Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler has issued a pastoral letter to the faithful of the diocese entrusted to his care. It is about the Synod (“walking together”) about Synodality (“walking together-ity”).
The full text is at LifeSite:
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I urge you, my sons and daughters in Christ, that now is the time to make sure you stand firmly upon the Catholic faith of the ages. We were all created to seek the Way, the Truth and the Life, and in this modern age of confusion, the true path is the one that is illuminated by the light of Jesus Christ, for Truth has a face and indeed it is His face. Be assured that He will not abandon His Bride.
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It’s heart-breaking to read Bishop Strickland’s words of warning, but of course he is absolutely right. The Synod on Synodality is an unconcealed stratagem to remake the Catholic Church in the image of liberal protestantism. Pay no heed to the fact that liberal protestantism has been a moribund failure that has descended into utter irrelevance. Why do so many of our prelates seemingly seek to steer the barque over Niagara Falls? The most charitable explanation would be naiveté. Another possibility would be self-interest. These prelates lead such sinful personal lives that they desire to destroy the Church’s moral teachings in order to soothe their own consciences. Lastly, one must consider the possibility of diabolical influence.
America’s bishop! A true modern Apostle. I will not follow that new ‘god of surprises’ who is okay with mortal sins and is seeking to destroy the Church.
“I will not follow that new ‘god of surprises’”
You will not have any choice. In my experience God is always a God of surprises. We should be thankful this is so.
God never promised that the Catholic Church would remain in Rome or that when he returned, he would find any faith there. In multiple times in history the seat of the Catholic Church was NOT in Rome.
There was only promise that the gates of hell would not prevail against the Church. The faithful go where the find the faith. The rest who are there for show tend to fall away when the show is no longer appealing.
Didn’t Pope Francis ask where the SSPX gets all of the money to build new churches. Bishop Fellay answered in his homily when the Immaculata was consecrated, “It does not come from us, it comes from the people, the faithful.”
This will only become worse as time goes on. If Bishops do not stand up for the faith, the sheep will find shephards who will tend to their faith. There is no other reason for the explosive growth in traditional seminaries and groups. The people naturally are gravitating there. Traditional groups are NOT out saying “Come here, your thirst for faith will be quenched.” That is a problem, but it is not the cause for the growth. People find tradition many times by chance encounters.
Eventually those adhering to the faith will say “enough”. Those Bishops who support tradition see a much more generous response to their call for priests. Those that are stuck in the 60s (1960s or 1760s), not so much.
@Maximillian
God is only the “God of surprises” to those who are not paying attention. We might not know the hour of His coming, but we know that He is coming, and those who are attentive to Him will not be caught in a surprise with no oil in their lamps.
In a very real sense, the “god of surprises” that is posited in modernity is a trickster god, a Pan, a Loki. We rather worship Christ who is the Logos of the Father and who gives us the Holy Spirit which enables us to have the mind of God and…not be caught in surprise.
One of the most dreadful things is to be “caught in surprise” (especially in death!). God might astonish us with His mercy and charity and righteousness and justice, but in scripture, in the liturgy, there are constant prayers that we might not be caught in surprise, but rather be attentive to the hand of God and prepared to do His will. God always tells us what He is going to do and then does it. He doesn’t void His word, He doesn’t change His promises, He always follows through.
I will follow no trickster god but instead listen to the Logos whose yoke is well fitting and whose paths are straight and whom I can trust because He is true to His word, even when I am not.
Speaking from the perspective of the most liberal (Unitarian Universalism) of liberal Protestantism, I think your Catholic identity is not in danger of being confused with ours. Though I do understand that perhaps some protestant influence is being felt, and I understand why that is problematic for the traditional side of your tradition, be assured Protestants definitely wouldn’t recognize Pope Francis’ theology as our own.
It’s so sad that a bishop simply speaking and acting like a faithful Catholic shepherd is newsworthy nowadays.
I fear that if his recent “visitation” had not already come to a decision to rip this bishop, they now will so decide. On the other hand, maybe he already knows that they have decided against him, and is simply acting while knowing that he will soon be removed.
Regrettably, it may be that some will label as schismatics those who disagree with the changes being proposed. Be assured, however, that no one who remains firmly upon the plumb line of our Catholic faith is a schismatic. We must remain unabashedly and truly Catholic, regardless of what may be brought forth. We must be aware also that it is not leaving the Church to stand firm against these proposed changes.
I can wish that Bishop Strickland were clearer on one point here: first, it cannot be schismatic or heretical to hold fast to what the Church teaches, and “what the Church teaches” must always be taken as including what she received from Christ through the Apostles and handed by them to the Fathers. Secondly, it cannot be disobedient or schismatic to insist that if someone proposes a new “formulation” of a teaching, that he explain clearly how this new teaching is compatible with the ancient faith. Any attempt to foist off some innovation as if it doesn’t need to be compatible (or, worse, SHOULDN’T BE compatible) with the ancient faith is, precisely, to fall into what Paul calls teaching a different Gospel. And any innovative teaching that pretends that clarity on Church teaching is a humbug that is no longer appropriate is doing the same.
Thinking about this… if Rome is going to remove Bp. Strickland, they would probably do it before the Synod (“walking together”) which would surely have a chilling effect on any bishop who might object to whatever will be rigged up.
moon1234 proposes an event that has already taken place at least once in recent history: let us not forget the Eastern Catholics of these United States, Bishop John Ireland, and “Saint” Alexis Toth.
The priests of the Byzantine Catholic diaspora, already fleeing horrible conditions in their Eastern Bloc nations, arrived in these United States only to be oppressed and mistreated by the Latin Catholic hierarchy, who thought they could tell them what to do.
The bishops only succeeded in driving the Byzantines into the open arms of the Russian Church, and thus permanently decimating the membership of Eastern Catholic Churches, in a nation where they should have thrived and grown.