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Bishop Strickland was advised to leave Tyler Diocese but can still say Mass there

Matt McDonald By Matt McDonald for CNA

Bishop Joseph Strickland celebrating Mass in March 2021. (Image: Beauty of the Traditional Latin Mass/Wikipedia)

National Catholic Register, Dec 8, 2023 / 10:17 am (CNA).

Retired Bishop Joseph Strickland has been advised to leave his former Diocese of Tyler, Texas, but has not been told he can’t say Mass publicly there, he told the National Catholic Register, CNA’s EWTN News partner.

“I have received no such instruction,” Strickland said by text Thursday night, responding to a report that he has been barred from saying Mass in the diocese.

Pope Francis removed Strickland, a critic of the pope, as head of the Diocese of Tyler in East Texas almost four weeks ago, on Nov. 11. The pope named Bishop Joe Vasquez, the bishop of nearby Austin, the temporary administrator of the Diocese of Tyler until a new bishop is appointed.

“Bishop Vasquez said it might be a good idea for me to leave the diocese; it was a suggestion,” Strickland told the Register.

Strickland, who is on retreat, referred further questions to Vasquez, saying: “He’s the one in charge.”

The Register contacted spokesmen for the Diocese of Tyler on Thursday night and for the Diocese of Austin early Friday, but as of this writing had not heard back. This story will be updated if the Register receives further comment.

On Thursday afternoon, LifeSite News reported that Strickland “has been barred from saying Mass in the Diocese of Tyler, Texas,” citing an unnamed source as saying that diocesan employees were told during a recent staff meeting “that while Strickland cannot offer Mass in the diocese, he may do so elsewhere.”

Strickland has frequently criticized Pope Francis, which many observers believe led to his ouster. He also delayed in implementing the pope’s restrictions on the Latin Mass.

In May, Strickland made a public statement saying he believes Pope Francis is the rightful pope, but adding: “… I reject his program of undermining the deposit of faith. Follow Jesus.”

In late June, the Vatican sent two other bishops to the Diocese of Tyler to investigate Strickland’s tenure there.

About four and a half months later, Strickland was removed, without public explanation. His current status is retired bishop without assignment, though at 65 he is 10 years younger than the canonical age for retiring.

Senior Vatican contributor Edward Pentin contributed to this story.


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11 Comments

  1. No Texas Bishop will welcome Bishop Strickland in public now that he has been offered up to this pontificate by them in private – especially, the carpet bagger “in charge.” Half are shills for the Democrats, especially their socialist lobbying arm in Austin. The rest have cozied up to big business RINOs who killed pro-life bills for decades when none could see save God and a few faithful friends of life. The pro-life example of Bishop Strickland was a constant irritation to them. Mt. 8:20
    History has seen weak Bishops gang up to do worse than banishing Bishops Torres in Puerto Rico and Strickland in Texas. This purge shall pass. Stay Catholic.

  2. I can’t put this any other way than to say I am ashamed of how the so-called leadership of our Catholic Church operates. Truth is that these characters ought to be ashamed of themselves. But, I’ve concluded that they’re incapable of feeling shame.

  3. The retirement of a bishop is a formal process in which the bishop submits a letter to the Pope short of his seventy-fifth birthday. The Pope either accepts or rejects said bishop’s retirement. To date, no such information has been forthcoming about any such letter from Bishop Strickland. This state of Limbo is an unreasonable punishment. Obviously the Holy Father does not wish to engage in a dialogue with those who disagree with him.

  4. Then one wonders why there is a shortage of priests. Can’t be conservative and be Catholic to the higher ups. God will prevail in the long run. Stay Catholic and don’t vote democrat,please.

  5. The “reporter” Matt McDonald is a back-bencher, and statements in this article show his bias against Bishop Strickland. It’s poorly written too.

    Let’s demand clear and professional reporting from these supposedly Catholic news sources. The diocese of Tyler, now under the direction of an “administrator” bishop, has not been helpful at all in setting the record straight. But we know that’s not what they want to do. How do we know that? Because they did not inform Bishop Strickland of more than one action taken against him. And this goes back to the Vatican and whoever is actually making these decisions. It could be Bergoglio, but we don’t know for sure. It could be one or more of his henchmen “advisors”.

  6. Kinda a “get off of my ranch” moment…they are playing butch, ironically. Even dark tragedies have their lighter nanosecond.
    You can’t make it up.

  7. And this, not any liturgical or doctrinal dispute, is by far the number one reason why our Eastern Orthodox brethren will never consider reunion with the Catholic Church under its current policies. For all the empty talk of synodality and subsidiarity, the bishop of Rome arbitrarily and summarily simply removes his brother bishops from their posts, whi have plainly committed no canonical crimes, not only without any due process at all, but without even any reason given for the removal.

  8. Surely there’s a providential and tutorial connection between the 8th-century St. Boniface and the 21st-century Bishop Strickland.

    Boniface was sent forth as the missionary bishop to Germania—as a bishop without a diocese (!). Post haste, he chopped down the pagan’s sacred Donar’s Oak, and in this way converted the mystified tribes toward steadfast Christianity. But, too bad, though, about all those acorns remaining on the ground. Later coming to fruition, as the 15th-century Reformation and now as a boring 21st-century apostasy. Cardinal Marx and Bishop Batzing—the acorn doesn’t fall far from the tree.

    Waiting, here, to see what cometh forth from Bishop Strickland, likewise without a diocese, and hopefully without painting another Twitter-target on his own back.

    Underlining the historical parallel, Boniface’s famous oak tree is said to have been near Hesse, which recalls Luther’s endorsement of the elector Rudolph of Hesse’s bigamy (also the bigamy of Henry VIII). Not to be outdone, and in addition to more bigamy, pagan Germania now also presumes to bless the “marriage” of homosexuals, something that even the voracious Henry VIII could not even imagine.

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