On March 13, 2019, I was able to speak with Bishop Joseph Strickland, Bishop of the Diocese of Tyler, TX for an exclusive interview covering a broad range of topics. We discussed recent pro-abortion legislation, the issue of whether Gov. Andrew Cuomo could be excommunicated, the importance of praying in front of local abortion facilities, the evil and corruption within the human leadership of the Church, what’s next for the U.S. Catholic Bishops in addressing the sex abuse crisis and cover-up, and much more. 

Here is the interview in its entirety:

Jim Havens: Well, it’s great to be with you. First and foremost, I want to thank you for having the authentic charity and wisdom to speak the truth. In January, after the RHA abortion expansion became law in New York State, which included infanticide, you wrote: “The video of the ‘celebration’ of New York legislators as they condemned even full term unborn children to Death by Choice is a scene from Hell. Woe to those who ignore the sanctity of life, they reap the whirlwind of Hell. Stand against this holocaust in every way you can.”

I believe your serious tone and your message to increase our efforts is right on target. How do you see our responsibility as Christians to pray and work with maximum determination to end abortion as soon as possible?

Bishop Strickland: I think it really becomes more and more essential in my lifetime. I was a teenager when Roe v. Wade happened and it was legalized. I think we can sort of trace from that moment of certainly it’s not the first moment of some of the decline of the morality of our nation, but once children in the womb are no longer safe, it really is something that any reasonable person should be able to predict that that society is in peril and just the further it goes. One thing that’s been interesting about this whole episode with the New York legislature and others following on is I think it’s really waking people up, in our area and beyond. I think people are saying and giving more thought to what abortion really is. It’s amazing how the Lord works, even in the midst of evil his light and grace is always there and thankfully I think more people are waking up, but we all have to wake up before it’s too late.

Jim Havens: Absolutely. I live in New York state and many are confused here and all over the nation as to why Governor Andrew Cuomo has not been excommunicated after his vigorous public support for this horrific abortion expansion and infanticide law in New York. What are your thoughts on it?

Bishop Strickland: I guess I’d have to say I share their frustration. Certainly the term excommunication as one who studied canon law, it’s a fairly technical term, but I guess kind of stepping away from that, I would really, I think we need to just say that Andrew Cuomo and sadly too many other so-called Catholic politicians have stepped out of communion with the church. Excommunication is really a declaration of the Church of what they’ve done, it’s not an action so much as is sort of as canon law often does pointing to what’s already happened, an action that a person takes that puts them in a certain situation in regard to the church.

Andrew Cuomo makes it clear that he doesn’t believe Catholic teaching and therefore he’s ex-communion, he’s out of communion. I think to make it clear and thankfully some of the bishops in other places have taken steps to basically say that, that a politician or anyone who says, “I don’t agree with the Catholic Church on basic critical issues,” they’re choosing to be out of communion. That’s what the Protestant Reformation did 500 years ago, people stepped away from agreeing with what the Church proclaims is Divinely Revealed truth. When you do that, you’re out of communion and I think we need to be clear that people like Andrew Cuomo are not in communion with the Catholic Church and therefore should not be receiving the Body of Christ because we call it communion because it’s Christ himself, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity that we’re receiving and we’re, none of us are worthy, but we are challenged to seek the most worthiness that we can to avoid sin and to live lives of virtue so that we’re as worthy as possible.

We will always be unworthy to receive the Lord, but to flagrantly ignore what the Church teaches in any of the many areas where that sadly happens so often, is to say you’re out of communion. I think some of these politicians, we simply need to make that more clear as bishops that they’ve chosen to be out of communion with the Church, they’re always welcome to repent. I mean, it’s Lent, it’s a great time for repentance, but that’s what needs to happen. Not to try to convince the church to change divinely revealed truths, but to say, “Maybe I need to rethink where I stand on this and repent of my sinful choices.”

Jim Havens: That’s very helpful clarity, thank you for that. I know that different canonists have different ideas about the actual specific excommunication. Some of them are trying to argue that perhaps there is room for excommunication based on a cannon that would do it on the ground of heresy. There’s different views there, but there is a path that a bishop could look at and take that path, but at the very least, yes, making it very clear what is right, what is wrong, how the Sacraments work and all of that.

I am very grateful for Archbishop Joseph Naumann, Chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities for the USCCB. He issued a statement a few weeks ago explaining that Catholic politicians who vote for and persist in supporting such intrinsically evil acts like abortion should not present themselves to receive holy communion. That does certainly help the faithful in these times to understand exactly what you’re saying that one…

Bishop Strickland: I was pleased with Archbishop Naumann’s statements and made it clear that I fully support what he said and I would hope every bishop agrees with what he said as Chair of the Pro-Life Committee for the USCCB.

Jim Havens: Yes, very good. What do you believe are the most effective, non-violent actions available to us to end abortion as soon as possible? 

Bishop Strickland: I think really, especially the choices of legislatures recently and some of the notoriety that is out there, people are talking about the abortion issue. I think a lot of it is simply making it clear to people what the truth is and I think with the technologies that we have, ultrasound and other technologies, that clearly, I mean it gives you a motion picture basically of a child in the womb. I think a lot of that is, I mean there’s no way that people that are pro-abortion can claim that it’s just a clump of cells. Any reasonable person through technology can see in one of these ultrasound images that that’s simply not the truth.

There’s a little baby there, may be tiny, but basically a tiny child is present very soon. I think a large part of it is making sure that people don’t hide behind a lack of knowledge or just saying, because a lot of people have bought, as is true with so much in our culture, they’ve just bought the line of the culture that, oh well, a woman has a right to her body. Absolutely, but that child has a right to their body also, there are two different people you’re dealing with. In my experience, I think that’s another aspect of what we can do is, and the Church has made a lot of progress, society’s made a lot of progress in helping the woman who makes the right choice to be there to support them in the logistics and the challenges that they face of bringing a child into the world, whether they keep that child and nurture it as a mother or they put it up for adoption.

There are a lot of challenges that come with embracing life and I think we have a lot of organizations in a relatively small town here in Tyler, Texas in the non-Catholic and Catholic community. You have people really saying, “Yes, we’ll embrace this woman who’s made the choice to protect the sanctity of life and to help them with everything from diapers to paying the bills to whatever the challenges they might face.” I think that’s a great way to non-violently oppose abortion also, because it’s a reminder that the reason we oppose abortion is because as soon as the child is conceived, there’s a woman and there’s another person to deal with and certainly we need to bring the fathers into the picture more.

That’s a lot of what’s broken in our world is that there had to be a father there even in the circumstances where the in vitro is used or whatever. Ultimately, there was a father in the picture and there was a mother in the picture and to deny that or to ignore that reality is part of the whole problem because if men are not being responsible with the child that they’ve helped bring into the world, then it lays on the shoulders of the woman. I think that’s another way that we can promote the sanctity of life is really calling men to step up and be responsible for the child that they’ve helped to conceive. 

Jim Havens: Quick follow up here, what are your thoughts on really bringing the hands and feet of Christ to the sidewalk outside of these abortion centers to really point the way in peaceful prayer but also to have a loving outreach that will help to also point the way, invite the way to those pregnancy help centers. I know we do it very effectively here in Rochester, New York with a lot of beautiful people that come out there and really sacrificially love others that they’ve never even met before and reach out in just beautiful ways, what are your thoughts on that sort of work?

Bishop Strickland: Well, absolutely. We’re actually here in Tyler, we’re in the midst of what’s called, you may have heard of it hopefully, 40 Days for Life. We have one Planned Parenthood center here in Tyler and we’ve been peacefully praying there with people from 7AM to 7PM. We started Ash Wednesday and we’re continuing, I’m getting out there as much as I can because I live just a few blocks from where they’re gathering so I try to stop each day and pray a rosary with the people that are there. In that witness, in many ways it’s changing, converting one heart at a time and we’ve already seen people that have had their eyes opened to some of the issues that are anti-life just by the prayerful, peaceful witness of the people involved in this 40 Days for Life. It’s Catholics and much of the, I mean we’re less than 10% Catholic in this Diocese so the non-Catholic community has been very supportive also.

That’s what we tend to find here, it’s a evangelical Protestant area that we’re in, and many of them really appreciate the leadership of the Catholic Church in standing for the sanctity of life from conception to natural death. Those kind of activist movements like 40 Days for Life, I think can be very effective and ultimately, we’ve talked about the legislatures, which are diabolical as far as I’m concerned, but really to change the law is we’ve got to first change the hearts of the people of God and to recognize that life is sacred. I think it has to go deeper than that into the issue of chastity and all the brokenness of sexuality in our world today, which is rampant and obviously in the life of the Church herself. Sex has become everything except what God intended it to be and abortion is caught up in that.

One of the reasons for abortion is that too many people are conceiving children without ever having a thought of marriage or any of God’s plan for how children should come into the world. The child once conceived should be treated as a sacred child of God, but that’s part of what’s broken as well is so many children are conceived out of wedlock, out of even any possible circumstance where their life could be nurtured according to God’s plan. That’s part of what we’re challenged to fix one heart at a time also.

Jim Havens: Yes, very well said. Thank you Bishop Strickland for your participation in the 40 Days for Life. It’s all across the nation, all over the world actually right now. If you want to get involved, if you’re listening and you want to learn more, 40daysforlife.com. Find your nearest local campaign and dive in. Again, Bishop, thank you so much for your witness there on the sidewalk and the power of your prayer and your leadership out there, it’s so important.

Switching gears a little bit, much evil and corruption within the human leadership of the Church has been coming to the surface over the past year, beginning with McCarrick, then the Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report, the cover-up within the Diocese of Buffalo, Archbishop Vigano’s letter, Cardinal Mueller’s “Manifesto,” and much more has taken place in these days. How have you been processing all of this, specifically, what are your thoughts on Archbishop Vigano’s letter and Cardinal Mueller’s “Manifesto”?

Bishop Strickland: I have to say it’s been the most tumultuous several months in my life, many things unfolding and as I talk to the flock here, I know for many of the people, many of these things we never dreamt we would be dealing with, even a year ago. It can cause people to despair, but I’ve encouraged people to realize that we’re called to fidelity. We’re at a moment when all of those, that laundry list that you just mentioned and sadly you can add to it, it’s dealing with a broken humanity and the Church is very much a part of that broken humanity. So many of the issues flow back to the question of the sanctity of life, the question of the sanctity of sexuality, all of those kinds of things are just terribly broken in society.

What we’ve seen in the last six or seven months in the life of the Church is that brokenness is right in the middle of the lives of bishops, priests, laity, it’s rampant in the life of the Church. You mentioned Archbishop Vigano’s letter, there’s been a lot of debate, I was one of the first bishops to say this looks like it needs to be investigated. McCarrick is no longer a cleric and I think that’s proper, but really that in many ways it’s just the beginning of dealing with this corruption and that there’s still a long way to go. I actually spoke up in support of Cardinal Mueller’s “Manifesto” because I think it speaks to many of the ills that are plaguing humanity today and certainly the life of the Church.

If we believe in our Catholic faith, it is a message of God’s revealed truth to all of humanity. Even when Christ walked the Earth, many people walked away from Him because it was too challenging and that’s been the truth through history. But it is a very devastating reality to see the Church herself so broken and so caught up in compromise and in sinfulness. We’re all sinners and we all have to acknowledge that, I know some people in their really heartbroken state and their righteous anger have called for the dismissal of every bishop, which I can’t blame them for that in some ways, but as I’ve said to the people here, if people are looking for sinless bishops, they’re not going to have any bishops. We’re all sinners, but we’re all called to virtue and to conversion, every one of us individually and collectively as the flock of Christ.

All of these things that you mentioned are just manifestations that as is…I was a kid when Watergate happened in the political world of the United States and in many ways we’ve never been the same because that cover-up was so devastating to really trusting politicians. I think that the cover-up has had the same effect in the life of the Church. Certainly the sends are horrible, devastating, but the cover-up in some ways is even worse because it’s not acknowledging that devastating sins have happened and there needs to be accountability. Frankly, I haven’t seen a sufficient step toward accountability for the Universal Church or the Church in the United States so far. I continue to pray that we can get there, but so far it seems to be more of a hope that, kind of like, sadly, more like politicians than leaders of Christ’s flock.

There seems to be more of a hope that, well, it’ll all subside and things will quiet down, and we can just kind of go back to normal. I think the people are really demanding a more clear accountability for all of this and I think we’ve got a long way to go to accomplish that.

Jim Havens: I do want to ask you a little bit more specifically about the plans of the U.S. Bishops to come together and address this further, but first, many of the faithful are confused about how to understand what is going on within the Church right now and they often wonder what they are to do in light of it. I recently had this question posed to me and I responded with the following:

“The plan is the same as it has been for 2000 years. Be faithful to Jesus and all that He has revealed through His One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. Inherent in that fidelity is the integrity to be honest about the grave corruption within the human leadership of the Church and clearly the vast majority of clerics right now are, at best, permissive fathers who are not willing to risk being unpopular in order to do the good that needs to be done to authentically serve those entrusted to their care.

We have many hired men in positions of leadership and very few good shepherds willing to lay down their lives for their sheep as our Lord Jesus spoke of in the Gospel of John 10:11-12. Be aware and adjust accordingly. Stay deep in the Sacred Scriptures, the lives of the Saints, the Sacramental life, and go all in on seeking holiness and living a life of true virtue, by God’s grace. The Church and the world are in desperate need of Saints for this time in human history. All are called, very few will answer, but the choice is ours. Let’s pray and work. Come, Holy Spirit.” 

Bishop Strickland, can you share your view with us, how should the faithful understand the corruption going on within the human leadership of the Church right now and what are we to do in light of it? I think you mentioned some of it in your last answer, but anything further in how we should see this and be acting in light of it?

Bishop Strickland: I think you said it pretty well. It’s fidelity to Jesus Christ, faithfulness, and that lack of fidelity is the root of all the corruption, all the sin that we’ve seen manifest and blasted on the headlines and on every social media and all the different ways that news is out there these days. One reality is we have to recognize that historically this isn’t the first moment of crisis for the Church. Ironically, you’re probably aware that this Summit that just took place in Rome began on the Feast Day of Saint Peter Damian, who just a thousand years ago was dealing with almost parallel corruption of homosexual activity and just total debauchery within the clergy of his time, that was a thousand years ago. He spoke up very clearly, I mean, there were writings directly to the pope from Saint Peter Damian saying this had to be dealt with.

I think we have to acknowledge that historically, certainly there’ve been times when corruption was there. We’ve had corrupt popes before, we’ve been blessed in so much of the 20th century to have very holy popes, but we have to acknowledge that there always is the human factor there. The reality of the Church is that we believe it’s a divinely revealed truth and I think that that…you talk about in your statement the fidelity and integrity, honesty, I think what I’ve tried to say is it’s my job as a bishop to uphold the Deposit of Faith. There are too many things about the Deposit of Faith that too many bishops and priests are not so sure about anymore. I really can’t imagine how that lack of clarity or that confusion is there, but it certainly is not helpful to the laity who should look to the priests and bishops to guide them.

I’ve seen many of the laity that are truly disheartened at some of the things, either lack of speaking up or sometimes saying things that are directly opposite to what the Church teaches. We have to teach in love and compassion, I think that one of the threads of this just in my own trying to wrap my mind and heart around all of this and to deal with it as effectively as I can as one bishop of a small diocese in northeast Texas, one of the things that I think is something we have to pay attention to is Divine Mercy. We will celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday, the Sunday after Easter as Saint John Paul II established it. I think we need to really study and reflect on what is Divine Mercy. We hear a lot about mercy in the world, which is beautiful, but what I’m hearing is a lot of partial mercy. Divine Mercy is the fullness of truth setting us free from death and sin.

Christ is Divine Mercy incarnate, He lived, died and rose to share Divine Mercy with the world. I’m concerned that even within the church, we’re hearing a lot about mercy, but I would say it’s more human mercy, mercy that doesn’t necessarily call to conversion and to a complete rejection of sin and everything that is evil. It’s sort of glossing over that and just saying, “Well, let’s just all embrace each other and be kind.” But real kindness is to pull people away from sin. Certainly, there’s terrible bigotry in the world, in the Church, in humanity, there’s rejection of people for all kinds of different reasons. It seems that racism is only in some ways gotten worse, at least in the rhetoric, but if you look at…I’ve grown up in the time since a lot of the civil rights issues were addressed in the United States, and people of every color should have every opportunity.

I think there are a lot more opportunities out there, but as far as the sort of toxic language that is used, very often people speak up in ways that are not upholding the sacredness of every person. I think a lot of times we hear about mercy, but I think we really need to reflect on Divine Mercy, which also has woven into it justice and Christ makes it very clear. One thing that I’ve tuned into recently is recognizing it, just last Sunday’s Gospel, the first Sunday of Lent, Christ is in dialogue with the devil, that’s the Gospel. We should have no doubt that the devil is real and that evil is powerful. Christ has overcome it, absolutely, and we need to hang to that truth and be faithful to Him in order to be strengthened against evil.

But evil is real and evil is rampant in the world today and I think there are too many, even within the Church that have kind of glossed that over and embraced the human mercy that doesn’t acknowledge that if you’re committing evil, if you’re committing serious, ugly sin, it’s devastating to your life and we can’t gloss it over. I guess the approach that I take is that we’ve got to be faithful to Christ, we’ve got to look to Divine Mercy and we’ve got to really listen to what the truth is that’s been revealed. I think a lot of people are listening, but I think as a leader in the Church, as one bishop, I think all of us as bishops need to be clear shepherds for the faithful saying, “This is the truth and this is what we have to cling to no matter what.”

Jim Havens: Very refreshing comments here with Bishop Strickland, Bishop of the Diocese of Tyler, Texas. Bishop, during the November General Assembly in Baltimore, Cardinal DiNardo announced that the Holy See had requested for the U.S. Bishops to refrain from voting on steps to address the sex abuse crisis so that (as Cardinal DiNardo stated): “our deliberations can inform and be informed by the global meeting of the conference presidents that the Holy Father has called for on February 2019.”

Now that the February Vatican Summit has concluded, what is your takeaway from it and do you believe it was worth holding up the November vote?

Bishop Strickland: I have to say I probably have more questions than answers about the Summit. Of course, I wasn’t there, a lot of people thought every bishop was going, I guess. But it was basically one, Cardinal Dinardo representing as President of the USCCB and that’s pretty much who was there globally. The Summit I don’t see as really providing a lot of answers, I know that Cardinal DiNardo has some action items that need to be unfolded here in the United States, but honestly, I think a lot of that is a challenge that I see that I kind of spoke about last November from the floor there in Baltimore. I think all of that, certainly there needs to be policies, there needs to be steps taken, but I’d rather see…actually I’ll honestly just say, I think the retreat that we had with Fr. Cantalamessa in Mundelein back in January, was probably much more significant than what happened at the Summit.

As people said, a global gathering that covered four days, what can you really expect to develop from that? Look at the Second Vatican Council, it took years for real documents to be developed. I think it was an acknowledgement that this is a serious situation, but I didn’t see…Maybe there are things that I’m not even aware of that will unfold that were clear concrete steps as Pope Francis called for, but I haven’t seen that myself. I think in some ways that the whole approach of the Summit was really not what is ultimately needed. I think we need to speak clearly supporting everything that is the doctrine of our Catholic faith, everything that Christ has revealed to us, that is the pathway for salvation for each of us.

I think returning to some of that kind of language rather than committees and conferences…It sounds too much to me like the corporate world rather than the world of faith that the Church is called to deal with. Certainly, there needs to be some real concrete steps, but honestly I haven’t seen them. I think that, like I said, Fr. Cantalamessa’s retreat I thought was very enriching and talking to a lot of the bishops, we all, I think, appreciated a lot of what he talked about. I tried to go back and reflect on many of the things he said. One thing that I would point to and it sort of goes to the very heart of it all, is he questioned us as bishops: is Jesus Christ a person or a personality in your life?

In many ways that is what we need to address, each as an individual baptized disciple and as, whatever role of leadership, whether it’s a father and a mother leading a family or a priest leading a parish or a bishop leading a diocese or the cardinals and archbishops that are leading whole sections of the Church, or at least administering over them. I think we all need to ask ourselves, how can we live with Christ more as a person in our lives and less as just a personality. Because I think a lot of what’s broken is we’ve treated Christ as just a personality as sort of a figure out there, but not someone who we walk with daily who is constantly transforming our lives in His grace. That’s the only way we’re going to fix this brokenness and sin that we’re all dealing with.

Honestly, I have to say as far as the Summit, I think it didn’t have any tremendous impact of healing and new light that I could see. Maybe some things will come from it that I just haven’t seen yet, but I know that the people that I’ve talked to really saw it more as a kind of a bureaucratic gathering that didn’t really get to the heart of a lot of the issues and some of the issues that I think are the most important, at least for this country and I think for other countries also, but certainly in the United States, issues of the corruption within the clergy, the rampant homosexuality – the activity is what’s wrong, the orientation is something that’s gotten so twisted and out of focus. Every human being, we’re all sinners, every human being has inclinations that need to be addressed in order to live a more virtuous life. To be broadcasting that I have this or that inclination is, I don’t think where we need to go.

We need to acknowledge that we’re all sinners, but a lot of that wasn’t really even brought up in the Summit. It’s like, as I’ve said to people that I’ve just talked to here in the Diocese, it’s like there’s a big gorilla sitting in the corner that never got mentioned. Really. It was talking about, certainly the abuse of minors is terrible and it needs to be addressed, but that was more or less dealt with certainly and perfectly, but a lot of things are in place that need to be enforced, maybe better in various areas, but in 2002 that addressed the abuse of minors. I think the 2018-19 issue is more just sexual depravity among priests and even bishops and that really wasn’t addressed.

I think it remains to be dealt with to bring real healing to the Church so that she can do her job of bringing healing in the name of Christ to a very broken society. As I’ve said to people here, just kind of stepping back from it all, if the Church is this broken and this wrapped up in sin and this corrupt, it really shows us just how bad society is. I think a manifestation of that is going back to these legislatures in New York and in other places now that are just totally eviscerating the sanctity of life. All of that is part of the same picture of just denying the truth.

As I tweeted recently, I think a big part of everything we’re dealing with is the moral relativism that says there is no concrete truth, there is no absolute truth, there is no divinely revealed truth and we can vote it in and out in committees. For priests to be making statements that I’ve read, I haven’t heard directly, but I mean, if you can believe some of what you read, at least, priests making statements that if you don’t feel that a sin that the Church says is seriously sinful, if you don’t feel it’s wrong, then it’s not sinful for you. I think that’s called moral relativism and in whatever category of sin, whether it’s the sanctity of life or sexuality issues or honesty issues, a lot of corruption we’ve seen is in the financial world and people are fed up with that as well.

The financial corruption in the Church is devastating and just another manifestation of ignoring basic teachings. When we relativize it, how can we call someone immoral that maybe has embezzled millions of dollars, if they don’t feel it’s wrong, then how can we say it’s wrong? To take the moral underpinnings of, really, western civilization out of the picture and just say, “Well, just do whatever you feel,” that’s basically the message of our culture. I think in many ways that’s why we’re facing what we’re facing in March 2019, is too many people are just doing what they feel and when we’re on that kind of level, then chaos ensues.  

Jim Havens: When will the U.S. Bishops meet again to address the clerical sex abuse crisis and cover-up, and do you expect that it will address the roots as you’re so well articulating them? I know very similarly Bishop Athanasius Schneider recently mentioned the main roots as homosexuality among the clergy, relativism of doctrine, a lack of a ascesis, and above all the absences of a deep and true love for Christ. You seem to be on the same page on the roots there, and do you expect that those will be addressed at the next meeting?

Bishop Strickland: Honestly, I believe ultimately it’s going to be up to each individual bishop where they are, to do their best to stand up for fidelity to Christ and to address all these issues and to speak out. I’ve heard some things and actually had the chance to speak with Bishop Thomas Daly recently. I’m totally in agreement, I saw an interview that he had recently, I guess it was in their local Catholic paper, but some bishops are speaking out. I think all of us need to care for our flock and ultimately I think because a lot of people don’t realize, the USCCB has some authority and certainly we can vote on major things to sort of address an issue for the entire United States, but bishops are really their own authority within their own diocese. Theologically, that’s how the Church is organized. 

I think it really is going to be primarily on the level of each bishop speaking up and dealing with and being clear in his own diocese and that’s what I’m trying to do. One of the positive things that I’ve seen as I travel around the diocese of Tyler, which is 33 counties, rural counties in northeast Texas, when you go to a given parish, the people are there, they’re striving to live their Catholic Faith, educate their kids, do all the things that the Church calls them to do. In many ways I think the reformation of the Church, the renewal, it’s going to happen family by family, parish by parish, diocese by diocese. In no way do I want to be interpreted as saying that the USCCB doesn’t have a role. I believe it should, but so far I haven’t seen that mechanism being able to really address the roots of this as effectively as I’m glad that I’m free to be able to do here in the Diocese of Tyler. 

I think every bishop across the country really needs to step up and to make it clear that we are disciples of Jesus Christ and we believe in the deposit of faith that has been laid down through the ages, but we really don’t have confusion. We really don’t have questions about basic moral teachings. The Church has done a beautiful job of taking the Decalogue, the 10 Commandments, and expanding them to really touch every aspect of human morality, of interaction with people, of everything that we need to do, of social justice and everything. The Church’s teachings are there, but we’ve got to pay attention to them and we’ve got to do our best to live them, acknowledging that we will always fail to some extent.

We’re always going to be sinners, but I think frankly, that the bureaucracy that is the USCCB, which is the nature of anything that large, in many ways I feel blessed to be in a smaller diocese, I pray for my brother bishops that are in huge archdioceses because it’s really more than, the spiritual work to be done I think is more than any one man can handle, in many of those situations, especially with the culture pushing back so extremely on the different archbishops and bishops and very large places. People have even asked me, why are you speaking up as much as you are. Well, this is the faith I believe in, but also I think I have a freedom to speak in a smaller place. Many people don’t know where Tyler, Texas is, even people that live in Texas.

It’s a beautiful place, but it’s not, it’s a little over a hundred thousand, and it’s not a large Catholic center. As I said, we’re less than 10% across the Diocese and that’s after significant growth after 30 years as a diocese. I think in many ways maybe the Lord is using me as an instrument to speak up when it’s just much more difficult for bishops or archbishops in very large places to speak up and frankly, maybe some of them don’t agree with what I’m saying, but all I’m doing is quoting the Catechism, so I think we’ve got real issues if Catholic bishops don’t agree with the Catechism of the Church, which is the universal teaching of our Deposit of Faith. I think the vast majority of bishops do, but we’ve got to do a better job of speaking up.

I have to say that the culture that I was ordained into back in 1985 was a much more go along and get along kind of culture, where we weren’t encouraged to really speak up and be bold about what the Church teaches. But I think we’ve come to a moment in the life of the world of human society and of this nation and of the Church in this nation, where we’ve got to be very clear because the ambiguity that’s been in place for many decades is we’re seeing, we’re reaping that whirlwind now of not really speaking clearly. That lack of clarity has prompted people to adopt a lifestyle that is diametrically opposed to what the Christian life calls us to.

It makes pagan Rome sometimes look fairly sedate, compared to what’s going on in our world where a lack of morality is just rampant. I think as bishops we have a greater responsibility than ever to speak the truth with love, with compassion, and seeking always Divine Mercy, but not letting it be diluted to simply being human mercy that kind of leaves out the issue of turning from sin, repenting, and following the light of Christ. 

Jim Havens: So good. I know that we are over time with you here bishop, but real quick, for those of us within the Church that are serious about living out our shared mission in Christ to evangelize the world, do you see a vision for faithful bishops, priests and laity to work together more effectively and how do you see pro-life activity fitting into that vision? 

Bishop Strickland: I think the pro-life activity in many ways is foundational as I’ve reflected, and I’m sure a lot of us have reflected on, everything that we’ve seen in the recent years and certainly it all seems to be speeding up in recent months of corruption and the reality of sin and brokenness, I think we can trace a lot of that to the whole sanctity of life. I was talking with some of our staff in the Institute we have here, the Saint Philip Institute in the Diocese that was just established, I was talking to them about the reality that we need to continue to revisit Humanae Vitae because that’s where in 1968, when that was rejected by society, by many bishops, Pope Paul VI, now Saint Paul VI, I think suffered greatly in the last 10 years of his pontificate because the world rejected the truth at that time of what humanity Humanae Vitae speaks of.

Pope Paul VI predicted where we would be and it’s like point for point, he predicted exactly where we are in 2019 after 50 years of ignoring that basic truth. I think even the pro-life movement has to get back to those very basic roots. I recently wrote a reflection on Glorious Chastity, that to me was an expression of a lot of what I’ve been thinking about because God’s plan is for glorious chastity and that is a narrow path of life and grace for a man and a woman committed in marriage, open to children. That is where the unitive and the procreative aspects of our sexuality, that’s where they are nurtured and become glorious and beautiful. Instead, what happens in our world is too often sex is outside of that context, not even close to that context, and every time the sexual intimacy happens outside of the context of one man and one woman married for life, open to children, when it’s outside that context, it becomes devastating.

I guess to answer your question, I think the pro-life efforts are the very foundation. As with Roe v. Wade, the law of the nation eroded that foundation and we’ve seen more and more of that erosion beginning really with Humanae Vitae in ’68 about five years before Roe v. Wade, that idea that contraception could be used by anyone any way they wanted, all of that ignoring God’s plan. In order to reverse the brokenness and to overcome the corruption in the Church and all the things that we’re trying to deal with, I think we’ve got to go back to that foundation of the sanctity of life and listening to God’s plan for sexuality and for the procreation of children, for bringing a man and a woman together in that unitive aspect that really brings them a glorious life, with all the challenges of marriage, but it’s God’s plan that they complete each other, that they truly live a complementarity that is beautiful.

So much of that has been lost, but I think we are full of hope, we have Christ with us, He promised that He would continue to be with His Church. I think we’ve got to be His Church more effectively and to go back to that foundation and rebuild to the best of our ability. Frankly, finally, I would say many times I’m grateful that I only have 33 counties that are my responsibility, the flock here, and that’s where I try to keep bringing my focus to, to help these people that are good people. They’re children of God, but they are influenced by all the brokenness in the world that we’re all dealing with and we’ve got to be more faithful to Christ and trust and knowing Him as our personal Lord and Savior that He brings us daily, the reality of salvation.

Jim Havens: Phenomenal. Thank you so much, Your Excellency, Bishop Joseph Strickland for your goodness and your generosity and being with us today. There really is no substitute for good fathers in families, they are needed and that is certainly true within the family of God. We are very grateful for you and for your authentic love, Bishop Strickland. Can you close this out with a blessing today?

Bishop Strickland: Sure. Almighty God, we ask Your guidance and blessing through the power of Your Spirit in the light of Your Son, for every faithful person and those who even lack faith, that all of us may know we come from one loving Creator and we are called to everlasting life with Him, and I ask His blessing in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Jim Havens: Amen.