News Briefs

Ousted Bishop Strickland leads rosary outside U.S. bishops’ conference

November 14, 2023 Catholic News Agency 10
Bishop Joseph Strickland, who was removed as the leader of the Diocese of Tyler, Texas, by Pope Francis on Nov. 11, 2023, leads the recitation of the rosary outside the site of the U.S. bishops’ fall assembly in Baltimore on Nov. 14, 2023. / Credit: Shannon Mullen/CNA

Baltimore, Md., Nov 14, 2023 / 18:20 pm (CNA).

Bishop Joseph Strickland didn’t join his fellow U.S. bishops at their annual fall assembly on Tuesday, but he wasn’t far away, leading the recitation of the rosary for a few dozen people outside the waterfront hotel where the bishops’ meeting was taking place without him.

“I figured since I’m in town and didn’t have to go to the meeting, I’d just come here and pray,” Strickland told CNA in a brief interview.

Strickland’s appearance came just three days after Pope Francis removed the 65-year-old prelate as the head of the Diocese of Tyler, Texas.

Strickland remains an American bishop, however, and there is nothing in the statutes of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) that would prevent him from participating in this week’s assembly.

In a five-minute interview outside the hotel, Strickland claimed that the papal nuncio to the U.S., Cardinal Christophe Pierre, asked him not to participate. Pierre, who addressed the bishops Tuesday morning, declined CNA’s interview request Tuesday.

Strickland showed up outside the meeting anyway, he said, because he “already had plans to be here.” He told CNA that he also had committed to leading a rosary outside the meeting. He has led a rosary outside the USCCB meeting in past years as well.

Strickland led the rosary while kneeling. A man kneeling and praying nearby held a sign that read, “We love Bishop Strickland.”

“Today is a day for living the Lord more fully. And so that’s what we are called to do. And that’s what I would encourage the bishops to just keep refocusing on. I have to, every day when I wake up, remember, what’s this about? It’s about following Jesus Christ,” Strickland told CNA. 

“And today is a new day to follow him with joy and hope. His light is as bright as ever. We need to all remember that, and especially my brother bishops,” he said.

Strickland said that he may attend future USCCB meetings, but he thought it best not to do it this year, explaining, “I didn’t want to be a distraction.”

Why was Strickland removed?

Strickland told CNA that when he was notified about his removal, he received an email “with an attachment of the letter that said the Holy Father had … relieved me of the responsibilities as bishop of Tyler.”

Strickland’s removal on Nov. 11 follows a formal investigation of him and his diocese ordered by Pope Francis that occurred in June.

An official report of that investigation was never published, nor has the Vatican disclosed why Strickland was removed from office.

“I really can’t look to any reason except I’ve threatened some of the powers that be with the truth of the Gospel,” Strickland said in an interview with LifeSiteNews following his removal.

Strickland served as bishop of Tyler since 2012 and has been fiercely outspoken on certain Catholic social issues such as abortion and gender ideology. The firebrand bishop has gained a sizable social media following, where he has railed against the political agendas of elected officials who blatantly disregard the sanctity of the unborn.

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, of which the Tyler Diocese is a suffragan, said following Strickland’s removal that the investigation focused on “all aspects of the governance and leadership” in the diocese, which ultimately concluded with a recommendation being made to Pope Francis that “the continuation in office of Bishop Strickland was not feasible.”

Speaking to CNA, Strickland didn’t provide any details about what administrative issues may have contributed to his ouster.

“Yeah, there are allegations, but we had the bishop’s appeal that was $3.1 million, larger than ever in the history of the diocese,” he said.

Strickland also touted the number of the diocese’s seminarians — 21 — now in formation, as well as “a presbyterate with great priests.”

“So yeah, you can make allegations of anything. But I think if you just look at the record of the diocese, it’s grown. People are moving in. It’s a happy place. It’s not perfect. It’s not heaven, but it’s in good shape,” he said.

Asked if any reasons were given for his removal, Strickland said that there were “verbal reasons” given by Pierre that were “quite extensive,” one of which was that he was too outspoken.

One notable example is a May 12 tweet in which he suggested that Pope Francis was “undermining the deposit of faith.”

“There were things that, yes, I did. I’ve raised a lot of questions. I’ve tried my best to guard the deposit of faith. And, you know, I feel the same commitment,” he said.

“Some say maybe I’ve spoken up too much, but how can we speak too much for the truth of Christ? It’s a treasure. It’s a beautiful light that the world desperately needs.”

Another reason he was given was “the fact that I didn’t shut down the Latin Mass in my diocese because, you know, I felt as a shepherd, I couldn’t do that,” he said, referring to the restrictions Pope Francis imposed on the old liturgy in his July 2021 motu proprio Traditionis Custodes.

Strickland said that the document “wasn’t really clear” and could be debated upon but added that “many bishops haven’t shut down the Latin Mass in their diocese.”

Ultimately, his removal was the result of “an accumulation of things,” he said, adding that he’s “committed to Jesus Christ” and loves the Church.

“I love every aspect of the Church, but I think we’d all agree the Church needs to be stronger in Christ, and that’s what I’ve encouraged through all of this. My prayer is that every bishop, every faithful Catholic, can be drawn closer to the Sacred Heart of Christ,” he said.

[…]

Pope Francis’ nuncio to USCCB assembly: ‘Eucharistic revival and synodality go together’

November 14, 2023 Catholic News Agency 1
Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the Vatican’s nuncio to the United States, speaks to the U.S. bishops at their annual fall assembly in Baltimore on Nov. 14, 2023. / Credit: Screenshot of USCCB livestream

Baltimore, Md., Nov 14, 2023 / 16:40 pm (CNA).

The U.S. Catholic Church’s two major undertakings of the past year — a national Eucharistic revival and the Synod on Synodality — aren’t separate initiatives with distinct goals, rather “they belong together by their very nature, and they shed light on one another,” Pope Francis’ ambassador to the United States said Tuesday.

“Eucharistic revival and synodality go together. Or to put it another way, I believe that we will have true Eucharistic revival when we experience the Eucharist as the sacrament of Christ’s incarnation: as the Lord walking with us together on the way,” Cardinal Christophe Pierre said.

The French-born prelate, who has served as the Vatican’s nuncio or chief diplomat to the U.S. since 2016, spoke Nov. 14 at the U.S. bishops’ fall assembly in Baltimore.

The annual gathering comes as the bishops set their sights on two key events next year. The first is the National Eucharistic Congress taking place July 17–21 in Indianapolis, the culmination of a three-year campaign to revive Catholic devotion to the Eucharist, the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ. The second comes in October when the Synod on Synodality, widely seen as the linchpin of Pope Francis’ papacy, concludes in Rome with its second and final assembly.

In some respects, each initiative resonates most with different segments of the worldwide Church. On the one hand, many Catholics seeking major changes in the Church’s teachings, governance, and pastoral approach have pinned their hopes on the outcome of the three-year-long synodal process. Other more traditional Catholics, on the other hand, alarmed by what they see as the growing secularization of society and the Church itself, view the ongoing synod with suspicion while applauding the Eucharistic revival as a long-overdue response to lapsed belief in a core tenet of the faith.

The Road to Emmaus

In his address to the bishops, Pierre sought to bridge the gap, drawing on Luke’s account of Jesus’ appearance to two “disappointed and discouraged” disciples on the road to Emmaus following his crucifixion and — still unknown to them — resurrection.

“The Emmaus story shows how the synodal process leads to an eye-opening encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist and how the Eucharist sends us on a mission characterized by synodality,” the nuncio proposed. 

“First, he joined them on the way. If we want people to know Christ, then we must encounter them where they are. That’s what Jesus did with the two disciples. He and the disciples were ‘together on the way,’ which is the meaning of synod,” he continued.

“Next, he listened to them, by inviting them to share their story: ‘What are you discussing?’”

“Commenting on this passage, Pope Francis said: ‘He asks and listens. Our God is not an intrusive God. Even though he knows the reason for the disappointment of those two men, he gives them time to be able to deeply fathom the bitterness which has overcome them,’” Pierre noted.

“One of the things that makes listening so hard is that, when we listen, we hear things we don’t want to hear. Contrary opinions. Troubling ideas. Even falsehoods,” Pierre said.

“Jesus had to put up with this from the two disciples. They said: ‘Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know of the things that have taken place there in these days?’” he said.

“Imagine: They think that he is the one who is ignorant, and they have a lesson for him! But notice: This was not yet the moment for him to rebuke them for their foolishness. They were still on a journey from unbelief to belief. He was there to accompany them on that journey, not to force its conclusion. So he keeps the conversation going with a question, ‘What sort of things?’” Pierre said.

“Yes, he knows what happened in Jerusalem better than they do — after all, he was the main character in the story! — but he is not there to tell them how much he knows. Rather, he is there to help them discover the truth.

“This manner of listening is essential for evangelization,” the cardinal emphasized. “We must have the courage to listen to people’s perspectives, even when those perspectives contain errors and misunderstandings. If we stay on the journey with people, the moment of enlightenment will come as a work of God’s grace.”

A call for unity

For the disciples bound for Emmaus, that moment arrives when they recognize the Lord at the breaking of the bread. This takes place, Pierre noted, after the key elements of synodality have taken place: “encountering, accompanying, listening,   discerning, and rejoicing at what the Holy Spirit reveals.”

“This Eucharistic encounter with Christ changed the direction of their lives. It was a mystery intended not only for their contemplation, but it moved them into mission,” he explained. “Filled with joy, they hurried back to join the other disciples. For the first time they were able to proclaim the Gospel: Jesus is alive!  They were bringing others to faith, just as the risen Christ had done for them.”

Concluding his address, Pierre called for unity among the bishops, coupled with an outlook that is open to “new surprises” the Holy Spirit might reveal along the Church’s synodal journey.

“We may have had fears or anxieties about this synod, especially if we were focusing on a particular ‘agenda’ or ‘idea,’ whether negative or positive. But this is not what synodality is about,” the nuncio said.

“Instead, it is about the way in which we are called to be the Church of God, for the sake of evangelizing today’s world, which is in such desperate need of the Gospel of hope and of peace.”

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