The John-Henry Westen Show - INSPIRED： Deacon Keith Fournier Moves To Texas For Bishop Strickland

00:00:00.000 And I knew it when I was prostrate on the floor, when the bishop placed in my hands the book of the Gospels.

00:00:08.320 I knew it. I knew I'd never be the same.

00:00:11.620 And so it's really characterized the foundation of my own calling in ministry now for 27 years.

00:00:26.120 Deacon Keith Fournier, welcome to the program.

00:00:28.260 Thank you. First of all, please forgive me for my voice.

00:00:32.300 But you know, it's good for my humility.

00:00:34.520 I did have a heart procedure, and three weeks later, the voice is still not back.

00:00:39.880 But John Henry, I didn't want to miss the opportunity to meet you for the first time again 20 years later.

00:00:46.840 We go back two decades, but also to honor this wonderful successor, the Apostles,

00:00:53.080 who I have the privilege of assisting as a deacon, Bishop Joseph Strickland.

00:00:57.080 Beautiful. Well, let's begin, as we always do, with the sign of the cross.

00:01:00.280 If you wouldn't mind leading us, please.

00:01:01.280 In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

00:01:04.240 Father, we pray for the presence of your Holy Spirit during this entire time that we have together.

00:01:09.800 We thank you for the great gift of your Son, Jesus, our Savior,

00:01:14.180 in his mystical body, the Church,

00:01:15.880 and in a special way for the great gift of his mother and our mother, the mother of the Church.

00:01:22.440 May her prayers draw us ever closer to him.

00:01:25.660 In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

00:01:29.020 Amen.

00:01:29.140 So, it's very interesting to find you here in Tyler, Texas,

00:01:35.080 because you were for many, many, many years in Virginia, and doing just great there.

00:01:41.060 And you had a career as a deacon in the pro-life movement.

00:01:48.680 That's where we first met.

00:01:49.740 And what brings you to Tyler, and why at this time in your life?

00:01:54.920 Most of your family, I think, is back in Virginia.

00:01:56.840 They are, yeah.

00:01:58.120 My wife and I have been married 47 years.

00:02:00.620 We've raised five children.

00:02:02.340 We have eight grandchildren.

00:02:03.960 I've been ordained as a deacon 27 years.

00:02:08.120 But, John Henry, I've been serving the Lord for almost 50 years now.

00:02:12.520 I came back to the Church.

00:02:14.480 I'm a revert.

00:02:15.900 Came back through the early fathers.

00:02:17.340 And I've spent my life wanting to tell people about the beauty of being a Catholic

00:02:22.680 and the depth of being a Catholic in preparation for ordination and then after ordination.

00:02:31.240 I've steeped myself in theology.

00:02:34.280 So, I'm a constitutional lawyer.

00:02:36.040 As you know, I did pro-life work, but also a theologian.

00:02:39.860 I love the Church.

00:02:41.580 And I've been trying to just serve the Lord as a son of the Church.

00:02:46.120 My whole life.

00:02:49.480 My life has taken chapters, almost.

00:02:52.080 I think we all go through that.

00:02:53.760 But as you get older, and I am 68, you begin to look back and say,

00:02:58.500 Uh-huh, Lloyd.

00:02:59.820 You are guiding me.

00:03:01.420 And I seem to be at the beginning of things.

00:03:03.500 I was an early responder to Father Mike Scanlon's call to the College of Steubenville, transferred

00:03:11.040 there as a student, graduated, helped him, went on to law school because of my passionate

00:03:16.880 pro-life convictions with his encouragement.

00:03:19.040 I came back, became a dean, dean of students, dean of evangelization, conferences, all that.

00:03:26.680 And Steubenville flourished.

00:03:28.900 My law degree, and I went to law school because I wanted to represent all unborn children whose

00:03:34.520 lives were taken through the intrinsic evil of abortion.

00:03:38.920 Well, that law degree mattered, and I knew it.

00:03:43.240 And it led me to the next chapter.

00:03:45.280 I ended up moving to Virginia.

00:03:47.420 Steubenville was flourishing.

00:03:49.100 Maureen, our young children, packed up and moved to Virginia.

00:03:52.860 And I was the first executive director of the American Center for Law and Justice.

00:03:57.100 We met back then.

00:03:58.860 ACLJ.

00:03:59.740 Doing pro-life work.

00:04:00.960 But still, serving the Lord as a Catholic, you know, you know that we, in the trenches

00:04:08.060 back then, met many other Christians, and we came together because we heard the cry of

00:04:13.400 the poor, children in the womb.

00:04:15.800 But during that time also, my love for the church led to a door being opened, and I was

00:04:21.680 invited to prepare for ordination as a deacon.

00:04:25.920 And I did.

00:04:27.620 And it turned my life upside down.

00:04:29.300 I will never forget lying prostrate on the ground on a cold floor at St. Matthew's, and

00:04:37.920 I had two things go through me.

00:04:40.000 One sounds spiritual, the other one doesn't.

00:04:42.720 But the one that doesn't turned out to be prophetic.

00:04:46.120 The first was fiat, the Mary in surrender. 0.56

00:04:50.900 I love Our Lady.

00:04:52.360 We're consecrated to Our Lady.

00:04:54.360 And I knew that she had called me to say yes.

00:04:57.280 And her yes is really the prototype for all of us.

00:05:01.480 But the second one, and it almost happened seconds after, was, uh-oh.

00:05:06.360 And I knew that was the Holy Spirit.

00:05:11.980 And it proved to be the case because within six months, I was up in Northern Virginia.

00:05:17.400 I ended up studying at the John Paul II Institute, while it was still strong, and I'll leave it there, under some wonderful people.

00:05:26.900 I also ended up studying with the Melkites and serving, as I told you, at the Divine Liturgy.

00:05:32.540 Went back to Chesapeake, where our kids were.

00:05:35.600 Continued work, Catholic online, Catholic online school, ministry in a parish, ministry nationally.

00:05:42.460 But all of it was geared toward loving the Catholic Church and believing that the fullness of truth does indeed subsist within the Catholic Church.

00:05:53.540 And I knew that she needed strong, holy, laymen and women, bishops, priests, deacons, religious.

00:06:04.000 I was going on 64, working out of my home and doing the ministry, doing a little bit of law.

00:06:13.060 Well, somebody sent me something called an apostolic constitution on teaching by Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas.

00:06:24.740 I read it as a theologian, as somebody concerned about the Church.

00:06:30.340 And I said, wow, this is wonderful.

00:06:33.500 So, if this were implemented throughout the country, maybe even beyond, we'd begin to see the desperately needed restoration of the Church.

00:06:45.100 So, to make a long story short, Bishop and I started writing one another.

00:06:50.680 And we became what, before the internet, you would have called pen pals.

00:06:54.480 I'd send him an article, he'd send me an article, and it just began to grow.

00:07:00.540 We started texting one another.

00:07:01.960 I ended up visiting him here.

00:07:04.940 In fact, I sat in this room.

00:07:07.020 He was right there after we prayed with that evangelical joy that is his, pointing at Jesus.

00:07:15.040 It's about him, he said.

00:07:18.220 And I spent time with him.

00:07:20.700 Another time, I came out for a week, and I was sort of incognito because I am known publicly.

00:07:25.880 But I traveled with him and watched him minister all over this diocese, confirmations, wonderful, wonderful Holy Masses.

00:07:36.820 And I saw the real deal, a successor of the apostles, a genuine bishop who knew how to bishop and how to pray.

00:07:48.200 And I began to see that in a special way, the two pillars in his life.

00:07:53.660 It's really out of the vision of Don Bosco, his consecration to Our Lady, and his love for the Holy Eucharist.

00:08:00.940 He's an adorer.

00:08:02.500 He spends, I don't want to embarrass him, but he spends a long time before the Blessed Sacrament every day.

00:08:08.840 And it keeps him going.

00:08:11.820 He's a wonderful man of God.

00:08:13.680 So after a third visit, we talked about the possibility of coming, assisting him.

00:08:19.620 Now, as a deacon, 27 years, and having done a lot of study, I knew deacons are not once again in the church,

00:08:28.580 at least in the Roman Catholic Church, because of a shortage of priests.

00:08:33.160 We're not called because of a shortage of priests.

00:08:35.640 First, we are ordained not to the priesthood, but under the ministry.

00:08:40.760 Well, what's the ministry?

00:08:42.720 Well, when you go back to what's often called the golden years, the first 400 years,

00:08:47.860 and you see the Stevens, the Phillips, the Lawrences, the Ephraims, that was the deacon.

00:08:55.260 And mostly what the deacon did was assist the bishop.

00:08:59.220 So I saw it when he invited me to come, an invitation to live this calling.

00:09:05.640 In the way the early church meant it.

00:09:08.060 And I came out here.

00:09:08.960 And Lorene, God bless her, my wonderful wife, she's realized that she's married to a missionary.

00:09:15.660 And we relocated.

00:09:17.680 I came here as, really, to assist the bishop as deacon.

00:09:21.640 I wear a number of hats.

00:09:22.920 I advise theologically, you know, legal issues, pro-life issues.

00:09:27.340 I'm the director of deacon formation.

00:09:30.060 And then he asked me to take a position at the school here, the Bishop Thomas K. Gorman Catholic School,

00:09:36.340 because he wanted it to become, it's a good school, but he wanted it to become profoundly Catholic.

00:09:41.600 Well, hearkening back to when I was a young man at Steubenville, I said, well, wait, I had the privilege of working alongside of a young priest named Father Mike Scanlon,

00:09:54.020 who did that at a college that was spiritually bankrupt and nearly financially bankrupt.

00:10:00.560 So I became dean of Catholic identity at the school, which is where I office now.

00:10:07.740 And also he made me the John Paul II fellow.

00:10:11.640 But I'm basically here to assist the bishop.

00:10:14.900 That's why we're in Tyler, Texas.

00:10:16.780 In fact, and you know this, even though we raised our kids in Virginia, I grew up in Massachusetts.

00:10:23.220 And to me, anything south of Connecticut was the south.

00:10:29.200 And I thought we were going to Texas.

00:10:30.720 I was going to see tumbleweeds and cactuses and, you know.

00:10:35.140 Well, what I found in East Texas is a beautiful place, green rolling hills.

00:10:40.160 But what I found in this diocese, because it's led by a bishop who guards the deposit of faith without compromise,

00:10:49.400 who speaks and teaches the truth.

00:10:51.940 I see a witness of a profoundly Catholic diocese, where there is legitimate diversity,

00:11:03.780 and I'm going to sound theological here, within orthodoxy, right doctrine, and orthopraxy.

00:11:10.780 So we have the full expression of the beautiful richness of the Catholic Church.

00:11:17.860 Now, he is coming under a lot of attack.

00:11:24.440 But that's because he's faithful.

00:11:26.660 And we're living in a very difficult time in the church.

00:11:29.580 And I thank God for the privilege I have of assisting this man.

00:11:33.500 So that's a short version.

00:11:35.460 I'm going to go on.

00:11:36.080 I won't, especially with sounding like a frog.

00:11:38.840 But I'm 68 years old.

00:11:40.360 I don't know how many more years I have left.

00:11:43.100 But I'm honored to pull them out, to hold his arms up, to stand with him as his deacon,

00:11:50.840 as his brother, as his friend, and as his servant in the Lord.

00:11:55.600 Hmm.

00:11:56.400 I have a very human question.

00:12:00.260 That's difficult.

00:12:01.200 Well, you said you left when you were 64.

00:12:04.520 You've got grown children and grandchildren over there.

00:12:08.580 Your wife is like a superhero. 1.00

00:12:11.500 It's unreal.

00:12:12.800 How many wives are going to say yes to we're going to uproot and do this incredible thing? 1.00

00:12:19.880 What was, how did that even, how does that even work?

00:12:22.920 Hey, my friends, now is the time to stand up and fight.

00:12:28.200 We are just about to have the Synod on Synodality.

00:12:31.600 And everything that you've seen indicates that it's going to be an absolute disaster.

00:12:37.540 We have Father James Martin as a personal appointee of the Pope speaking at it.

00:12:43.140 We've got Cardinal Cupich, Cardinal Tobin.

00:12:46.380 These picks of the Pope to engage in this synod are indicative of where we're going.

00:12:52.920 We're going into heresy.

00:12:55.540 And at these times of great crisis, the church, especially those called in the laity to work

00:13:02.660 for the glory of Christ and his church, are called to gather and strategize.

00:13:09.160 Back in 2014, LifeSite launched something called Rome Life Forum.

00:13:13.040 It was a gathering at that point of some 75 life and family leaders from all around the

00:13:18.560 world to strategize as to what we could do.

00:13:21.440 And when we gathered, the majority of people were most concerned about what?

00:13:25.920 About Pope Francis, about what was going on in Rome.

00:13:29.860 But this was 2014.

00:13:31.780 But the life and family leaders saw it first.

00:13:34.900 Now, a decade on, we are confronted with some of the most severe challenges the church has

00:13:42.220 ever faced.

00:13:43.520 And so, our tradition at LifeSite is to continue with Rome Life Forum, which has continued every

00:13:48.100 year until we had to take a break over COVID because we weren't permitted.

00:13:52.880 But we're starting it up again.

00:13:54.200 Please come, if you feel so called, to Rome, October 31st and November 1st, the very end

00:14:02.960 of the Synod on Synodality.

00:14:05.040 And we'll be there to strategize with his eminence, with his excellency, and with many life and

00:14:12.040 family leaders from around the world.

00:14:14.360 For LifeSite News, this is John Henry Weston.

00:14:16.540 And may God bless you.

00:14:17.280 Well, Lorene came with me on my second visit and had the same experience with this wonderful

00:14:25.020 bishop.

00:14:26.060 My wife, Lorene, is a convert to the church.

00:14:28.220 Before she met me, she's a woman of deep faith, deeply Marian, deeply Eucharistic, and a woman

00:14:35.120 of prayer, very down to earth, very fun, very joyful.

00:14:40.680 So, she balances me out.

00:14:42.060 I tend to be, and you know this, very intense and driven.

00:14:45.400 And she's just a gift from the Lord.

00:14:48.860 I mean, we're working on 50 years of marriage.

00:14:51.660 I'm very, very privileged.

00:14:52.740 You know, I should tell you this.

00:14:54.540 On the Feast of St. Lawrence, just last week, the bishop gathers all of his deacons and offers

00:15:02.020 the holy sacrifice to the Mass.

00:15:04.780 And then he has the deacons renew their promises.

00:15:09.000 But then, if they're married, he has them renew their marriage vows.

00:15:15.580 I've never seen that done until I came here.

00:15:18.060 I've seen the other, of course, the annual renewal of promises.

00:15:21.600 But it's so powerful.

00:15:23.840 And so it's just less than a week.

00:15:26.240 And I must admit, as I looked in the eyes of my beloved wife, I started weeping.

00:15:32.000 Now, some of that's because I'm getting old.

00:15:33.260 You know, I do cry very easily, but it was because of the realization of how blessed I

00:15:39.900 am to have a partner in marriage who has not only just put up with this call, but knew

00:15:47.980 it was the Lord.

00:15:49.520 You know, she knew that we were called to move here.

00:15:53.140 And that's been the case at every missionary call, whether it was Steubenville, where we

00:15:59.280 married, frankly, but then going to the ACLJ, and then my leaving after ordination to do

00:16:07.480 all that studies and to live simply.

00:16:09.700 We sold our last home so that I could study more of John Paul.

00:16:14.140 So I really am married to a very holy woman.

00:16:17.640 Now, our children, great kids.

00:16:20.400 One of them moved here, our youngest son.

00:16:22.620 He's a good man.

00:16:23.500 Our oldest daughter lives in Richmond.

00:16:27.920 Our other kids all live, one lives out in Seattle.

00:16:31.960 We do visit them.

00:16:33.280 They miss us.

00:16:34.700 They make that very clear.

00:16:36.940 I just recently went through some health issues for the first time in my life.

00:16:41.620 Very humbling, very spiritually enriching.

00:16:44.700 So they're concerned about me, dad, the grandchildren call me poppy, but they know that I need to

00:16:55.080 follow the Lord.

00:16:56.320 They've grown up in, I guess, the Catholic equivalent of what they used to call in Protestant homes

00:17:02.040 as PKs, preacher's kids.

00:17:06.080 My kids have grown up as my kids.

00:17:08.600 You know, whether I was a layman doing Catholic work or a deacon doing Catholic work, they

00:17:14.860 always knew the Lord and the church was why I was here, and they haven't understood it.

00:17:22.620 Well, I won't say which one in particular had a hard time with it, but we pray for our

00:17:29.840 kids every day, and now particularly with FaceTime and the like, we just saw them, and they just

00:17:36.860 came out here, my daughter, my second oldest, when I had been hospitalized.

00:17:41.580 But there's a sacrifice to it.

00:17:43.640 Yeah, but my wife is a woman of deep faith.

00:17:45.740 If you go into our home, the home that the Lord provided for us here at John Henry, when

00:17:51.040 we found it and we lease, we don't own any homes.

00:17:54.400 We did that for years, raised all those kids, you know, all of that.

00:17:59.480 We live simply.

00:18:00.820 But when we went into the house, we named it Beth Shalom, House of Peace.

00:18:05.900 And it really is.

00:18:07.820 But when you walk in, there's icons everywhere, lot of candles, you know, and people look at

00:18:14.000 it.

00:18:14.660 It's a Catholic home, and it's a wonderful place.

00:18:18.160 So I married a woman who's holy.

00:18:21.420 Beautiful.

00:18:22.840 So one of the things about the deaconate, and actually my dad was a deacon as well in the

00:18:27.800 Maronite, right? 0.71

00:18:28.660 But a lot of people don't know what a deacon really is because they, you know, if they're

00:18:36.660 older, they think, well, it didn't exist until John Paul II or something like that, or maybe

00:18:40.840 it was brought back.

00:18:41.560 We heard about it in the Bible, then it didn't exist.

00:18:43.140 But what's the actual truth on that?

00:18:46.620 And what is the deaconate in terms of, I've always understood it as Christ's tripartite,

00:18:54.060 three-part ministry, prophet, priest, and king.

00:18:56.020 Obviously, the king is the bishop.

00:18:57.900 The priest is there for the sacraments, the priest who offers the sacrifice of the mass

00:19:04.360 and confession.

00:19:05.380 What is the role of the deacon in terms of being a prophetic role?

00:19:11.020 First of all, you mentioned that you see it in the Bible.

00:19:14.020 Well, that's what we need to go back to, to really understand why deacons were chosen

00:19:19.020 in the first place.

00:19:20.520 So if you read the sixth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, you see that as the apostles

00:19:26.280 grew busier and busier in the ministry of teaching and preaching, they needed help.

00:19:32.400 Now, sometimes people stop there and say, yes.

00:19:34.480 So the deacons cared for the widows, took care of the needs of the community, which they

00:19:39.160 did.

00:19:39.780 But you can't stop there.

00:19:41.140 Because when you go to the next chapter, what do we see?

00:19:44.240 Stephen preaching and teaching the first martyr, a deacon.

00:19:49.620 And then you keep going.

00:19:50.880 What do we see?

00:19:51.920 Philip, one of the original seven.

00:19:55.480 And there's an Ethiopian eunuch.

00:19:57.800 And he is reading the scroll of Isaiah.

00:20:00.460 And he asked Philip to explain it.

00:20:02.240 And Philip jumps up in the chariot.

00:20:04.740 That's why Bishop Strickland is named the Institute, the St. Philip Institute.

00:20:08.880 And he explains to the Ethiopian eunuch what the scroll of Isaiah was saying and the messianic

00:20:17.780 prophecies.

00:20:19.040 And then he baptizes them.

00:20:20.120 And when you study the first four chapters of the early church, you see a flourishing

00:20:25.240 role of deacons.

00:20:26.600 Whether you look at Lawrence or Ephraim, so many, which has commemorated the anniversary

00:20:32.800 of St. Lawrence.

00:20:34.360 He's in the Roman canon.

00:20:38.420 St. Lawrence is a deacon.

00:20:39.740 The Roman Catholic Church in particular, in reinstituting it as a permanent rank of orders

00:20:46.940 at the last council, Roman Catholics tend to think, well, it's just come back again.

00:20:54.640 Eastern Catholics, like your dad, no. 1.00

00:20:57.120 No, it never disappeared.

00:20:58.900 There's an unbroken tradition of deacons.

00:21:01.640 Deacons are not priests or mini-priests.

00:21:03.700 They're not here because there's a shortage of priests.

00:21:07.220 They are a ministry inspired by the Holy Spirit as a part of Jesus' continuing presence.

00:21:15.720 We reflect Jesus, the servant, and yes, in a prophetic role.

00:21:20.580 And another way of understanding this is the theology of orders itself.

00:21:24.840 The bishop has the fullness of orders.

00:21:28.580 He's the bishop, but he's still a priest.

00:21:31.800 And he's still a deacon.

00:21:33.700 You know, it used to be that the only other person who could wear a dalmatic,

00:21:39.140 which is the outer vestment of a deacon, was the bishop.

00:21:43.940 And he would wear it under his bishop's chasuble as a sign and a symbol

00:21:50.800 that the deacon has a special role assisting the bishop.

00:21:56.280 So, yes, deacons teach and preach, but they ought to have a ministry

00:22:00.040 that's rooted in a properly understood notion of charity,

00:22:05.040 a properly understood notion of going into the world

00:22:09.680 to spread the seed of the kingdom.

00:22:13.300 So, one of the things, for example, here we look for, bishop looks for,

00:22:18.760 because he's the one who should be choosing potential aspirants for the deaconate,

00:22:24.640 is, is the man already engaged in ministry?

00:22:29.160 That doesn't necessarily mean he should be ordained.

00:22:31.520 We need good, you're a great example.

00:22:34.220 We need lay ministers on fire for the Lord, fully formed, fully Catholic. 0.72

00:22:39.140 But, we don't want to approach the deaconate as though it's a weekend warrior,

00:22:47.800 just serving at the altar.

00:22:50.620 No, deacons are servants.

00:22:53.340 They make Christ the servant present,

00:22:56.120 and they're supposed to be a part of what is properly understood

00:22:59.920 as the new evangelization of the church.

00:23:03.280 It's not waving banners.

00:23:04.580 That's recovering the charisma, the core,

00:23:09.120 and living a dynamic Catholic life.

00:23:12.080 So, deacons should be in prisons.

00:23:13.900 They should be in hospitals.

00:23:15.480 They should be engaged in pro-life work.

00:23:17.920 They should be feeding the poor and the hungry.

00:23:20.840 They should be engaged as ordained ministers,

00:23:25.680 making the Lord present in a sacramental way.

00:23:30.220 Now, the deacon also, in the Roman Catholic Church in particular,

00:23:34.580 is an ordinary minister of baptism,

00:23:37.180 and can witness weddings,

00:23:40.320 brings viaticum to the sick and the dying,

00:23:43.600 can preside at funeral services.

00:23:47.680 And those are good things.

00:23:49.080 By the way, they don't do that in the Eastern Church.

00:23:51.180 And that's a theological discussion.

00:23:53.020 But anyway, but primarily a deacon is ordained,

00:23:57.140 as the canon law says, and I'm paraphrasing,

00:23:59.840 and the catechism says,

00:24:01.500 not to the priesthood, but to the ministry.

00:24:07.080 So, that is the role of a deacon.

00:24:09.900 And the deacons who live that

00:24:12.180 find it to be a challenging, sacrificial calling.

00:24:18.800 It really is a vocation.

00:24:22.560 You know, as you know,

00:24:23.900 the etymology of vocation is voice.

00:24:27.300 You hear the voice of the Lord.

00:24:29.140 I heard the voice of the Lord.

00:24:31.060 I was in a diocese that didn't have a deaconate.

00:24:33.600 A bishop who wondered whether he'd ever have deacons.

00:24:38.540 And there was some priest in the diocese

00:24:40.120 who didn't want deacons.

00:24:42.000 But this bishop approached me

00:24:43.640 and asked me,

00:24:44.820 have I ever considered the deaconate?

00:24:48.520 And he said,

00:24:49.960 with your evangelistic work,

00:24:52.840 your pro-life work,

00:24:54.520 I want you to pray.

00:24:56.160 And pray with your wife.

00:24:58.720 Is the Lord perhaps calling you to ordain ministry?

00:25:01.340 Now here, all these years later,

00:25:04.600 I think he got it.

00:25:06.660 He understood it.

00:25:08.480 We've tended to go at this thing now

00:25:10.640 in the sort of top-down, bureaucratic approach

00:25:14.500 rather than recovering the early church's approach.

00:25:19.180 It comes from the bottom up.

00:25:21.880 And it's a recognition by the community,

00:25:25.220 but also, and in particular,

00:25:27.080 by the successor of the apostles in a calling

00:25:30.520 where the grace of sacrament

00:25:32.480 is given to that man.

00:25:35.360 And I knew it

00:25:36.040 when I was prostrate on the floor,

00:25:38.720 when the bishop placed in my hands

00:25:41.160 the book of the Gospels.

00:25:43.340 I knew it.

00:25:44.340 I knew it'd never be the same.

00:25:45.620 And so it's really characterized

00:25:48.680 the foundation

00:25:50.460 of my own calling in ministry now

00:25:53.260 for 27 years.

00:25:55.120 Beautiful.

00:25:58.880 You're in the pro-life movement forever and ever.

00:26:04.300 Hopefully I won't need to be.

00:26:06.100 Well, you had what all of us had back in the day.

00:26:11.660 In John Paul's time,

00:26:13.640 we had hired bishops sometimes

00:26:16.180 who didn't support you in your pro-life work.

00:26:19.060 The Pope always had your back.

00:26:21.900 Under Benedict, it was the same.

00:26:23.540 We always knew Benedict anyway

00:26:24.580 because Ratzinger would write all the documents

00:26:26.280 for John Paul that we just love anyway.

00:26:29.000 That changed in the last decade.

00:26:31.740 And you're inside the ministerial,

00:26:38.700 the ministry,

00:26:40.980 the ordained ministry.

00:26:43.460 This is tough times

00:26:44.840 because the pro-lifers,

00:26:47.520 very early on,

00:26:49.860 that was the biggest shift we saw.

00:26:52.120 It wasn't, you know,

00:26:54.160 a lot of the things

00:26:55.100 that you might hear about now with,

00:26:57.420 you know,

00:26:57.600 now it seems to be right out of kilter.

00:26:59.600 But even back in 2014,

00:27:01.400 I remember we had a meeting

00:27:02.380 of pro-life leaders in Rome

00:27:03.420 called Rome Life Forum.

00:27:05.720 And we sat around.

00:27:07.200 There was only 75 of us.

00:27:08.360 We sat around in a circle

00:27:09.300 and we were asked,

00:27:12.240 what are the most concerning things

00:27:13.540 for you around the world?

00:27:15.600 And everybody's from different countries.

00:27:18.440 Around the table,

00:27:20.140 actually it wasn't even a table,

00:27:21.080 75 people sitting in a circle.

00:27:23.540 But the number one concern by far

00:27:26.760 was we seem to have lost

00:27:30.840 the backing of the Holy Father

00:27:31.840 for the right to life

00:27:34.140 or that major concern.

00:27:37.260 Over the last 10 years,

00:27:38.260 things have got progressively worse,

00:27:41.220 you might say.

00:27:42.960 Even to the point of the exhortation

00:27:46.080 Gaudete and Exitante,

00:27:47.960 which in it,

00:27:51.440 I don't know,

00:27:51.900 you've probably read it,

00:27:53.200 it's the exhortation

00:27:54.220 that talks about abortion

00:27:57.000 and immigration

00:27:58.320 as issues for consideration

00:27:59.820 and political concerns.

00:28:02.040 And the wording goes something like,

00:28:03.560 I can get it exactly,

00:28:04.440 but it says that anyone would consider,

00:28:09.020 it's talking about abortion,

00:28:10.060 a more important issue politically

00:28:11.960 than immigration.

00:28:14.540 Such considerations are hardly worthy

00:28:16.700 of a politician,

00:28:17.480 let alone a Christian. 0.92

00:28:22.400 And of course,

00:28:23.740 to the pro-life movement,

00:28:24.860 which always saw that

00:28:25.980 as the preeminent issue,

00:28:27.840 JP II,

00:28:28.800 who said that over and over again,

00:28:30.980 Ratzinger at the time

00:28:31.900 who confirmed it

00:28:33.380 as one of the essentials,

00:28:35.300 the non-negotiables,

00:28:36.260 as he called them,

00:28:37.060 and then even included

00:28:38.340 a sort of exegesis on that

00:28:39.680 in worthiness to receive communion

00:28:41.300 that he issued in 2004.

00:28:44.900 We're confused.

00:28:48.420 As someone who was in

00:28:49.600 the pro-life movement

00:28:50.360 who has that at heart,

00:28:53.280 what do you make of this

00:28:55.240 and what do you suggest

00:28:56.800 we do with it

00:28:57.680 as pro-lifers

00:28:58.920 who love the faith?

00:29:01.400 Just want,

00:29:03.420 there's nowhere else to go.

00:29:08.680 When I was in seminary,

00:29:10.200 I was reading a book

00:29:11.200 by Henry Nouwen.

00:29:12.480 He talked about

00:29:13.440 a nuclear man,

00:29:14.660 you know,

00:29:14.960 and people who grew up

00:29:16.000 in the 1980s

00:29:17.480 were kind of formed

00:29:18.360 by that immediate

00:29:20.040 and constant threat

00:29:21.220 of nuclear annihilation.

00:29:25.040 My generation

00:29:26.020 has grown up,

00:29:27.280 you know,

00:29:27.520 under the specter

00:29:28.840 of priestly sexual abuse.

00:29:31.340 What say a Mr. Foreperson

00:29:32.720 is the defendant

00:29:33.380 guilty or not guilty?

00:29:35.660 I think that

00:29:36.260 for many of us

00:29:37.400 that has also been

00:29:38.680 all-encompassing,

00:29:40.180 you know,

00:29:40.340 I mean,

00:29:40.680 I entered the seminary

00:29:42.600 in January of 2004,

00:29:44.880 and it's basically

00:29:45.500 been there for me

00:29:46.820 from in the beginning.

00:29:47.580 John Henry,

00:30:05.800 I think it's important

00:30:06.580 we keep three things in mind

00:30:07.960 because you raise a fact.

00:30:11.020 We're living in a very

00:30:12.400 troubled time

00:30:14.140 in the church.

00:30:15.880 The first thing

00:30:16.780 I call to mind

00:30:17.440 is church history.

00:30:18.860 Now,

00:30:19.460 I've had a lot of studies.

00:30:21.220 That was one of my minors

00:30:22.320 in my working studies

00:30:25.040 at CUA.

00:30:26.620 We've been through

00:30:27.840 times like this before.

00:30:29.980 Now,

00:30:30.140 some people say

00:30:30.640 this is the worst.

00:30:31.560 I don't know.

00:30:32.780 We've been through

00:30:33.780 difficult times.

00:30:35.320 The church will persevere.

00:30:38.100 The Lord will give us

00:30:40.220 the leaders that are needed

00:30:41.940 so we can trust Him

00:30:44.580 but,

00:30:47.340 I mean,

00:30:47.720 I'll be the first to say

00:30:48.900 I was naive.

00:30:50.760 I loved John Paul II.

00:30:52.300 I met him

00:30:53.020 and it changed my life forever.

00:30:55.140 I spent year after year

00:30:56.720 studying him,

00:30:57.920 studying his encyclicals

00:30:59.100 under giants

00:31:00.360 at the old JB2

00:31:01.940 like David Schindler,

00:31:04.200 the senior,

00:31:04.940 and others

00:31:05.640 and then at CUA

00:31:07.120 and then Benedict.

00:31:09.420 Oh,

00:31:09.740 the wonderful theologian.

00:31:11.160 I thought we were living

00:31:12.760 in the golden age

00:31:13.720 of the Catholic Church.

00:31:15.440 During that time,

00:31:16.700 I had the privilege

00:31:17.420 of helping other Christians

00:31:18.960 come into full communion

00:31:20.140 drawn by the gospel of life,

00:31:23.800 Evangelium Vitae,

00:31:25.120 and so many of those

00:31:26.320 rich, robust encyclicals

00:31:28.920 apostolic exhortations

00:31:30.820 and letters

00:31:31.380 of John Paul II

00:31:32.640 continued

00:31:33.460 by Benedict.

00:31:35.460 Now,

00:31:35.980 all of a sudden,

00:31:37.060 it's like we've been thrown

00:31:38.100 into a desert

00:31:38.860 and it's hard.

00:31:40.960 But you know what?

00:31:41.740 we need to pray

00:31:44.320 and remember

00:31:45.280 Jesus Christ

00:31:47.280 is Lord.

00:31:49.280 And the magisterium

00:31:50.640 includes

00:31:52.280 all of those writings.

00:31:54.860 They haven't been abrogated.

00:31:56.680 So we've got

00:31:57.420 the gospel of life,

00:31:59.500 Evangelium Vitae.

00:32:00.680 And by the way,

00:32:01.180 over the years,

00:32:01.720 particularly in pro-life,

00:32:03.120 I've taken to using

00:32:04.120 English names a lot

00:32:05.180 because

00:32:06.040 people don't understand Latin.

00:32:08.520 You know,

00:32:08.760 I can't remember,

00:32:09.480 I'll give you a little

00:32:10.280 off to the side comment.

00:32:12.280 Many years ago

00:32:13.100 at Steubenville,

00:32:14.080 I did a radio program

00:32:15.320 and I had Dr. James Dobson on.

00:32:17.320 Do you remember him?

00:32:18.020 Dr. Jim Dobson,

00:32:19.540 great evangelical

00:32:20.460 psychologist

00:32:21.720 who taught on the family.

00:32:23.340 And I was interviewing him

00:32:24.380 and he's talking

00:32:25.940 about the family.

00:32:27.060 And I started quoting

00:32:28.560 John Paul.

00:32:30.580 And he said,

00:32:31.140 where did you get that?

00:32:32.900 And I said,

00:32:33.400 well,

00:32:33.520 it's from a book

00:32:34.240 by John Paul.

00:32:35.800 That's the Pope?

00:32:36.760 Yes.

00:32:37.880 It's called

00:32:38.220 Christian Family

00:32:38.980 in the Modern World.

00:32:39.600 The Pope wrote a book

00:32:40.720 and I sent him a book.

00:32:43.400 Anyway,

00:32:43.820 back to what you asked.

00:32:45.000 We still have

00:32:45.880 Evangelium Vitae

00:32:47.060 and it's profound

00:32:48.860 and he speaks

00:32:50.120 from the chair of Peter

00:32:51.280 and it hasn't been abrogated.

00:32:53.860 We need to study it,

00:32:55.760 quote it,

00:32:56.380 and live it.

00:32:57.460 The same is true 0.99

00:32:58.440 with the splendor of truth,

00:33:01.340 veritata splendor. 0.95

00:33:02.960 I mean,

00:33:03.380 we just remembered,

00:33:04.820 I think,

00:33:05.080 30 years.

00:33:05.720 It is incredible

00:33:07.940 and it hasn't been abrogated.

00:33:10.520 We've got the magisterium.

00:33:12.740 We've got the sacred tradition.

00:33:14.860 We've got 2,000 years.

00:33:16.840 I think it calls on all of us,

00:33:18.800 particularly as Catholics,

00:33:21.120 to dig more deeply

00:33:22.560 into that treasure chest

00:33:24.720 and quote it

00:33:26.700 and be affirmed by it

00:33:29.440 and not allow ourselves

00:33:31.100 to get discouraged

00:33:32.180 because it looks like

00:33:34.000 that's being changed.

00:33:36.880 It can't be changed.

00:33:40.100 The deposit of faith

00:33:41.820 can't be changed.

00:33:44.760 Okay?

00:33:45.340 It can't.

00:33:46.560 Now,

00:33:46.940 can doctrine evolve?

00:33:49.120 Yes.

00:33:49.740 Properly understood.

00:33:51.700 Properly understood.

00:33:54.120 And unfortunately,

00:33:56.340 you're hearing

00:33:57.000 development of doctrine

00:33:58.580 thrown about

00:33:59.980 and it's not properly understood.

00:34:02.800 You've got to go back

00:34:04.800 to Vincent of Lorraine.

00:34:07.000 You've got to go back

00:34:07.900 to Cardinal Newman.

00:34:09.620 It can't be changed.

00:34:12.000 It can develop

00:34:13.000 in its application

00:34:14.160 but not be changed

00:34:15.780 in its core.

00:34:17.900 It's called

00:34:18.340 the deposit of faith.

00:34:20.000 It's going to call on

00:34:21.380 people in the pro-life movement

00:34:24.280 doing some more study

00:34:25.780 and understanding

00:34:27.300 those documents more

00:34:28.500 and relying on them

00:34:30.500 and quoting them.

00:34:32.640 Okay?

00:34:32.760 When we say doctrine

00:34:33.520 can develop,

00:34:34.520 you know,

00:34:34.740 I use the word evolve.

00:34:35.720 That's not a good word.

00:34:36.980 Doctrine can't be changed.

00:34:39.020 It can't.

00:34:40.180 Remember Dominic Esau too.

00:34:42.140 I mean,

00:34:42.400 we're living in an age

00:34:43.280 of indifferentism,

00:34:45.320 of relativism.

00:34:47.080 Benedict warned about it.

00:34:48.220 Remember that?

00:34:48.920 And the homily he gave

00:34:50.160 before he was selected

00:34:51.080 for the chair of Peter.

00:34:53.480 He warned of what he called

00:34:54.820 a dictatorship of relativism.

00:34:56.820 We're in one.

00:34:59.640 And sadly,

00:35:01.120 even within the church,

00:35:02.700 we see that relativism

00:35:04.540 creeping in.

00:35:05.600 We see indifferentism

00:35:06.760 creeping in.

00:35:08.200 So while we honor

00:35:09.220 the chair of Peter

00:35:10.100 and pray for the Holy Father

00:35:12.080 and respect that office,

00:35:14.760 we also need to realize

00:35:16.100 we stand on 2,000 years

00:35:19.680 of sacred tradition

00:35:21.380 and that magisterium

00:35:23.380 that came to us

00:35:25.140 from John Paul,

00:35:27.580 I still believe

00:35:28.380 he's going to be called

00:35:29.000 the great,

00:35:30.320 and from Benedict,

00:35:32.000 is still fresh

00:35:33.360 and anointed

00:35:34.440 and powerful.

00:35:36.200 And the catechism

00:35:37.040 of the Catholic Church

00:35:37.980 is very clear

00:35:39.880 on abortion

00:35:41.580 being intrinsically evil

00:35:44.000 and one can never

00:35:46.640 choose it.

00:35:48.480 John Paul,

00:35:49.200 in Splendor of Truth,

00:35:50.960 talked about freedom,

00:35:52.600 freedom's

00:35:53.120 constitutive connection.

00:35:55.100 It's a big word

00:35:55.880 to truth.

00:35:57.660 We may be free,

00:35:59.720 but we must choose

00:36:01.080 what is true,

00:36:02.260 what is noble,

00:36:03.280 and what is good.

00:36:04.520 Otherwise,

00:36:05.140 we lose our freedom.

00:36:06.360 Like St. Paul warned, 0.99

00:36:07.840 you foolish Galatians, 1.00

00:36:09.280 who has bewitched you, 1.00

00:36:10.780 what began in the spirit

00:36:11.900 will now end in the flesh.

00:36:14.120 It was for freedom

00:36:14.960 that Christ set us free.

00:36:16.740 So,

00:36:17.280 we need to reaffirm

00:36:18.960 the truth.

00:36:21.580 Otherwise,

00:36:22.020 we're going to build

00:36:22.440 our own chains

00:36:23.180 and we're going to lose.

00:36:25.240 You know,

00:36:25.480 we're living in a very

00:36:26.340 precarious moment,

00:36:28.000 particularly as pro-life folks.

00:36:30.540 We got the Dobbs decision,

00:36:32.400 and I'm a constitutional lawyer.

00:36:33.820 You know,

00:36:34.040 that's my background.

00:36:36.860 I knew after Dobbs,

00:36:39.080 it wasn't the end of anything.

00:36:40.660 It was just the beginning.

00:36:42.300 In 50 venues.

00:36:44.080 Now we got a real battle.

00:36:45.700 A real battle

00:36:46.580 in all 50 states.

00:36:48.900 And we need to be fully equipped.

00:36:51.820 Yes,

00:36:52.120 in the courts.

00:36:53.360 Yes,

00:36:53.620 in being faithful citizens.

00:36:55.240 But also,

00:36:56.060 in good grounding.

00:36:57.820 In what the scripture teaches,

00:37:00.100 and what the church

00:37:01.000 has always taught.

00:37:02.860 Always.

00:37:04.060 Just go to the catechism.

00:37:05.680 Read the footnotes.

00:37:06.620 From the very earliest centuries.

00:37:10.140 Abortion is not on an equivalent level

00:37:13.360 with some of the other social wrongs.

00:37:16.140 It is the preeminent issue.

00:37:19.180 I was very happy

00:37:19.880 when the USCCB reaffirmed it.

00:37:22.540 And Bishop Strickland

00:37:24.520 is very strong.

00:37:26.080 He's passionately pro-life.

00:37:27.920 So it's going to take more work from us.

00:37:30.320 We may not be able to

00:37:31.520 feel as comfortable,

00:37:33.860 but that's okay.

00:37:35.060 Maybe we needed to get uncomfortable

00:37:36.680 because the battle

00:37:38.360 is raging right now.

00:37:40.480 And it's raging

00:37:41.360 not just on the outside,

00:37:43.500 but on the inside.

00:37:45.500 For the recognition

00:37:47.360 of the dignity

00:37:49.360 of every human life

00:37:51.060 from conception

00:37:52.320 to natural death

00:37:53.960 at every age and stage.

00:37:56.680 That is the core

00:37:58.140 of the teaching

00:37:59.400 of the gospel,

00:38:01.000 of the sacred scriptures,

00:38:03.100 of the sacred tradition,

00:38:04.520 the magistery of the church.

00:38:07.280 We need to be able

00:38:08.360 to stand firm in that

00:38:10.220 from the medical perspective.

00:38:12.100 Look,

00:38:13.020 I mean,

00:38:13.620 they don't even use

00:38:14.640 the terms they used to use

00:38:15.800 when we were cutting our teeth

00:38:16.940 on pro-life work.

00:38:18.940 You know,

00:38:19.240 they don't deny

00:38:20.040 the things they used to deny.

00:38:22.900 They acknowledge

00:38:23.580 it's the taking of a human life.

00:38:25.680 But the woman ought to be able 1.00

00:38:27.000 to freely choose to do it.

00:38:29.040 We know that's insane.

00:38:31.020 But that's what we're living in right now.

00:38:32.680 So we need to be able

00:38:34.560 to stand firm

00:38:36.340 in our position,

00:38:37.740 well equipped

00:38:38.520 with all of the scientific

00:38:40.180 and medical data,

00:38:41.740 with the legal data.

00:38:43.740 Good, you know,

00:38:44.520 when I was doing pro-life

00:38:45.940 and public interest law,

00:38:48.480 there weren't a lot of groups.

00:38:49.940 We had the heroes

00:38:50.640 like Jay Sekulow

00:38:51.560 and the ACLJ

00:38:52.520 and a couple of other groups.

00:38:54.340 Now we've got dozens.

00:38:55.760 I say,

00:38:56.300 great,

00:38:57.020 bring them on.

00:38:57.600 The more,

00:38:57.880 the merrier.

00:38:58.820 Liberty Council,

00:38:59.700 the Beckett Fund.

00:39:02.960 We need them all.

00:39:04.260 We need to be,

00:39:05.180 continue to be engaged

00:39:06.300 in the civil arena.

00:39:08.420 But we also need

00:39:09.580 to have good

00:39:10.380 theological grounding.

00:39:12.200 We need to quote

00:39:13.480 the catechism on life.

00:39:16.240 We need to quote

00:39:17.120 the magisterial documents,

00:39:19.760 including

00:39:20.080 the encyclical of John Paul,

00:39:21.880 the encyclicals of John Paul.

00:39:24.220 Because, you know,

00:39:24.620 Splendor of Truth,

00:39:25.500 Veridon of Splendor,

00:39:26.580 has a lot to say

00:39:27.580 about this too.

00:39:28.640 Because it speaks

00:39:29.500 to the very definition

00:39:30.640 of freedom.

00:39:32.540 You know,

00:39:32.800 in Benedict XVI

00:39:33.740 once said,

00:39:34.940 in one of his locutions,

00:39:36.820 it was beautiful,

00:39:38.200 that one could say

00:39:39.480 that Christianity 0.95

00:39:40.620 is a philosophy

00:39:41.780 of freedom.

00:39:43.220 And in the Gospel of Life,

00:39:44.760 John Paul warned

00:39:45.660 of a counterfeit notion

00:39:47.860 of freedom.

00:39:49.100 That's what we're dealing with.

00:39:51.160 And we also,

00:39:51.860 and I'll stop after this,

00:39:53.500 we also have to

00:39:54.680 watch our language.

00:39:56.060 We made a mistake

00:39:58.800 allowing the word

00:39:59.980 choice to be made.

00:40:01.560 Look,

00:40:02.080 Bernie Nathanson,

00:40:03.060 God rest his soul,

00:40:03.920 was a friend.

00:40:05.360 And a wonderful man,

00:40:06.260 the silent scream,

00:40:07.680 the abortionist,

00:40:08.480 one of the early founders

00:40:09.540 of what was then called

00:40:10.820 the National Abortion Rights League.

00:40:13.440 He died in a state of grace,

00:40:15.300 thank God,

00:40:16.120 still doing penance.

00:40:18.120 But he admitted

00:40:19.300 to having come up

00:40:20.680 with the term choice

00:40:21.700 with a friend

00:40:22.900 over drinks.

00:40:24.240 And we let it go.

00:40:25.220 And we still let it go.

00:40:27.800 We've got to hold on

00:40:28.940 to the language.

00:40:29.920 Freedom is an example.

00:40:33.060 Truth is an example.

00:40:35.140 Benedict warned us.

00:40:36.800 It's upon us.

00:40:37.580 How often do we hear now,

00:40:39.060 well, you have your truth,

00:40:40.460 and I have my truth,

00:40:42.080 and you have your truth.

00:40:43.600 In short,

00:40:44.000 there's no truth.

00:40:45.220 We need to also,

00:40:46.440 thirdly,

00:40:47.280 get back to teaching

00:40:48.620 the natural moral law.

00:40:52.420 That's the Catholic tradition,

00:40:54.760 and we need to be familiar with it

00:40:56.520 because ultimately,

00:40:58.340 it's not enough,

00:40:59.400 for example,

00:41:00.340 on the right to life

00:41:01.440 to just return it to the states.

00:41:03.680 We need to recover

00:41:05.180 the truth

00:41:06.400 that there is a fundamental right

00:41:09.240 to life,

00:41:10.400 and it comes out

00:41:11.760 of the natural law

00:41:12.800 written on every human heart,

00:41:14.800 and we ought to be able

00:41:15.660 to explain that.

00:41:17.380 And we're not doing that.

00:41:18.880 We're buying language.

00:41:20.320 We're allowing terms

00:41:21.320 like freedom to be used

00:41:22.620 and the rights language.

00:41:25.600 It's never right

00:41:27.240 to take an innocent human life.

00:41:29.700 Years ago,

00:41:30.240 I began toying in my articles,

00:41:32.340 you may remember some of them,

00:41:33.840 with coming up with language

00:41:35.180 to describe the child

00:41:37.440 in the womb

00:41:37.900 as our first neighbor

00:41:39.060 in the first home

00:41:40.880 of the whole human race.

00:41:43.600 And we all know

00:41:44.680 it's never right

00:41:46.520 to take the life

00:41:47.840 of us an inner innocent neighbor.

00:41:51.680 I mean,

00:41:52.020 there's a lot of other ways

00:41:52.940 we can approach this.

00:41:54.160 We now have ultrasound. 0.97

00:41:55.800 We now have medical facts

00:41:57.840 on our behalf.

00:41:58.880 So what are we dealing with?

00:42:00.880 We're dealing with,

00:42:02.760 sadly,

00:42:03.720 the very core problem.

00:42:06.620 And I guess I'll add that

00:42:07.640 as the fourth point.

00:42:09.060 The devil,

00:42:10.980 what's going on,

00:42:12.800 is diabolical.

00:42:15.080 So we need to do

00:42:16.640 spiritual warfare

00:42:17.880 like we've never done it before.

00:42:20.240 We need to adore the Eucharist.

00:42:22.560 We need to call upon Our Lady.

00:42:24.840 We need St. Joseph,

00:42:26.140 the terror of demons.

00:42:27.620 We need to be living

00:42:29.000 spiritual warfare.

00:42:31.140 We need to realize

00:42:32.740 we need the St. Michael prayer

00:42:34.160 at the end of every Mass.

00:42:35.460 We need priests

00:42:37.740 who won't deny

00:42:39.580 the existence of the devil.

00:42:41.300 But we'll do battle

00:42:42.340 with the devil

00:42:43.240 and teach the lay faithful

00:42:44.820 to do so.

00:42:45.860 And we need bishops

00:42:46.680 who will do so.

00:42:47.840 Because the Apostle Paul

00:42:49.400 was right back then

00:42:50.500 and he's right now.

00:42:52.460 We struggle not

00:42:53.580 against flesh and blood,

00:42:56.100 but against spiritual hosts

00:42:57.880 of wickedness

00:42:58.880 in high places.

00:43:00.540 Ephesians 6.

00:43:02.280 And we need to put on

00:43:03.320 the whole armor of God.

00:43:05.320 I know that's a lot,

00:43:06.860 but that's our task right now.

00:43:08.540 And we can't get discouraged.

00:43:10.360 The devil wants us

00:43:11.420 to get discouraged.

00:43:12.940 He wants to take away hope.

00:43:14.580 Hello, friends.

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00:43:30.480 of the United States

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00:43:31.820 that the High Court

00:43:32.460 delivered this historic victory.

00:43:34.260 And on the front

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00:44:00.420 The last question

00:44:01.460 I have for you

00:44:02.000 is we're just about

00:44:03.660 to head into

00:44:05.000 a synod

00:44:07.240 termed by some

00:44:10.440 the Synod on Sodomy.

00:44:11.820 It's called

00:44:12.220 the Synod on Synodality

00:44:13.400 but with the

00:44:16.020 picks, if you will,

00:44:17.940 that have been

00:44:18.500 slated to go in there

00:44:20.000 including laity

00:44:21.040 who are totally

00:44:23.380 on the other side

00:44:24.200 of the Church's teaching

00:44:25.020 on life and family matters

00:44:27.440 with Father James Martin

00:44:30.240 being one of the ones

00:44:31.220 chosen to be there

00:44:32.260 with Cardinal McElroy

00:44:34.400 who's known on the issue

00:44:35.740 Cardinal Holleridge

00:44:37.380 known on the issue

00:44:38.460 with many of the

00:44:40.820 vote in Germany

00:44:43.180 for the

00:44:44.240 blessing of

00:44:46.160 same-sex unions

00:44:46.880 in churches

00:44:47.820 was 38 in favor,

00:44:50.500 8 opposed

00:44:51.120 and 11 abstentions.

00:44:52.680 that really shows

00:44:56.120 where the battle's at

00:44:57.380 and a lot of people

00:44:58.660 say, oh,

00:44:59.000 that's just Germany.

00:45:00.500 It's not just Germany.

00:45:02.400 Belgium also

00:45:03.300 is already doing it

00:45:04.380 and has been

00:45:04.860 for a while now.

00:45:07.740 Part of what

00:45:08.600 we're doing

00:45:09.300 at LifeSite

00:45:10.160 to prep for that

00:45:11.320 is we're

00:45:12.480 encouraging a movement

00:45:13.580 of fasting

00:45:14.760 and prayer

00:45:15.260 Wednesdays and Fridays

00:45:16.260 during the Synod

00:45:17.420 and it could be

00:45:18.420 fasting from food

00:45:19.600 but also from

00:45:20.480 other things

00:45:21.440 like, you know,

00:45:22.240 video gaming

00:45:23.200 or watching TV

00:45:24.420 or whatever.

00:45:26.000 But that issue

00:45:28.140 seems to be

00:45:29.000 very much alive

00:45:30.280 both in the world

00:45:30.920 and in the Church.

00:45:33.560 It's where you get

00:45:34.440 a lot of persecution

00:45:35.180 both in the world

00:45:36.220 and in the Church.

00:45:37.540 It's interesting to note

00:45:39.280 that Bishop Strickland's

00:45:40.760 visitation came

00:45:41.740 on the heels of his

00:45:43.240 going out to Los Angeles

00:45:45.420 to offer reparation

00:45:48.500 for the

00:45:49.900 sacrilege

00:45:52.340 of the, you know,

00:45:54.320 sisters,

00:45:54.900 so-called sisters 0.70

00:45:55.600 of perpetual indulgence

00:45:56.660 doing their thing,

00:45:57.900 being honored

00:45:58.640 by the L.A. Dodgers.

00:46:02.340 What's your take

00:46:03.120 and suggestion

00:46:03.660 over that issue

00:46:04.360 which seems to be

00:46:05.220 crushing the world

00:46:06.920 and the Church?

00:46:08.000 Yeah.

00:46:08.360 I, too, am deeply

00:46:09.420 concerned about

00:46:10.680 the Synod on Synodality

00:46:12.140 and what it looks like.

00:46:14.160 It seems every day

00:46:15.100 just this morning

00:46:15.700 I was reading about

00:46:16.540 one of the representatives

00:46:17.860 of a woman

00:46:18.300 who's come out

00:46:19.200 clearly standing

00:46:20.500 for abortion rights,

00:46:22.900 quote-unquote.

00:46:24.020 By the way,

00:46:24.380 I'll never use that term.

00:46:25.660 It's never right.

00:46:27.820 The whole LGBTQ agenda.

00:46:31.380 But, and again,

00:46:32.640 I'm not reducing this

00:46:34.680 to simple terms.

00:46:36.580 There was a time

00:46:37.340 when it said

00:46:38.500 that close to 80%

00:46:39.740 of the bishops

00:46:40.300 of the Church

00:46:41.000 were Aryan.

00:46:42.000 Right?

00:46:44.320 We came through it.

00:46:47.480 Jesus only had 12

00:46:48.780 and one of them

00:46:49.300 was a dud.

00:46:51.600 And look what happened.

00:46:53.100 And at various times

00:46:54.080 in history,

00:46:54.940 we've gotten to a point

00:46:56.820 where everybody's ready

00:46:58.400 to count the Church

00:46:59.520 in her fullness of truth,

00:47:02.180 in her dynamic,

00:47:03.940 profound presence

00:47:05.580 in the earth,

00:47:06.520 down for the count.

00:47:07.320 But you know what?

00:47:10.080 They were surprised.

00:47:12.080 Now,

00:47:12.820 there's been a lot

00:47:13.600 of quoting

00:47:14.180 of a 1969

00:47:15.480 message

00:47:17.940 from Joseph Ratzinger.

00:47:19.780 It was recorded

00:47:20.920 in Faith and Freedom

00:47:21.900 that Ignatius Press

00:47:23.280 published.

00:47:24.440 And I can't quote it,

00:47:25.940 but it was prophetic.

00:47:27.380 And he talked about

00:47:28.320 the future

00:47:29.420 and what was going to happen.

00:47:30.800 And he spoke of the Church

00:47:31.780 becoming small,

00:47:33.240 but then rising up.

00:47:34.740 I believe we're in

00:47:36.440 one of those transitions.

00:47:37.960 I truly do.

00:47:39.640 And I think

00:47:40.280 the final thing

00:47:41.080 I'd like to say

00:47:41.760 is the importance

00:47:42.660 of people like you,

00:47:45.140 of the lay faithful.

00:47:48.240 That is key right now.

00:47:50.800 You know,

00:47:52.220 it has been in times past.

00:47:53.720 When you look at,

00:47:54.300 for example,

00:47:54.720 the Franciscan movement,

00:47:56.300 it was a lay movement.

00:47:58.400 There have been great

00:47:59.520 lay movements

00:48:00.360 in the Church

00:48:01.060 that have,

00:48:02.860 from the ground up,

00:48:03.880 Francis heard the Lord

00:48:05.900 at the cross

00:48:06.800 at San Damiano,

00:48:08.120 go and rebuild my church.

00:48:10.580 We need lay movements.

00:48:12.040 I see you've started

00:48:12.760 a league of some sort,

00:48:14.200 which is great.

00:48:15.420 We need lay people 0.99

00:48:16.620 to take their leadership

00:48:18.420 right now

00:48:19.160 and speak out boldly.

00:48:22.520 Unafraid,

00:48:23.880 yes, with respect

00:48:25.060 for the hierarchy,

00:48:27.120 yes, with prudence,

00:48:28.560 but unafraid

00:48:31.420 with courage

00:48:32.520 and speak the truth

00:48:34.380 and gather together

00:48:35.940 and work together.

00:48:37.720 That's what I think

00:48:38.860 the Holy Spirit

00:48:40.100 is doing right now.

00:48:42.480 So if the Synod

00:48:43.580 on Synodality

00:48:44.460 seems to be going

00:48:46.340 the wrong way,

00:48:48.500 error will not

00:48:49.260 be accepted.

00:48:51.140 Error leads

00:48:51.720 to the slavery of sin.

00:48:54.220 Error leads

00:48:54.940 to the slavery of sin.

00:48:56.300 And God wants freedom

00:48:58.120 for all men and women.

00:48:59.580 And the only path

00:49:00.260 to freedom

00:49:00.720 is through that cross

00:49:02.260 that Bishop Strickland

00:49:03.720 pointed to

00:49:04.360 the first time

00:49:06.020 I sat here

00:49:07.040 in this room

00:49:07.520 with him.

00:49:09.460 Through Jesus Christ,

00:49:11.780 we need truth.

00:49:13.660 He is the way,

00:49:15.020 the truth,

00:49:15.700 and the life.

00:49:17.000 And we also need

00:49:17.920 to boldly stand up

00:49:19.180 and preach the gospel

00:49:20.940 because along

00:49:22.160 with all of

00:49:22.820 this darkness

00:49:24.000 coming in

00:49:24.920 on the moral teaching

00:49:26.240 of the church,

00:49:27.380 trying to undermine it,

00:49:29.060 we also have

00:49:29.880 a basic loss

00:49:30.940 of the core elements

00:49:32.920 of the gospel.

00:49:34.220 We have a growing

00:49:35.140 indifferentism

00:49:36.060 where people are saying,

00:49:38.560 oh,

00:49:39.060 there are many paths

00:49:40.200 to God.

00:49:41.720 What Peter preached

00:49:43.000 is still true.

00:49:45.100 There's one name

00:49:46.080 in heaven

00:49:47.260 and on earth

00:49:47.860 by which men

00:49:48.980 can be saved

00:49:49.760 and that is

00:49:50.780 Jesus Christ.

00:49:52.640 That's the gospel.

00:49:54.400 That's the teaching

00:49:55.220 of the church.

00:49:56.460 And the church's

00:49:57.200 primary mission

00:49:58.360 is the salvation

00:49:59.740 of souls.

00:50:01.880 We need to recover that

00:50:03.420 and the lay faithful

00:50:04.660 need to remind us of it.

00:50:06.760 People like you

00:50:07.320 are doing that.

00:50:08.620 People like Kevin Wells

00:50:09.780 is doing that.

00:50:11.300 Other people

00:50:11.800 are doing it.

00:50:12.880 And it needs to be said,

00:50:14.440 I heard a cleric

00:50:15.360 talk about World Youth Day

00:50:17.220 and say,

00:50:17.860 we don't want to

00:50:19.520 convert these kids.

00:50:20.840 We want them

00:50:21.400 to be better

00:50:21.980 whatever,

00:50:22.980 Hindus. 1.00

00:50:24.300 We want to bring

00:50:25.320 them to Jesus.

00:50:27.480 The whole world

00:50:28.940 is called

00:50:29.820 into the church.

00:50:31.520 The whole world

00:50:32.500 is called

00:50:33.400 to salvation

00:50:35.000 through Jesus Christ.

00:50:36.760 Baptism

00:50:37.360 and incorporation

00:50:38.620 into his

00:50:39.580 mystical body.

00:50:41.560 And the Catholic church 0.96

00:50:42.660 is the fullness

00:50:43.740 of that body.

00:50:45.600 So we need

00:50:46.300 dynamically Catholic 0.88

00:50:47.700 faithful lay men

00:50:49.760 and women. 0.98

00:50:50.800 And you know what?

00:50:52.140 We need to realize

00:50:53.520 once again

00:50:54.180 that there is

00:50:55.580 legitimate diversity

00:50:56.920 within orthodoxy,

00:50:59.580 right doctrine,

00:51:00.480 in orthopraxy.

00:51:01.840 So,

00:51:02.640 for example,

00:51:03.680 we need

00:51:04.560 the beauty

00:51:05.740 of the traditional

00:51:07.040 Latin mass

00:51:07.800 and those who love it.

00:51:09.440 We need it.

00:51:10.040 I liked Samora

00:51:11.800 and Pontificum.

00:51:12.560 I thought Benedict

00:51:13.080 was right.

00:51:15.420 But we also need

00:51:16.520 properly celebrated

00:51:18.300 beautiful

00:51:19.380 novus ordo masses.

00:51:21.200 We need

00:51:21.880 to realize

00:51:23.220 that there are people

00:51:25.000 who have been

00:51:25.880 brought into

00:51:26.820 the heart of the church

00:51:27.820 through enthusiastic movements.

00:51:30.300 And while they need

00:51:31.020 to be carefully pastored,

00:51:33.220 we need to see them

00:51:34.100 as what John Paul

00:51:35.260 called them,

00:51:36.180 the finger of God.

00:51:37.180 we can't be divided

00:51:39.120 within.

00:51:40.300 We need to stand

00:51:41.420 together.

00:51:42.820 Faithful Catholics,

00:51:44.800 I go to a

00:51:45.760 novus ordo mass,

00:51:46.980 but I will defend

00:51:48.240 the Latin mass.

00:51:49.620 It's wonderful.

00:51:50.960 And I've also studied

00:51:51.940 the early liturgies

00:51:54.820 of John Chrysostom

00:51:55.240 and Basil.

00:51:56.680 I love the

00:51:57.120 Eastern liturgy.

00:51:58.820 We need to be

00:51:59.560 standing together.

00:52:00.960 We do.

00:52:01.460 And I'd say this

00:52:02.140 if it goes out,

00:52:04.160 please don't allow

00:52:05.680 the devil to define us.

00:52:07.500 Traditional Catholics,

00:52:09.540 renewal Catholics,

00:52:11.300 this kind of Catholic.

00:52:12.820 Here's what we need.

00:52:14.380 Faithful Catholics.

00:52:16.300 Faithful to Jesus Christ

00:52:17.820 and his church.

00:52:20.560 Faithful to the

00:52:21.300 magisterium,

00:52:23.060 the Bible,

00:52:24.180 the sacred tradition,

00:52:25.840 and courageous

00:52:26.480 because it's going to get

00:52:28.420 more difficult,

00:52:30.220 not less difficult.

00:52:32.700 And we need

00:52:33.740 men and women

00:52:34.720 who are willing

00:52:35.860 to stay with it

00:52:37.960 and to remain faithful.

00:52:40.280 May God give us

00:52:41.160 the grace we need

00:52:42.100 to stay with it

00:52:43.960 and remain faithful.

00:52:46.760 Amen.

00:52:48.500 Deacon Keith Poitier.

00:52:49.740 Thank you, my friend.

00:52:50.720 Thank you.

00:52:51.280 Good to see you.

00:52:51.900 It's been two decades.

00:52:53.100 Indeed it has.

00:52:54.740 I know.

00:52:55.640 We're getting old.

00:52:56.300 We are.

00:52:58.420 And God bless all of you.

00:53:00.660 And we'll see you next time.

00:53:01.580 Hi, everyone.

00:53:10.340 This is John Henry Weston.

00:53:11.460 We hope you enjoyed

00:53:12.200 this program.

00:53:13.080 To see more like it,

00:53:14.000 be sure to hit

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00:53:16.840 content from LifeSite News.

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00:53:27.020 Thanks for watching

00:53:27.660 and may God bless you.

00:53:28.700 Thanks for listening to life.

00:53:30.360 Bye-bye.

00:53:30.460 This is John Henry Weston.

00:53:30.680 Go ahead.

00:53:31.460 Bye-bye.

00:53:32.020 Yasmin.

00:53:32.160 I'll see you next time.

00:53:32.460 Bye-bye.

00:53:33.820 Bye-bye.

00:53:36.480 Bye-bye.

00:53:36.820 Bye-bye.

00:53:37.480 Bye-bye.

The John-Henry Westen Show - August 28, 2023

INSPIRED： Deacon Keith Fournier Moves To Texas For Bishop Strickland

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