me.
00:10:29.740
And we just broke out of prison with my World War II vet friend because he said,
00:10:35.960
I dare anybody to stop me from walking out of this room.
00:10:41.300
My point, John Henry, is I've been in the thick of things where a bishop,
00:10:51.080
The other one had, well, at least he had relations with a woman, but he had three kids
00:10:58.320
I was with a bishop one time in the 80s where I recorded him saying that by the year 2000,
00:11:04.100
we're going to have women priests and Hermione Vitae.
00:11:09.880
So when I recorded it, at the end of the talk, I said, excuse me, Bishop Arzubi,
00:11:16.140
because he's gone to his eternal reward or damnation.
00:11:23.000
But I said, excuse me, if Pope John Paul II was in the room, would you say the same things to us?
00:11:30.160
So I put transcripts together, sent it to Cardinal Ratzinger through Father Fessio, and he got in a heap of trouble.
00:11:37.580
And I get a call home at my house one night, John Henry, and it was Juan Arzubi.
00:11:46.140
I said, oh, Bishop Arzubi, nice to hear from you.
00:11:51.620
And I said, well, you put yourself in the trouble, Bishop.
00:11:54.820
You're not teaching the perennial teachings of the church, and you shouldn't even, you know, if you can't do that, step down.
00:12:01.040
So anyhow, he had to recant and make a statement that he supported Hermione Vitae and that he supported John Paul II's, you know,
00:12:08.800
the restriction of women being ordained to the priesthood.
00:12:14.340
I've had so many stories where people have thrown me out, and I've had lawsuits by Cardinal Roger Mahoney.
00:12:23.140
If he saw me walking in a room, which he did, he walks the other way.
00:12:28.460
So all I'm trying to say is, don't give me this baloney that, oh, things are so bad.
00:12:33.740
They are bad, but that doesn't mean we can't stop fighting and praying, because we need foot soldiers right now.
00:12:39.680
We need people to step up and live holy lives and stand up for the truth.
00:12:43.700
Even when a bishop tells you something that you know is not according to the mind of the church,
00:12:49.240
you have to gently, with charity and clarity, call him out and say, like I did today on the radio,
00:12:54.800
I said that Bishop Wilton Gregory was a coward.
00:12:58.500
Now, with all due respect to the bishop, he's a coward for not telling Joe Biden he can't receive Holy Communion.
00:13:07.540
Now, I have respect for his office, but I don't have respect for shepherds who are not going to shepherd properly.
00:13:12.740
And now, this is the time where, with all due respect, we're calling our shepherds to be faithful shepherds
00:13:19.440
and not compromisers or, you know, people who just want to get funding from the government.
00:13:29.820
And just so that everybody knows, it's not far-fetched that a bishop would call the police on a Catholic.
00:13:39.200
In fact, I was kicked out of the, well, almost arrested out of the Basilic of the National Shrine in D.C.
00:13:49.960
And they called the cops on me and had the cops throw me out.
00:14:00.720
And they use the law like most corrupt politicians do.
00:14:04.020
But one of the things that, you know, is interesting.
00:14:08.500
You've experienced these absolutely horrific things from evidently horrific leaders in the church,
00:14:15.720
even going so far as to have you thrown in jail.
00:14:25.200
Would it never occur to you to leave or leave the church?
00:14:28.680
No, no, because my relationship is with Jesus Christ and his bride, the church.
00:14:36.520
If you're watching me on the video, you see my crucifix.
00:14:43.100
I don't have, I don't consider, for example, when prelates, even the Pope,
00:14:50.680
But when he teaches something that's contrary to the magisterial teachings of the church
00:14:54.900
or the perennial teachings of the church, St. Robert Bellarmine tells us we have to.
00:14:59.080
We have to say, no, we're not going to follow that teaching.
00:15:02.520
Because this is what Christ has given us, a teaching which we call perennial.
00:15:12.040
He said, if I weren't a Catholic, we would be looking for the true church in the world today.
00:15:16.420
I would look for the one church which did not get along with the world.
00:15:20.060
In other words, I would look for the church which the world hates.
00:15:24.600
Now, for 2,000 years, the world hates the Catholic church.
00:15:28.520
Now, I'm going to be honest with you, John Henry.
00:15:34.620
There's the church that is what we call dissenters.
00:15:38.380
And we call it, in theological terms, heterodox church.
00:15:42.160
Meaning that these people in the church like James Martin, Father James Martin,
00:15:45.800
who gets all the credit for going out and preaching what I call heretical teachings on homosexuality.
00:15:53.340
He acknowledges the Bible, condemns it, but he doesn't happen to agree with the Bible.
00:15:57.320
And so I answer that question all the time when people say,
00:16:00.500
well, how can these guys get away with it when the good guys get punished?
00:16:08.960
Bishop Athanasius Snyder, who I have a connection with,
00:16:15.040
his spiritual director was my spiritual director.
00:16:29.500
You can't leave the church because of weak leadership.
00:16:32.540
I, every Thursday night, tonight, we get together.
00:16:39.380
Every, we pray Thursday night for priests, bishops, and the Pope.
00:16:43.840
For two hours, we get on our knees and pray before our Eucharistic King,
00:16:52.200
So when people say, you're being critical of the Pope or the bishops.
00:16:57.040
I'm being critical when they don't teach something that's with the perennial teachings of the church.
00:17:01.200
But I also pray for them to be good leaders in the church and good shepherds.
00:17:06.620
So when you say, well, you know, why don't you leave the church?
00:17:09.420
They treated you so poorly because I don't see that affecting my relationship with Jesus Christ.
00:17:17.960
We have a Catholic church behind us here at our facility.
00:17:21.360
And John Henry Weston, I don't mean to be bold about it.
00:17:24.300
But when California closed all the churches with, you know, last year, we didn't close our church.
00:17:31.880
They drove 300 miles to go to confession at our chapel because I got priests to come and hear confessions
00:17:37.740
when the Archbishop of our diocese said, no confessions.
00:17:42.040
We got people to pray before the Blessed Sacrament where they were crying when they came into the church
00:17:46.540
because they had been six months before they had been in a Catholic church
00:17:59.620
This is an opportunity for us to serve even more when our leaders in the church have dropped the ball.
00:18:10.920
And finally, Terry, let me ask you, you know, a lot of people think, oh, wow,
00:18:14.420
he's very confrontational with, you know, the bishops and things.
00:18:23.720
I would quote St. Thomas saying that he's, yeah, how do you love someone?
00:18:29.800
I pray for them weekly, daily, a Eucharistic adoration, but I will not agree when a bishop is not.
00:18:38.540
Like Bishop Strickland, he says it every week on the Virgin Most Powerful Radio,
00:18:42.640
and you guys carry the show for us, and I thank you for that.
00:18:45.740
Every week we talk about, like this week, we're going to be talking about a bishop in Germany
00:18:52.820
Now, Bishop Strickland is calling one of his brother priests not because he hates him,
00:18:58.080
Bishop, Father Bill Casey used to say the worst thing, the worst thing you can do for someone
00:19:05.120
So you can, you show them their sin and you show them how they come back to the faith.
00:19:10.540
And even a bishop, which like I said, I've had a couple of my own local bishops,
00:19:19.280
And I would still call them out to become holy.
00:19:22.160
And I had my own bishop who I exchanged cards for Christmas,
00:19:25.800
because one of the things I find is that people don't care how much you know
00:19:31.000
Even my liberal bishops are friends with me, because you know what?
00:19:34.680
They respect what I do, because I don't do it out of hate.
00:19:40.660
And if I didn't love somebody, I wouldn't share the truth with them.
00:19:43.600
So that's why I'm passionate about it, because I really do care.
00:19:47.000
I want to get as many souls to heaven as possible, starting with my wife and family.
00:19:56.260
Thank you so much for being with us on this episode of the John Henry Weston Show.
00:20:00.180
Everybody can still connect with you, of course, on our Rumble channel,
00:20:03.220
where we air your hosted Bishop Strickland Show.
00:20:09.260
Well, they can reach us at virginmostpowerfulradio.org.
00:20:12.380
Can I make one more comment about a Holy Father that I think will blow people away?
00:20:17.080
On February 20th, 1949, Pope Pius XII addressed a series of questions
00:20:22.660
to an enormous crowd gathered at St. Peter's Square.
00:20:30.880
And the Holy Father says, do you want a church that remains silent when she should speak?
00:20:40.680
And do you want a church that diminishes the law of God where she's called to proclaim it loudly?
00:20:55.780
But the point of it is, this is what we need today.
00:20:59.180
We need a church that will not compromise because this is the key right now to bringing
00:21:05.920
back evangelization is what I consider the traditional orthodox teachings of the Catholic
00:21:14.580
And that's why I endorse LifeSite News because, brother, LifeSite News for 20-some years has been
00:21:23.700
Even the articles that are bad, it gives us an opportunity that are negative to pray for their
00:21:29.420
So I just want to leave you on this note that 100% I support LifeSite News and what they're
00:21:36.280
And they're willing to stand up when many people aren't willing to stand up for the faith.
00:21:43.580
And if there's anything Virgin Most Powerful Radio can do for LifeSite News, I'll say it publicly
00:21:52.260
John Henry Weston, thanks for allowing me to come and share the gospel with people.
00:22:04.340
Hi, this is John Henry Weston, the co-founder and editor-in-chief of LifeSite News.
00:22:08.820
I'm coming to you today because we want to be sure that we are communicating clearly with
00:22:16.140
Things are really heating up, as I'm sure you can see.
00:22:20.240
Christians, conservative truth-tellers are being targeted, are being banned from social
00:22:25.780
media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram at an alarmingly fast rate.
00:22:32.400
They are attempting to suppress any narrative that does not fit that of the mainstream media.
00:22:40.520
We have been warning everyone who would listen and attempting to build up alternative platforms
00:22:48.460
We have established ourselves on all sorts of platforms I'm going to explain in a minute,
00:22:52.460
but the most important thing to do is come direct to LifeSiteNews.com because there we
00:23:00.100
But we've also established ourselves on platforms like Parler and MeWe, and our videos can be
00:23:07.600
We would love to see each of you on those platforms too, as they are not censoring or suppressing
00:23:13.320
the truth that we are sharing every single day.
00:23:15.980
More than these alternative social media platforms, we highly encourage you to subscribe to our
00:23:23.500
We have really built up a large list of loyal readers on our email marketing platform, and
00:23:29.320
we have prepared several backup plans for, well, I want to say if, but it's really when,
00:23:35.540
we are removed from our current platform as well.
00:23:39.060
Additionally, I really encourage you, as I said before, to make it a regular habit to go directly
00:23:48.600
While all of these different platforms are an excellent way to curate your news, going
00:23:53.920
directly to our website means that you will never encounter any censorship or sudden loss
00:24:05.960
We founded this organization with the mission to be the life, family, and culture source for
00:24:14.080
We have established a track record of honest reports, and this will never stop, even with
00:24:23.960
Again, I'm encouraging you to join us on Parler, MeWe, Rumble, and on our email list.
00:24:30.280
You can find all the direct links in the description of this video.
00:24:35.180
May God bless you and keep you, and we are so thankful that you've chosen to follow and support
00:24:41.200
I'm John Henry Weston, co-founder and editor-in-chief of LifeSiteNews.