CNA Staff, Sep 22, 2023 / 12:25 pm (CNA).
Following a report that Pope Francis and Vatican officials held a meeting earlier this month to discuss requesting the resignation of Tyler, Texas, Bishop Joseph Strickland, the prelate said on Wednesday he has not been contacted by the Vatican about such matters.
In addition, Strickland said if Pope Francis were to remove him from office he would respect the Holy Father’s authority but would not resign if asked.
“Last week an article was published on a website called ‘The Pillar,’ and the article alleged that a meeting was held with Pope Francis where some of the members of the Congregation for Bishops recommended that I be encouraged to resign as bishop of Tyler,” Strickland said in a Sept. 20 letter to his diocese.
“Let me be clear that I have received no communication from Rome regarding this. At this point it is simply an article discussing supposed leaked information from the Vatican,” he added.
“I have said publicly that I cannot resign as bishop of Tyler because that would be me abandoning the flock that I was given charge of by Pope Benedict XVI,” he said.
“I have also said that I will respect the authority of Pope Francis if he removes me from office as bishop of Tyler,” he added.
The reported meeting follows a Vatican-directed investigation into Strickland in June called an apostolic visitation, which, according to a source, addressed the firebrand bishop’s social media use but also questions related to diocesan management.
Strickland, 64, who has served as bishop of the Diocese of Tyler since 2012, has been outspoken on certain Catholic social issues such as abortion and gender ideology.
He has also been critical of Pope Francis, saying in a May Tweet that he rejects “his program of undermining the Deposit of Faith.”
Strickland’s statement on Wednesday marks his first public response following a Sept. 11 article by The Pillar, which, citing anonymous sources, reported that Pope Francis was to be presented with the findings of the apostolic visitation and would be encouraged to request the Tyler bishop’s resignation.
Strickland said he has not been contacted by any Church official since the apostolic visitation. He added that he wasn’t given a reason for why the visitation occurred and hasn’t received a report from the investigation.
Strickland said he is grateful for the support and prayers that many have expressed.
“I continue to love serving as your shepherd and thankfully during all of this I have been able to visit many of your parishes and celebrate our Catholic faith with you,” he said.
Strickland said he is “blessed” in his prayer life and feels “very close” to Christ, and supported by the Blessed Virgin Mary and the saints.
“I am at peace with whatever the Lord’s call for me is; let us continue to pray for Pope Francis, the Church, and the Diocese of Tyler that we call home,” he said.
In a July podcast, Strickland said that the apostolic visitation was “not fun” and added that the Vatican’s delegates were “looking at everything.”
The bishop compared it to “being called to the principal’s office.”
“It’s not something that I would volunteer for, to go through an apostolic visitation,” he said. “It kind of puts a shadow over the diocese.”
“There have been some administrative issues, and I’m sure people are concerned,” he said. “I’m sure there are people saying that there must be something really bad, and something’s really gone wrong for this apostolic visitation [to happen].”
“I’ve got nothing to hide,” he said in an excerpt of the podcast posted to YouTube.
Crediting God and the Catholic faithful, Strickland said the diocese is in good financial condition.
He said he thinks he was subject to the visitation “because I’ve been bold enough and loved the Lord enough and his Church, simply preaching the truth.”
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As in the Paul Newman movie, “Cool Hand Luke,” surely “what we have here is a failure to communicate.” Meaning that Pope Francis is not fluent in English and sometimes might rely on his able advisers to (mis)understand parts of the Catholic Church in America…
As long as we’re looking at past visitations, we might as well go back to a recent “comment” on the Visitation on Seattle back in 1985. The concluding and publicly available letter to Archbishop Hunthausen (who, also, was just three months past the age of 64) from Apostolic Pro-Nuncio Pio Laghi (November 14, 1985) balanced the good with the bad.
The five included “CONCERNS” were these:
“(a) The need to bring into clear focus–working together with priests, religious and theologians–certain teachings of the Church and their implications for the pastoral practice of the Archdiocese. These include the role of conscience in making moral decisions; the role of the Magisterium in giving definitive guidance in matters of faith and morals; the nature and mission of the Church, together with its sacramental and hierarchical structure; an anthropology which provides an authentic understanding of the dignity of the human person; and a Christology which correctly reflects our Catholic faith concerning Christ’s divinity, His humanity, His salvific mission, and His inseparable union with the Church.
“(b) In particular, the need to present more clearly the Church’s teaching concerning the permanence and indissolubility of marriage and to ensure that the Archdiocesan Tribunal, both its constitution and practice, conforms with all the prescriptions of the revised Code of Canon Law.
“(c) Greater vigilance in upholding the Church’s teaching, especially with regard to contraceptive sterilization and homosexuality.
“(d) The need to ensure that pastoral practice regarding the liturgical and sacramental ministry of the Archdiocese is in accord with the Church’s universal norms, especially in the celebration of the Eucharist. This includes, for instance, routine intercommunion on the occasion of weddings or funerals. Such a need also involves the Sacrament of Reconciliation, mentioning particularly the proper sequence of first confession/first communion and regulations regarding general absolution.”
“(e) The need to review the ongoing education of the clergy and the selection and formation of candidates for the priesthood., and to be clear that laicized priests are excluded from certain roles in accord with the rescripts of their laicization.”
SURELY Bishop Strickland, the Holy Father and his advisers, and Synod participants are united in one mind on these elements of the Magisterium. Simply an unfortunate failure to communicate in a busy world.
So, to tone things down, we might all pray to Mary: “THE UNDOER OF KNOTS”…for whom Pope Francis has a deep devotion: https://christianapostles.com/our-lady-undoer-of-knots/
I’ve said it before and I think it’s worth repeating. When we look at our Church and its leaders we ought to do so using the prism of spousal love and fatherhood. The ordained leadership of the institutional Church consists of a hierarchy of deacons, priests and bishops. The leader of the domestic Church is the husband and father of a family.
When we view any member of the ordained, we should look at him with an eye to answering a simple question: does this man possess those character traits such that he would have made a good husband for a woman and a good father of children. Think of any bishop of your choosing. Apply the standard I’ve proposed and pose the question.
Similarly, any man who in our mind is a good representation of what we should expect from a Catholic husband and father, would also qualify as making a good deacon, priest and, most especially, a bishop.
If a man would not make a good husband or father in your mind, then in no way would he make a good priest or bishop.
Now, as this Synod on Synodality is upon us, you’ll hear names of bishops and cardinals being mentioned for various views they hold or things they’ve said. Ask yourself: would this man have made an excellent husband and father.
In my mind, Bishop Strickland passes the “man test.” Now, think of the other players in the ecclesial high drama we’ve been witnessing for the past 10 years.
No news is good news. I know a lot of people worldwide, not just in Texas, have been praying for the good bishop. May God bless him even more abundantly!
With all the adverse murmuring [not to discount Olson’s pointed comparison of murmuring with lack of humility, sometimes it does have positive value] his Holiness may be brooding.
Considering all the murmuring [not to discount Olson’s pointed comparison of murmuring with lack of humility, it can have positive value] they may be brooding over at the Vatican.
Maybe the Pope finally got a clue that firing the good Bishop, who has done nothing inappropriate, might result in many outraged folks leaving the church. And more importantly, taking their wallets with them.