The John-Henry Westen Show - November 13, 2023


EXCLUSIVE： Bishop Joseph Strickland Breaks His Silence After His Removal by Pope Francis

Topics
prayer petition for Pope Francis
Hosted by
John-Henry Westen
Mentioned
Pope Francis Jesus Christ John Henry Bishop Strickland Joseph Strickland Virgin Mary Bishop Schneider Cardinal Burke Holy Father John Bosco Christopher Wray Don Bosco Blessed Apostle Rupnik
Bishop Schneider： Blessing of same-sex unions is 'an abomination' Bishop Schneider responds to Archbishop Viganò on papal legitimacy

Episode Stats


Length

29 minutes

Words per minute

134.95

Word count

3,918

Sentence count

238

Harmful content

Hate speech

2

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

In this episode, Bishop Joseph Strickland talks about his removal from the Diocese of Tyler, Texas, and what it means for the future of the diocese and the Church. Bishop Stricklands is a Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Tyler for over twenty-five years.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
Topics generated with Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct.
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00.000 Forces in the church right now don't want the truth of the gospel.
00:00:07.480 They want it changed. They want it ignored.
00:00:11.360 They want to be rid of the truth that is gloriously not going to go away.
00:00:25.180 Hey, my dear friends, this is a historic interview.
00:00:28.300 This is the interview only six hours after the removal by Pope Francis of Bishop Joseph Strickland,
00:00:36.580 America's bishop, from his diocese of Tyler, Texas.
00:00:40.360 Bishop Strickland is one of those bishops who believes, as did the early church,
00:00:45.100 you are married to your diocese.
00:00:46.640 So it's very much like ripping a man away from his family.
00:00:50.540 And his family in Tyler, Texas, no doubt feel that same reality, that same horror.
00:01:00.580 And while it is a grave sadness for them, the bishop is at peace and he's praying for his diocese.
00:01:08.380 He's praying for his people.
00:01:09.980 This is a historic moment in the church.
00:01:12.360 At Life State News, we are so honored to bring this to you.
00:01:17.300 Please stay tuned to this episode of the John Henry Weston Show with Bishop Joseph Strickland.
00:01:25.200 Bishop Strickland, welcome to the program.
00:01:27.320 Thanks, John Henry.
00:01:28.320 If you could lead us as we always begin with the sign of the cross.
00:01:31.980 In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
00:01:35.340 Amen.
00:01:36.560 Amen.
00:01:37.520 So Bishop Strickland, we are here now just about six hours after you were officially removed by Pope Francis from the diocese.
00:01:47.260 Can you give us your first reactions?
00:01:49.620 Well, it is a sad day for me, but I'm strong in the Lord.
00:01:56.580 These two images behind me, the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary,
00:02:02.100 those pillars of the church in this time have been, as I've said in many different ways,
00:02:09.300 the pillars of strength for me, hopefully the pillars of strength for all of us.
00:02:16.020 I encourage myself and others to go more deeply than ever into prayer,
00:02:23.680 to pray for Pope Francis, to pray for the church, to pray for our world.
00:02:28.600 Certainly, I appreciate the prayers and I need them.
00:02:31.220 And to pray for the Diocese of Tyler, the many people whose lives are disrupted by this.
00:02:38.860 But we move forward, hopefully, and it's my prayer that we're closer to the Sacred Heart of Christ than ever through this.
00:02:49.160 I urge people not to feel like they can walk away from the church.
00:02:54.160 We are one body.
00:02:55.800 We are the mystical body of Christ.
00:02:59.100 That is the church.
00:02:59.980 So, those are my thoughts, among many others.
00:03:04.480 But those are the essential thoughts, that we continue in faith.
00:03:08.760 We walk forward in faith.
00:03:11.120 Yes, for me personally, it's a storm.
00:03:15.220 I can't pretend that it's not.
00:03:18.600 Lots of questions.
00:03:20.360 Lots of empty calendar that will be, I'm sure, filled in different ways.
00:03:26.720 But I rejoice to remain a successor of the Apostles.
00:03:33.280 As in all reality, I need to be humble.
00:03:38.780 And I try to approach that with humility.
00:03:42.280 St. John the Baptist has always been a model for me.
00:03:45.420 And the Lord must increase and we must decrease.
00:03:48.980 And so, I really hope and pray through all of this, that that takes on a deeper meaning in my life.
00:03:57.800 And I would hope that for all of us.
00:03:59.680 It's not just for bishops that we imitate the great John the Baptist.
00:04:05.200 But it's really for discipleship.
00:04:07.860 We point to the Lord.
00:04:09.680 It's always the Lord.
00:04:10.760 That's why the Blessed Virgin Mary is so important to us in our Catholic family.
00:04:16.240 Because as a loving mother, as the mother of the church, she always points to her son, who ultimately points to God the Father, and says,
00:04:27.600 Follow me to him on the way, the truth, and the why.
00:04:31.100 All of those true realities that resonate through the ages are as true as ever.
00:04:36.680 And we need to be strong and joyful and hopeful in all of that, praying hard, praying harder than ever,
00:04:46.160 and praying that anyone who is upset, angry, confused, whatever the negative emotions,
00:04:53.420 that they move past that to the knowledge that Jesus Christ is truth incarnate.
00:04:59.580 We rejoice to know him.
00:05:01.420 We rejoice to share him.
00:05:03.680 Beautiful.
00:05:04.320 I wanted to assure you right away, there are tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people praying for you already.
00:05:13.420 We started a prayer petition for you.
00:05:16.100 And I think just a few hours ago, when I looked, it already had 14,000 signatures.
00:05:21.940 You are very, very loved.
00:05:23.760 And a lot of people who love you are going to be wondering right now what this means for you in terms of your living,
00:05:32.860 in terms of your ability to minister as a prelate.
00:05:36.500 Do you know what this entails for you in terms of where you're going to live, what you're going to do type of thing?
00:05:41.740 Well, John Henry, as you ask the answers to questions, I don't have the answers right now.
00:05:51.100 Maybe it sounds a little pietistic, but I believe it is simply the reality.
00:05:58.900 I'm in the hands of the Lord, as we all are.
00:06:01.280 None of us truly knows what tomorrow holds, and I'm able to go through this as an opportunity to really know that I don't know what tomorrow holds.
00:06:13.960 But I know that the Lord is with me.
00:06:16.460 I know the power of his love.
00:06:18.840 I feel the power of that prayer that you've mentioned.
00:06:21.660 And certainly, I remain a bishop and a successor of the apostles.
00:06:29.020 I encourage people, as I heard recently, Bishop Athanasius Schneider urging people to pray more deeply than ever for Pope Francis,
00:06:41.740 for the Vatican hierarchy, all of them, all of those who have the tremendous responsibility
00:06:49.220 of guiding the church in these days.
00:06:52.640 I appreciate the prayers for me, but please include prayers, especially for Pope Francis, the Roman pontiff.
00:07:02.760 He needs our prayers.
00:07:04.880 I know that we all get frustrated.
00:07:07.400 We all get confused, sometimes angry.
00:07:10.020 But please turn that to prayer and to intercession, especially that the Immaculate Virgin Mary, our most powerful intercessor,
00:07:24.420 the mother of the Son of God, the love between the Immaculate Heart and the Sacred Heart is a love beyond imagining.
00:07:31.260 And so we want to remember that and pray that Pope Francis can be more and more deeply embraced by the wonder of that love.
00:07:45.760 I feel that.
00:07:46.920 I truly do.
00:07:48.460 I've said many times I've never experienced the blessing of an apparition or an allocution or anything supernatural in that sense.
00:07:57.820 But I have been blessed with deep prayer, the rosary and Eucharistic adoration, the two pillars of prayer that are the pillars that are behind me,
00:08:09.800 the pillars of St. John Bosco's vision, the Immaculate Virgin Mary and our Eucharistic Lord.
00:08:16.620 I am blessed to know those pillars in a very personal way.
00:08:22.100 The rosary has taken on a life for me that is just amazing.
00:08:27.880 Truly, I don't have the words.
00:08:30.620 And the same for our Eucharistic Lord, really present.
00:08:35.260 We know we're living through a time of questions and confusions in faith and many people walking away,
00:08:42.120 many Catholics saying, oh, they don't really believe these things anymore.
00:08:45.800 And too many of those in high places in the church, at least they're acting as if they don't really know the Lord.
00:08:53.900 They don't really know his mother.
00:08:55.520 And because we know them, let us take on the charitable work of praying for the confused,
00:09:04.540 praying for those who have turned their backs on the realities, the challenging realities of our faith.
00:09:11.020 But all of that to say, I don't have answers for exactly how this works.
00:09:18.460 But I know that I will bow to another taking the reins of first as administrator and then a new bishop being named to shepherd the Diocese of Tyler.
00:09:32.180 I said that I couldn't resign.
00:09:36.620 I couldn't, of my will, abandon the flock that I'd been given.
00:09:42.100 But now that an authority, Pope Francis, has the authority to remove me as bishop, and he's chosen to do so, I have to respect that.
00:09:53.280 And so I am no longer Bishop of Tyler, and that, I have to unpack that, honestly, myself,
00:10:03.260 and sort of regroup for who I am as a successor of the Apostles without a local diocese to care for.
00:10:11.760 But because I love the Lord, I love our Catholic faith, I love every aspect of the faith and want to support the Petrine office,
00:10:23.280 the College of Cardinals, the College of Bishops, all the priests and deacons, and the faithful,
00:10:30.080 the real body of the church, the living stones, people of faith,
00:10:34.380 that I've encountered during these past years as a bishop in beautiful ways, in all kinds of different situations.
00:10:43.520 So I guess I would conclude this answer.
00:10:47.880 It gets a little verbose, I guess, but all of us have many questions in our lives.
00:10:55.400 But the answer is we are in the hands of God.
00:10:59.300 We are the Lord's.
00:11:00.580 The church is His.
00:11:02.980 We trust in that.
00:11:04.100 We're strengthened by that.
00:11:05.960 We're guided through the darkness in His light.
00:11:09.760 We will pray this weekend, once again, in the Sunday Masses, when we pray the Creed.
00:11:16.960 Light from light.
00:11:18.840 Jesus Christ is light from light.
00:11:21.680 No matter the darkness, He is light.
00:11:25.600 Let us follow Him.
00:11:27.980 Viva Cristo Rey.
00:11:29.240 So one of the main questions that people are having right now is why?
00:11:34.840 Why would this happen when there is Father Rupnik, who just got the sexual abuser priest with all sorts of nuns begging for redress of their abuse that they suffered.
00:11:46.680 He's put into a diocese, no real sanctions.
00:11:49.700 You have Cardinal Daniels.
00:11:51.920 You have Cardinal Casper.
00:11:53.080 You have all of these cardinals known to be unfaithful in so many ways. 1.00
00:11:58.100 Yet, there's no sanction there.
00:12:00.740 But here you are, a faithful Catholic disciple of the Lord, apostle of the Lord, one of the successors of the apostles.
00:12:11.380 And by the way, if you were to guess which one it would be, I would always say you're the successor of John because you hold your head to his heart more than anyone I've ever seen.
00:12:20.280 But do you have any idea as to why this was done?
00:12:26.180 Well, John Henry, the only answer I have to that is because forces in the church right now don't want the truth of the gospel.
00:12:39.020 They want it changed, they want it ignored, they want to be rid of the truth that is gloriously not going to go away, the truth that is Jesus Christ, his mystical body, which is the church.
00:12:56.440 All the wonders that the martyrs died for and the saints lived for through almost 2,000 years since Christ died and rose.
00:13:06.920 So, and again, certainly Pope Francis has the responsibility of making the supreme pontiff decisions.
00:13:17.300 He has, he's the only one with that authority.
00:13:20.840 But there are many forces working at him and influencing him to make these kinds of decisions.
00:13:29.800 So, I know it becomes frustrating, but we, that's why we pray for the Pope, for him as a son of God and for his role as the supreme pontiff.
00:13:42.740 But we have to acknowledge there are tremendous and powerful forces at work in the world.
00:13:49.780 St. Paul reminds us that we're not fighting against human beings, flesh and blood.
00:13:56.240 We're fighting the powers and principalities of evil.
00:14:00.360 And that's a pretty strong statement, but I believe it's true.
00:14:05.600 It's real.
00:14:07.080 And evil doesn't want the truth of Jesus Christ.
00:14:13.420 Why did ancient Rome crucify him?
00:14:17.900 Because they didn't want the truth that he was proclaiming.
00:14:22.380 They saw it as disruptive.
00:14:25.180 They saw it as questioning and threatening their power.
00:14:29.860 They saw it in all the ways that people, sadly, see it today.
00:14:35.640 And even within the church and the great mystery of our time, there are people in the church, rather than glorying in the truth of Christ,
00:14:43.780 they want to delete significant portions of sacred scripture and say, oh, we got that wrong, or we're just going to ignore it.
00:14:56.380 Saints, through 2,000 years, didn't get it wrong.
00:15:01.800 Doctrine and understanding develops, but it develops in the sense of deepening, not reversing direction.
00:15:10.100 But there are forces in the world that want to reverse the direction, want to change moral teachings, want to totally restructure the church.
00:15:23.620 But beautifully, the church has functioned with all the human failings.
00:15:29.760 She continues to be here because she is holy, guided by the Holy Spirit.
00:15:34.540 And the Holy Spirit has fostered basic structures in the church.
00:15:40.440 I would conclude these thoughts by looking to what's happening in Catholic architecture, at least that I've seen recently.
00:15:51.140 Some beautiful churches being built in recent years.
00:15:55.380 When I was in the seminary, they weren't building beautiful churches.
00:15:59.020 They were experimenting with buildings that many of them are being torn down now.
00:16:05.540 I think that's a good metaphor for what is going on in the world.
00:16:11.500 We want to build, or the world wants to build, something different.
00:16:21.120 Christ is truth incarnate.
00:16:23.860 He has revealed who we are and what the plan for humanity is.
00:16:29.020 This isn't the first time that the powers that be have wanted to reject that truth.
00:16:36.760 What is troubling and at least unprecedented as I experience it, people from within the church are wanting to change the church and to reject the basic truths.
00:16:50.780 But the answer is to stay with it, and frankly, I truly believe the Diocese of Tyler that I used to serve a few hours ago, blessed with many seminarians, fine young men, strong, that would be wonderful husbands or wonderful spiritual fathers as priests.
00:17:14.380 Financially strong, tremendous generosity from the people, no place is perfect, no family is perfect, but the Diocese is in good shape and some very dedicated people serving in the chancery offices and the priests serving in the parishes.
00:17:33.620 I'm so proud of the priests and the diocese, so I really can't look to any reason except I've threatened some of the powers that be with the truth of the gospel that will not change, that cannot change.
00:17:51.300 It's perennial, it's everlasting, it's glorious, and if you want it to change, then I'm a problem, and I think that's what, that's the reason.
00:18:03.360 And again, I don't lay it all at the feet of Pope Francis, I mean, he, that's, I mean, I've been a bishop, you have to make decisions.
00:18:12.640 He's the one making the decision, so to me that calls us to deeply pray for him.
00:18:21.920 He's one man, as I'm one man, none of us has superpowers, we all have the gift of the Holy Spirit to guide us when we open our hearts to that.
00:18:33.360 But there are forces that we must acknowledge as well that are behind this, that are pushing this kind of removal of the bishop for standing with the gospel, as you say.
00:18:49.380 I mean, it's very humbling, but it's a beautiful image that I love to embrace.
00:18:52.840 If I can, in any minuscule way, stand at the foot of the cross, as John the Apostle did, the only one to stand there, I am blessed to have that role, as John was.
00:19:08.280 Not an easy role, but a role that says, I'm standing at the cross of truth incarnate, and in many ways, the body of Christ, the mystical body of the church, that is the church, the body of Christ, is going through a passion now.
00:19:27.120 Now, the forces of the world, the forces of the world, in the church and beyond, many people, we've all read, many times, people saying, we will finally eliminate the Catholic Church.
00:19:39.960 We just celebrated Pope St. Leo the Great yesterday, and we were reminded in the gospel proclaims that the gates of hell will not prevail.
00:19:51.120 And so, when people are pushing a false narrative that looks maybe attractive to many, and it looks like, oh, the church is easing its rigid teachings, that, if it's not the truth, is not going to last.
00:20:09.040 And ultimately, it leaves lives and families, societies empty and devastated.
00:20:16.340 And so, I have to continue to proclaim the truth with joy and hope, with humor, hopefully, with a bright outlook, with the light of Christ guiding me.
00:20:29.680 But, again, I give long answers, but I think the reason for this is that I threatened too many in the power of places who want to change the truth.
00:20:47.680 They're never going to accomplish it.
00:20:50.200 Truth doesn't change.
00:20:52.120 The scriptures tell us that.
00:20:53.980 Jesus Christ is the face of truth.
00:20:56.060 He doesn't morph into a different being than he was.
00:20:59.680 When he died on the cross and rose for us, he's the same Lord.
00:21:04.520 He's the way, the truth, and the life.
00:21:07.380 And those who want to change that for a day in terms of human history, we have to live through this day.
00:21:17.000 But it's a moment that will pass, and the truth will prevail.
00:21:21.000 So, Bishop Schneider, in his note about your cancellation, your being removed, your deposition, he says,
00:21:30.380 Bishop Strickland will probably go down in history as an Athanasius of the Church in the USA,
00:21:37.080 who, however, unlike St. Athanasius, is not persecuted by the secular power, but incredibly by the Pope himself.
00:21:45.520 It seems that a kind of purge of bishops who are faithful to the immutable Catholic faith and the apostolic discipline,
00:21:54.820 and which has been going on already for some time, has now reached a decisive phase.
00:22:00.380 What's your take on that?
00:22:05.120 You've seen the bishop already removed for having refused to do the vax mandate.
00:22:12.200 You've seen other bishops removed during this time.
00:22:16.820 We saw very early on in this papacy, Cardinal Burke pretty unceremoniously removed as well from various positions that he had.
00:22:24.160 No real explanation, just removed.
00:22:28.500 Cardinal Serra sort of removed in some ways, even though he'd reached retirement age, sure, but it was an immediate removal.
00:22:36.580 And there have been all sorts of things with regard to what's gone on in this Vatican under Pope Francis
00:22:42.800 that have been very, very disturbing for the faithful.
00:22:48.260 And I know you have a great heart for prayer for the Pope.
00:22:53.260 This is the words that Bishop Schneider uses, that he says that you and other faithful bishops canceled or marginalized in this way should say.
00:23:05.780 And this is the quote from him to pray.
00:23:08.120 He says, Holy Father, why are you persecuting?
00:23:10.000 Why are you persecuting and beating us?
00:23:12.080 We tried to do what all holy popes asked us to do. 0.94
00:23:15.560 With fraternal love, we offer the sacrifice of this kind of persecution and exile for the salvation of your soul and for the good state of the Holy Roman Church.
00:23:27.020 Indeed, we are your best friends.
00:23:29.200 Most Holy Father.
00:23:30.660 Well, I agree with that expression of Bishop Schneider.
00:23:38.260 I heard him.
00:23:39.600 I have great respect for Bishop Schneider and his story, to me, it just resonates with deep faith.
00:23:47.300 He grew up in a childhood where many people are fearful of maybe returning to something like that in many places in the world where they would look forward to an occasional opportunity to celebrate the Mass.
00:24:02.440 So I have great respect for Bishop Schneider.
00:24:05.360 I mean, we have very different backgrounds.
00:24:07.840 We're from halfway around the world from each other.
00:24:10.860 And I would say, with regard to Pope Francis, that one of the things that Bishop Schneider said that I really embrace is, as a bishop, he is our older brother.
00:24:24.760 And so we have an obligation to pray for him, to pray for the very best deepening of faith for him.
00:24:33.880 And I know that, you know, I had two older brothers.
00:24:37.600 And sometimes it's tough because, you know, you can have anger, all the human emotions.
00:24:46.180 But we need to remember who we are.
00:24:49.260 We are the mystical body of Christ.
00:24:52.920 And Pope Francis is the head of this body on earth, representing Christ, serving the servant of the servants of God, one of the ancient descriptions of the papacy.
00:25:06.720 So I like that, caring for him, praying for him.
00:25:11.980 And that's what I hear in that last expression of Bishop Schneider that you offered, to pray for him as an elder brother.
00:25:20.820 We know the truth.
00:25:23.320 And if there's apparent confusion or a lack of embracing of that truth on the part of an elder brother, we have an obligation out of love to patiently and always respectfully, but clearly, with clarity and charity, we need to pray and call elder brothers, younger brothers, everyone in the church, all the mystical body of the church.
00:25:52.940 We all need to be called to a deeper faith, to turn from sin, to turn from any false messages and to embrace the challenging truth.
00:26:03.960 And so I do urge all of us to pray more and more deeply and to pray to the Immaculate Virgin Mary and to turn to the sacred heart of Christ, praying that his mercy may wash over both Francis and the church and the world.
00:26:24.240 It needs to be noted that the church is going through this tremendous turmoil at a time when the world is also in the midst of two major wars that could become even worse at any moment, many people dying and suffering.
00:26:41.760 So the church, in turn, is not as strong as she should be in bringing the light of Christ to the world.
00:26:51.580 And so we all have the obligation as faithful Catholics, and I again urge people to be more faithful than ever, not allow this to pull them back from living faithfully and vibrantly and joyfully, full of hope, their Catholic faith.
00:27:08.880 And at the heart of that, to pray for the deep abiding conversion of Pope Francis and of all of us to a deeper relationship with the sacred heart of Christ.
00:27:21.340 Dear Bishop Strickland, thank you so very much for sharing with us, even so few hours after you removed your heart and the beauty of your love for the church, your encouragement for everyone to remain faithful, not to let these times of strife get to them in such a way that move them away from the faith, rather move closer to it, to embrace a life of prayer in a much more earnest way.
00:27:44.960 Because we recognize that the church is in crisis, or at least as a crisis of the pastors of the church, the bishops of the church, the cardinals, and even the Pope.
00:27:55.420 And so I want to assure you also, on behalf of the tens of thousands of LifeSite supporters and readers and fans of yours, prayers and thanksgiving and love for you,
00:28:11.020 and also waiting with hearts full of anticipation to see how the Lord uses you as a successor of the apostles in carrying forward his church to the glory that is to come, to the triumph of the Immaculate Heart.
00:28:28.180 We are, as you said, we need to be anchored between the two pillars of Don Bosco's dream, between the Holy Eucharist and Our Lady, and you are firmly anchored there.
00:28:44.160 We take your example, and we very much look forward to your future, which we know will be bright in whichever way that means.
00:28:53.220 May God bless you and thank you.
00:28:55.340 Thank you.
00:28:55.720 And God bless all of you.
00:28:58.880 We'll see you next time, and pray for Bishop Strickland.