21 Feb 23 – 50,000 Protest Elimination of 300 Year-Old Christian Holiday

[0] Welcome to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[1] My name is Terry Barber.

[2] I'm with Virgin Most Powerful radio, and I'm honored every week to talk about how to fall in love with Jesus Christ and his bride the church.

[3] Bishop Strickland, thanks for taking the time to teach us about the love of Jesus and his church.

[4] Thanks, Terry.

[5] Thank you.

[6] Bishop Strickland, every time I read articles, I read your tweets.

[7] And for those who are brand new, we go through Bishop Strickland's tweets, and then we get into a catechism at the end of the show.

[8] teach.

[9] And I wanted to say that some of these tweets is, man, I'm like, wow, you're just getting into it and really laying out a Christian perspective on things.

[10] There's one that you didn't actually tweet, but I just saw 50 ,000 people from Denmark went into the streets to protest a possible elimination of a 300 -year -old Christian holiday.

[11] Now, that's the last group in Europe that I would expect, you know, to stop, to get out their busy schedules or to go out into the streets.

[12] It's called the Great Prayer Day, and it was introduced back in 1686.

[13] And the very fact that these people are coming out and saying, you know, we don't want to take our Christianity away, that impressed me. How about you?

[14] Absolutely.

[15] And I'm glad that more people are speaking up, and, you know, we need to.

[16] Yeah.

[17] Not in any way attacking anyone, but just speaking of the joy of knowing Jesus Christ, the son of God, and living in his life.

[18] It's the greatest joy that a human being can experience.

[19] And we need to joyfully shouted from the rooftop.

[20] So I'm glad those people took the time to protest and say, we want to pray.

[21] Reminds me of that we've talked about before in Poland when Pope St. John Paul the 2nd was there, and the people chanted for several minutes, we want God.

[22] It's the same thing, and it's like the whole world is caught up in this communist, atheistic movement that we need to speak up with joy and with strength and with the clarity of the truth of Christ.

[23] Amen.

[24] You know, you made me think of Father William Lawrence.

[25] He's the FSSP North American provincial.

[26] In their newsletter, he basically said something like that.

[27] He said, why is there such unhappiness in the world today?

[28] He says, there are a variety of reasons, but he said, but perhaps the most fundamental one is that people are not fulfilling their purpose in life to know love and serve God.

[29] It sounded like you.

[30] He said, it is simply not possible to be truly happy in this life if we're not fulfilling our purpose to say nothing of the next life.

[31] and then he encourages us, let us deeply impress the truth upon ourselves that we were created for God.

[32] That's what the world is missing.

[33] They don't know that.

[34] Yeah.

[35] So I think Father is saying the same thing you're saying.

[36] One more quick comment, and that is the Freemasonry, which started, I think, 1717, basically is anti -Christian.

[37] The popes of the centuries have all condemned it.

[38] and Archbishop, and I like to stand with Archbishop's when they're willing to say something that's really politically incorrect.

[39] This Archbishop Bruno Forte, he reissued the Vatican's 1983 combination of Freemasonry.

[40] And are you ready for this, Bishop Strickland, which prompted local masons.

[41] You know what they did?

[42] They're appealing to Pope Francis saying, wait a minute, Pope Francis, you know, you need to correct your archbishop.

[43] Because, you know, you guys don't do that anymore.

[44] anymore, which he's wrong.

[45] But the fact that the masons have got the impression that free masonry and Catholicism are okay tells me that the memo is not getting out.

[46] Yeah.

[47] Well, I'm glad, as you said, I'm glad the archbishop was clear.

[48] Yep.

[49] 1983 in terms of church history isn't that long ago.

[50] It's a pretty recent statement relatively that makes it clear that free masonry is not compatible with Catholicism.

[51] Yep.

[52] All right, here's a tweet that you gave right before the show, and it was about the Archbishop of Kansas City.

[53] And basically, the Archbishop was really going after, well, Cardinal Robert McElroy of San Diego, who's just made a new Cardinal.

[54] And not only is he doing it, but the Archbishop of Denver, he also said, something, you've said it, but I wanted to just make it clear, and you tell me if I'm on to something, in his article that lots of people are commenting on and say, that's not what the church teaches.

[55] It's called Radical Inclusion.

[56] An American Magazine on January 24th published the article, and he said the effect of tradition that all sexual acts outside of marriage constitute objectively grave sin has been the focus that the Christian moral life disproporated upon sexual activity.

[57] He says, yet in pastoral practice, we have placed it at the very center of our structures of exclusion from the Holy Eucharist.

[58] So I'm interpreting it, correctly if I'm wrong, that he doesn't seem to think that active homosexuality, committing sodomy, should stop people from receiving a holy communion.

[59] That's not what the church teaches.

[60] He says, this should change.

[61] He's asking for the catechism of the Catholic change its teachings.

[62] Now he says the church's primary witness is the face of this bigotry against LGBT communities must be one of embrace rather than distancing and condemnation.

[63] And here's the key.

[64] I want to get your take on, Bishop Strickland, the distinction between orientation, that I have a sense of wanting to, I like men and I'm a man, and then between that orientation and then acting on it and committing sodomy cannot be the principal focus for such pastoral embrace because it inevitably suggests dividing the LGBT community into those who refrain from sexual activity and those who do not.

[65] Now, Bishop Strickland, that sounds to me like he says there's no difference whether you act on it or you just have a proclivity towards that same sex.

[66] And that's not what the church teaches either.

[67] Now, rather the dignity of every person as a child of God struggling in this world, He says, in loving outreach of God must be the heart, soul, face, and substance of the church stance and pastoral action.

[68] What's the cardinal missing, Bishop Strickland?

[69] Well, I think Archbishop Nauman did a good job of pointing out what's missing.

[70] It's the basic teaching of the church.

[71] I see.

[72] We need to divide ourselves from sin.

[73] Amen.

[74] And really, if we look at what the church teaches, like we've said before, Terry, as we've talked about this, really, I would rather see, rather than changing the catechism and saying that homosexual activity is not disordered, we need to emphasize that any sexual activity outside of a man and woman committed in marriage is disordered.

[75] Exactly.

[76] It all is.

[77] Amen.

[78] And that's, well said.

[79] You know, certainly it's not just the same sex attraction acted on that's wrong.

[80] It's any sexual attraction acted on outside marriage.

[81] That's why it's wrong.

[82] And I think that the harm, really, Terry, I mean, ever since I've been a kid, which is a long time, I've heard people say, oh, the Catholic Church is so worried about sex and so many sins about sex.

[83] But if we look at the world, and if I look at the pastoral experiences I've had, sexual sins destroyed families, they destroy lives, pornography is the true pandemic.

[84] Yes.

[85] It gets very little talk about.

[86] But, I mean, what we've seen and some of the things that I've, I've pointed out what we see in the media, what we see on television and in all kinds of entertainment, what we hear on the radio that, you know, the pornographic pandemic is so destructive.

[87] And it's with the electronic devices and with the Internet, it's worse than ever.

[88] And it harms individuals.

[89] It harms marriages.

[90] It harms families.

[91] and all of that illustrates that the Catholic Church has it right, that sexual sins are devastating to people.

[92] And I've recently had experiences of people that were abused sexually as little children.

[93] Oh, no. And evil, real evil gets into their lives.

[94] I'm not talking about some sort of possession like an exorcism, but real evil that has to by prayer and by intervention has to be dealt with.

[95] And it distorts people's lives.

[96] So to de -emphasize sexual sin as not that big a deal is not what the church teaches and it's very dangerous.

[97] I think what where the church's wisdom and recognizing how significant these sins are, is the beauty of what God's plan is for that gift of our sexuality properly in an ordered way expressed between a man and a woman in a commitment of marriage.

[98] The beauty there is the conception of a child in the drawing closer.

[99] What does Scripture say that the two shall become one, one flesh?

[100] That's the idea of the sacrament of matrimony.

[101] And that's through not just the sexual act, but that's part of it.

[102] Amen.

[103] That's God's plan.

[104] He intends for sex to be the most beautiful gift that he's given us of being with him in pro -creation.

[105] Amen.

[106] It's distorted in our world in more and more drastic ways.

[107] And now there are people even saying the sexual abuse of a child, oh, that's not so, wrong and pedophilia.

[108] I mean, it's just devastating.

[109] And so we have to be very strong in holding to what the church teaches rather than trying to water it down.

[110] Well said, I'm going to say what our Lord said in the scripture.

[111] Amen.

[112] Amen.

[113] I say to you what you just said needs to be out in the limelight because it is an evil that needs to be exposed.

[114] This is the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[115] We'll be back with more after a quick break.

[116] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland hour.

[117] Bishop Strickland, that seven or six or seven minutes that you just spoke on the sexual problems of our culture, I like to always remind everybody there's 340 million people in America.

[118] And as of about three years ago, when I saw this statistic, 110 million, that's like one out of three people have a sexually transmitted disease.

[119] And we spend $16 billion a year medically helping these people.

[120] people survive.

[121] So the Catholic Church has the answer, and the answer is what you just said about marriage.

[122] I mean, I have to say that it's the family, as St. John Paul II said back in 93 when he wrote the letter, he says, where's the culture going, where their family goes?

[123] And so you speaking out against pornography and the evils of all of this, we need to hear more of that.

[124] And not, and I'm going to be kind of a, well, I'll hold back and not say it, but I'm tired of listening to priests and bishops and high officials talk about worldly things that do not affect the salvation of a soul, but I can't believe the issue of sexuality has just been put aside and we just, like, we've accepted that this is what we're going to do.

[125] No, the Catholic Church's teachings are beautiful, and if people understood the great sacrament of marriage and how the Catholic Church teaches and the reverence for womanhood and all this women would flock to it but for some reason they're not getting the message so thanks for being so clear on that thanks Terry it reminds me of the the fentanyl crisis oh there you go which is another devastating thing but you hear these reports of enough fentanyl come being seized to kill every person in the country.

[126] The sexual deviancy and the sexual sins that we're dealing with is a spiritual fentanyl that is really more devastating than the worst drug.

[127] And we've got to speak up, we've got to bring people back to the truth and to speak up anytime we see the culture continuing to erode in more and more.

[128] darkness because of the evil of misunderstood sexuality.

[129] Well, said, and you know, Bishop Strickland, because you've talked about the corruption in the world and even in the church, and you've encouraged us to really put our eyes on Jesus Christ and have that relationship with him, and it reminds me there's an internet video that I'm going to play tomorrow on the Terry and Jesse show that talks about a priest showing the persecuted Christians in Ukraine during the communist time in the 1940s.

[130] And they had a similar situation for those Catholics, and how did they survive?

[131] And I thought it's really good advice because what they did is they didn't rely so much on good preaching because it wasn't there.

[132] Everybody was silent because of the persecution.

[133] They relied on their relationship with Christ, the sacraments, and they prayed, and they got through it and the church grew from it.

[134] So I think there's a good message for us today.

[135] And that ties into your tweet, Bishop Strickland, because that's what made me think of that video for tomorrow's show.

[136] You said, the best way we can honor the suffering and death of Jesus is to live his truth.

[137] Let us rejoice that we know his truth and do all we can to share this truth with joy with others.

[138] Let us resolve to honor Christ and his sacrifice of love.

[139] and all we do.

[140] And then you have a little quote and says, I am not ashamed of Jesus Christ.

[141] Without him, I am nothing.

[142] This might be something to read every day before you go out for the day.

[143] I like that.

[144] Absolutely.

[145] I agree.

[146] Well said.

[147] So do you see the point though, Bishop Strickland, for us lay people?

[148] We were looking for leadership.

[149] We're looking for that.

[150] What you just said about pornography.

[151] This is important.

[152] I did something yesterday on an examination of conscience.

[153] and went through how to make a good confession.

[154] And you know, people told me, thank you.

[155] I haven't heard that since I was a kid.

[156] Yeah.

[157] And it was, I didn't get, it was anything brilliant.

[158] It was the catechesis, you know, from a book from Sophia Press that I read.

[159] I said, Father, can I steal this from you?

[160] I did it.

[161] And the point of it is, this is what people need to hear the truth in a very straightforward way.

[162] And what we have to remember is the joy of being freed.

[163] from some of these things.

[164] What God wants us to share his life, even in this world.

[165] And I think we always have to remember that.

[166] People think of Catholicism is just this bunch of rules that oppress people.

[167] And we need to cast off this burden of religion, period.

[168] And, you know, I guess it's somewhat of a feather in the cap of Catholicism that people say, we've got to go after the Catholic Church because we represent religion and faith.

[169] So thankfully, we still do.

[170] Because we're the church that Jesus Christ established, as broken as it is because of our humanity, still guided by the light of Christ.

[171] And I just encourage all people of faith to never despair, never let the darkness.

[172] I mean, the scriptures say the darkness did not overcome him.

[173] Right.

[174] And we have to remember that for our own lives.

[175] There's lots of darkness.

[176] There's lots of doubt.

[177] There's lots of concern and confusion.

[178] Even coming from within the church with different bishops and cardinals teaching things that are simply not the truth, the joyful truth of following Jesus Christ.

[179] And so we've got to be strong.

[180] We've got to be clear.

[181] We don't condemn anyone.

[182] God loves all of us, even those who are deeply caught up in sin.

[183] And thankfully, there's some great conversion stories that we hear about and that we can celebrate.

[184] But we need to call people and call ourselves here the call to conversion.

[185] We're just lents around the corner.

[186] And we need to remember it's a time, there's always the opportunity to turn from sin and to live more fully the good news of Jesus Christ.

[187] Thankfully, his mercy is always there for us.

[188] Amen.

[189] I was just reading the scriptures this afternoon and about Judas Ascaria.

[190] The mistake he made, certainly he was the betrayer, but his deeper mistake, the more devastating mistake was he gave up on the possibility of mercy.

[191] Amen.

[192] Wouldn't it have been a totally different story?

[193] Even if after he betrayed Jesus, if he had gone to him and said, Lord, forgive me, I have sinned, the Lord would have forgiven him.

[194] Just as he said from the cross, forgive them, they know not what they do.

[195] Judas didn't really know what he was doing.

[196] He betrayed the Lord, but his biggest sin was giving up on the mercy that was available to him as long as he.

[197] he breathed.

[198] And that is what we all have to, that's the cautionary tale from the life of Judas Ascariot to avoid sin, avoid our own betrayals of the Lord.

[199] But even if we fail, and in our sins in a small way, hopefully in small ways, but every sin is a small betrayal of the Lord.

[200] But we can always ask forgiveness.

[201] That's the joy of our faith.

[202] We should always remember that.

[203] If there's anyone listening now that says, oh, my sins are too big, that's never the truth.

[204] God is always ready to forgive us.

[205] That's why his son died and a cross and rose from the dead so that mercy would flow abundantly from the side of Christ.

[206] So especially as we approach Lent, I'm sure for a lot of people, they try to avoid it because they carry burdens of sin and they think they can't be forgiven.

[207] That is never the case.

[208] The Lord is always ready to forgive us as long as we will humbly ask for that forgiveness.

[209] The only unforgivable sin is to give up on the mercy, to give up on the power that the Holy Spirit has to bring us to conversion.

[210] Wow.

[211] Amen to that.

[212] Yep.

[213] The hidden power of forgiveness.

[214] Bishop Strickland, Bishop Barron came out very strong this week about saying the Latin Mass is here to stay, but we're going to have new locations to be chosen.

[215] And I know lots of bishops, we've talked about the expressions of the mass, the ordinary, the extraordinary, you know, there's just 22 different rights in the Catholic Church expressions of the mass. It's all the mass. And so Bishop Barron is basically saying, no, these people are being fed by this mass, and young people are coming.

[216] And for me as the bishop, I just feel like I need to support those who are studying their faith or going to church.

[217] This is something that's good for my diocese, and I as the bishop is going to continue it.

[218] Do you agree with his position, Bishop Strickland?

[219] Absolutely.

[220] I'm with Bishop Barron on that issue and certainly with all the issues of the church.

[221] But I think we do need to be very clear.

[222] As we were talking about before we started recording, you know, I'm still still only beginning to learn about the Latin Mass. But there are many people, young and old, a lot of young families with a lot of children that are attracted to the solemnity, to the reverence, to the the theocentric orientation of the Latin Mass. All of that can and should be part of the novice order or of any of the 22 different liturgies that the Roman right embraces.

[223] We need to be enriched by all of that, but we definitely have to reinforce the availability for people to worship.

[224] It's all about worshiping God, Father, Son, and Spirit.

[225] It's about entering into the sacrifice of love that the mass is.

[226] The Eucharist is Jesus pouring himself out out of love for the Father, and love for us and his resurrection that makes it possible for all of us to enter into everlasting life with him.

[227] That's all what the Mass is celebrating.

[228] So every form of the Mass. And, you know, one of the blessings in our Diocese is the extra Mass that are celebrated.

[229] Some of our priests make great sacrifices to celebrate both in the Novos Ordo and in the ordinary form of the mass of the novice of novice orro and the latin mass so they're in a sense doing double duty because the people are hungry for what the mass has to offer so and thankfully multiplying mass is exactly what we need to do to bring christ more and more his real presence to more people to bring that holiness and strength that is the lord himself that's what we have to support So I'm glad that Bishop Barron, a relatively newly installed bishop there where he is in Minnesota, but I'm grateful that he's taking on the responsibility of being the ordinary, of being the bishop who is the shepherd of that flock and carried for them in all the ways that we're supposed to.

[230] That's what the church is.

[231] It's a gathering of different flocks guided by successors of the apostles.

[232] I'm a successor of the apostles Bishop Barron is a successor of the apostles and we need to take that very seriously and so I'm glad that Bishop Barron is is doing that work.

[233] It's not easy there's a lot of politics in the church that would say oh don't even touch that but I'm glad he did and he was bold enough to say this needs to be supported and reinforced because it's about the salvation of souls.

[234] Amen.

[235] When we come back, Bishop Fulton Sheen quote that Bishop Strickland sent out.

[236] I think it's good advice to the German church and to the Senate that's coming up in October.

[237] Full Sheen ahead when we come back with Bishop Sheen's tweet that Bishop Strickland sent out regarding the priesthood.

[238] You won't want to miss that.

[239] Stay with us.

[240] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland hour.

[241] I mentioned Archbishop Fulton Sheen and how I wish he was alive today.

[242] Well, in some ways he is because people like Bishop Strickland and others, he bringing up his writings.

[243] And I think of this Bishop Strickland to set the stage.

[244] It seems like when we think worldly in the church, we do things like political correctness.

[245] You know, well, if men, you know, men only priest, well, why can't we let women?

[246] It's an equal rights thing, which they're totally missing the point on the supernatural aspect of our faith.

[247] But Bishop Sheen, you tweeted this, why can't women be a priest?

[248] Bishop Sheen says Because it's a man who gives the seed And you said the good Archbishop of Happy Memory speaks the truth We must remember today I made the connection to our Our priests I should say our church in Germany And even the church in Rome That are discussing this issue Did you just do Did you just send this out Because you thought maybe It could influence certain people To realize that St. John Paul, too, and the church has always taught that women can't be priest.

[249] That's my question.

[250] Why did you send this out?

[251] Well, it needs to be emphasized.

[252] It's one of many teachings that people are saying, oh, this can change or needs to change.

[253] Like you said, it's not some sort of human equality thing.

[254] It's about God's divine plan.

[255] Exactly.

[256] And as I've said, it's been a controversy ever since I was in the seminary.

[257] Wow.

[258] How come there aren't women priests and all of that.

[259] And really, I mean, I've known a lot of strong women.

[260] Yes.

[261] Very holy women.

[262] Oh, man. And in many ways, I think, I mean, we're both men, but I'll speak for both of us.

[263] Yeah.

[264] I think men, women are naturally more spiritual than men are.

[265] I think given, you know, just the way we're made.

[266] Oh, yeah.

[267] Maybe.

[268] Maybe.

[269] it's part of being mothers and being tuned into that, but women have a natural spirituality that men have to work for.

[270] And I think that that is part of God's wisdom in how he's made us male and female with differences that are complementary, but really are different.

[271] If you look at the churches that have welcomed women being some of them have some of them have ordination some of them don't have ordination you know that they claim but when you welcome women to the role of pastoring that's what priests do in the Catholic Church then what do they see the men aren't coming.

[272] Right.

[273] Of course.

[274] They're having a, they're having trouble getting any men to serve as pastors in a lot of these churches.

[275] Yes.

[276] Because men have to be pushed to do it.

[277] Right.

[278] And I think that's why the wisdom of the church guided by the Holy Spirit says only men can be ordained priests.

[279] Does that mean men are better?

[280] Absolutely not.

[281] It means we have a different role.

[282] Exactly.

[283] You have a different responsibility.

[284] And as I look at the question, there's so many gender issues that we're dealing with in the world.

[285] We've forgotten that men or men, women or women, there are God -given differences that need to be supported.

[286] Instead, it's like it's all homogenized and we decide who we want to be and we can change.

[287] It's destructive to the human individual and to the human family.

[288] And so I think it's all the more important.

[289] I mean, it's always been important, but I think it's more important in our culture today to be very clear as the church is and she needs to remain very clear that only men are ordained priests in our faith, not because men are better, but because men are better, but because because this is God's plan, and we need men to fill their roles as we need women to fill their roles.

[290] Well said, and that kind of ties me right back to Archbishop Samples of Portland, Oregon.

[291] He's telling Catholic schools to use name pronouns that are assigned at birth, and he's being very clear because now Portland is a very progressive place, unlike Texas.

[292] he's saying that the guidelines are very clear pronouns used that school must match the biological sex schools should not have all gender bathrooms beyond single utilities sports all this is just says basically common sense things and what I want to say is what you just said is that we're so confused it's like that unisex that we don't have a male and female we're wanting to say it's whatever you feel and it seems that you know we as the church, we should be speaking out like the Archbishop of Portland saying, no, no, that nonsense.

[293] This is how God made man and woman.

[294] Like that 16 -year -old kid last week up in Canada who said, no, my schools, they're changing.

[295] No, I believe in Genesis.

[296] I believe in the Bible.

[297] And I think that it was exciting for me to see the Archbishop of Portland say, no, wait a minute, not on my watch.

[298] I'm going to, I have a responsibility to teach, govern, and sanctify.

[299] I don't know if you saw the article, Bishop Strickland.

[300] Yes, you did, because you tweet it, you agree with it.

[301] But isn't it clear that we need more and more of this where we can get clarity over just compromise?

[302] Absolutely.

[303] And one thing I would point out, Terry, as you mentioned, it's interesting how language gets used these days.

[304] Oh, yeah.

[305] And you mentioned that, and I know exactly what you're saying, that Oregon, is very progressive.

[306] Yes.

[307] But the way progressive is being used, I think we as people of faith need to really ask ourselves, is that progress?

[308] Is that moving to a better place?

[309] That's what progress should be.

[310] But the progressive movements are really taking us deeper into darkness when they depart from the truth that God has revealed to us.

[311] So I think we as believers, Christians and certainly Catholics, we need to be very clear that progress is not taking us away from the truth that God has revealed to it.

[312] Is that what's happening?

[313] It's not really progress.

[314] And certainly the language is used, but it's really not progressing if it's taking us further from God.

[315] Real progress is the salvation of our souls.

[316] and even in this life to move closer and closer to God by turning from sin and by living the truth of the gospel.

[317] I think it's important for us as people of faith to recognize how even the language is being used in improper ways and ways that can kind of fool us into thinking, oh, well, that's progressive.

[318] It really isn't progressive at all.

[319] No, good point.

[320] Excellent point.

[321] Well, that kind of ties me into your next tweet from Cardinal Robert Sarah he says the church's mission this is great I think it's great to have a cardinal say this the church's mission is not to solve all the social problems of the world she must repeat tirelessly repent and believe in the gospel is it getting simpler than that no and we repeat that all the time and I'm glad Cardinal Sarah just makes it very clear as a cardinal of the church that's what it's about and the next line is the salvation of souls yes that's how souls are saved by following jesus christ turning from sin and living his gospel and you know i'll speak for myself i have to do that over and over and over again me too because even though i thankfully i'm making progress not as as much as i would love to but i'm no saint but i am making progress but i am making progress and recognizing, and really, Terry, what I would encourage all of us for the two of us and everyone listening to recognize when we grow in wisdom in God's truth, we begin to recognize that though sin is tempting and it looks attractive, it really isn't giving us happiness or fulfillment.

[322] It's in progress.

[323] It isn't giving us what we think.

[324] It's the father of lies in small ways and sometimes in very significant ways the father of lies satan sin is his voice saying oh do this and you'll be happier you'll be fulfilled you'll experience wonderful pleasure you'll be you know you'll have success and it really is an empty promise it's false messaging that sin always takes us away from happiness and not closer to it.

[325] Amen.

[326] Just have a minute before the break, but I want to, you made a comment about a devout Catholic field goal kicker Harrison Butker, and that the pictures all over the internet, he's wearing a brown scapular.

[327] Now, he loves the traditional Latin Mass. He's got a nice family.

[328] We had him on Friday on the Terry and Jesse show, and we made a prediction that he would kick possibly the field goal that would win the game, and God bless him he did on Sunday.

[329] But your point about this young man who's the field goal kicker who actually had to kick that won the game, I just think that it's nice to see sports figures who are not afraid, and he's not afraid to talk about his Catholic faith.

[330] Is that why you sent that out?

[331] Yeah, absolutely.

[332] He's a great example.

[333] I mean, sports are great.

[334] Yeah.

[335] And many of our young people are really into sports, football or soccer or basketball or baseball, whatever the sports, men and women, and we need to help them recognize that they shouldn't hide their faith when they're in the sports arena, because there's certainly a lot of the other side, and we sadly hear about sports figures all the time caught up in the evils of the world.

[336] But it's good to see them also seeking virtue, celebrating our Lord in the Eucharist, and being people of faith.

[337] Well, said, when we come back, we're going to cover a catechism teaching for this last segment from the Way of Christ, the student's book.

[338] This is a catechism published by the diocese of Tyler, and I just think it's important.

[339] I asked the bishop, and he agreed, to just use some of our time to teach the fundamentals of the faith.

[340] I want to just say one more thing.

[341] Oh, we've got 30 seconds.

[342] I'll just say this.

[343] Bishop Strickland will be out here in California.

[344] and he's going to do penance.

[345] He's coming to the spiritual warfare conference, along with Bishop Jed Ripperger and others.

[346] And if you want to watch it, you can still do that by going to VMPR .org.

[347] We're going to stream it because we just sold out.

[348] We have 650 people that we can fit into our facility.

[349] And if you want to come to that, check us out at vmpr .org.

[350] Stay with us.

[351] The Bishop Strickland Hour.

[352] We'll be back talking about catechises, teaching of the faith.

[353] Stay with us.

[354] Welcome back.

[355] Before we get into the Salvation History section of the Catechism, there's a scripture verse, and I love at least once a week here, to use a scripture verse that's really uplifting a soul.

[356] And Bishop Strickland, you took Romans chapter 8, 35 to 37.

[357] It says, who will separate us from the love of Christ?

[358] Trial or distress, our persecution, our hunger, our nakedness, our danger, are the sword.

[359] Yet in all this, we are more than conquerors because of him who has loved us.

[360] Hold fast to your faith in Jesus Christ.

[361] That's one of those scripture verses you need to hear often, Bishop Strickland.

[362] I totally agree.

[363] It really reminds us because we can all get caught up in the darkness and the challenges and the evil that's out there.

[364] We just have to call it evil.

[365] Yeah.

[366] But Christ has conquered it all.

[367] all.

[368] And I think that what we need, what that inspires me to remember, Terry, is the light of Christ is as bright as it was in the moment he rose from the dead.

[369] Can you repeat that?

[370] Because that's a powerful statement.

[371] Repeat it, please.

[372] The light of Christ is as bright as it was at the moment he rose from the dead.

[373] We need to remember that because we live in a culture that if it's old and if it's in the dim midst of history we think of it as something oh it's got to change we've got to be progressive like we were talking about before the the resurrection of our lord jesus christ is as powerful at this moment on this day as it was when he first rose from the dead we celebrate that at christmas every i mean at easter um for christmas too but at Easter, we celebrate the resurrection of the Lord.

[374] Every Sunday, as we both learned, and we need to remind people, every Sunday is a little Easter, a little celebration of that joy and that light and that power.

[375] And I guess that quote from Romans really inspires me to remember that that power is undemned.

[376] It's not old.

[377] It's not passe.

[378] It's not antiquated.

[379] Yes, it's ancient.

[380] But, but it's ever new as well.

[381] And we need to have that kind of strength and joy to know that the resurrection of the Lord is clear and present and real for our lives and for our world.

[382] No matter the darkness.

[383] I mean, think of the poor people in Turkey and Syria with this devastating earthquake.

[384] It's been horrible to see how many people died and how many are suffering.

[385] Thankfully, they've been working and rescuing people for, for in amazing ways but all that devastation that it can it can darken our spirits but the light of christ comes to all who are suffering and that's what that reading from romans is really talking about nothing nothing can separate us from christ he is lord of all and we need to cling to him to hold fast to the faith that we know well said i'm going to get have question number five.

[386] And I love the Q &A question format of this catechism.

[387] And it so succinctly states this.

[388] It says, how does Abraham point towards Jesus?

[389] And it says long after the flood around 2 ,000 years before Christ, God formed a covenant with Abraham and his descendants.

[390] God's covenant with Abraham had three main promises, land, a great nation, and a worldwide blessing.

[391] That's Genesis.

[392] 12 verse 1 to 3.

[393] God told Abraham to leave his homeland and to live in a new land that God promised to give to him and his descendants.

[394] God's second promise was to make Abraham's descendants a great nation.

[395] This promise was connected to circumcision.

[396] Through circumcision, Abraham's descendants entered into God's covenant with Abraham.

[397] The last promise worldwide blessing was solidified after God tested Abraham by asking him to sacrifice his only son, Isaac.

[398] Abraham was obedient, but before Abraham could sacrifice his son, God sent an angel to stop him and had him offer a ram instead.

[399] So here it comes.

[400] What's the connection to Jesus?

[401] Abraham's obedience prefigures Jesus offering of himself on the cross, just like Isaac.

[402] Jesus is God's only son who carried his cross and offered his life for us unlike when Abraham sacrificed his son an angel was not sent to stop the sacrifice through Jesus' sacrificial offering of himself God's promise of worldwide blessing redemption and salvation from sin is offered to all of us Mr. Strickland well said I mean, really, someone worked on that.

[403] It really captures what the essence of God's saving plan is.

[404] And it really, we have to emphasize, Terry.

[405] Hopefully, people that are listening or watching already know.

[406] But all of us, I mean, I'm a bishop, and I need to be reminded.

[407] You're a father and a grandfather.

[408] You were talking about being with your grandkids on Sunday.

[409] But we all need to be reminded.

[410] of the tremendous blessing in the tremendous plan of God's love unfolding that in the in really it reminds us to be students of the old and the New Testament and to make those comparisons Abraham and Isaac the precursors you could say the prototype a foreshadowing of what Christ would do as the son of God the same thing the the The new land is heaven, I mean, life with God everlasting, offered to all people.

[411] Christ died for everyone.

[412] And that's what we need to really emphasize, because we're in an age when too often we're told not to evangelize or to be, to just, oh, every religion is the same and everything's wonderful.

[413] We just need to all be unified in this sort of homogenized human community.

[414] That's not what God is revealed to us.

[415] God, yes, calls everyone, but he calls us to his son.

[416] And his son died and rose so that people would know the kingdom of God and not some sort of worldly kingdom that just homogenizes everything.

[417] It really is a joyful message that we've got to be very clear about.

[418] And I love the way that catechism captures in really a few words.

[419] it's very dense with the reality of what our faith is from the Old and the New Testament.

[420] So those readings that sometimes all of us find a little harder to follow, thankfully the Gospels are written in a narrative that we can very much embrace.

[421] The Old Testament, sometimes it's harder, but we need to make that effort to read those stories of Genesis and Exodus and Leviticus and really understand how all of that, those are our spiritual ancestors.

[422] We are the New Israel, and we need to celebrate and live that with joy and strength.

[423] And it does strengthen us to face everything that we face now.

[424] Well said, and I want people to know the St. Philip Institute is the publisher of this catechism.

[425] Mr. Strickland, I like being able to ask you to give a plug to what the St. Philip Institute's about, because these resources are not just for the Diocese of Tyler.

[426] People in California all over the world can access these resources.

[427] Can you tell us what they're all about?

[428] Yeah, the St. Philip Institute really is our Catechical and Evangelical Institute that really focuses on one flock, the Diocese of Tyler, but it's the same truth for every flock.

[429] And people do benefit from it.

[430] The catechism that we're using is really designed for those who are in our CIA or Christian initiation.

[431] They're seeking to become Catholic.

[432] But it's valuable for all of us.

[433] I mean, we can reread these questions and answers over and over again because it's talking about mysteries that we can never say, oh, we fully understand and we can move on.

[434] because we know the person of Jesus Christ who takes us to the Father in the Spirit.

[435] It's always their personal beings.

[436] God is a personal being that we can come to know more and more deeply through his son to the Father in the Spirit.

[437] But it's a never -ending quest to know God more deeply and to love Him more fully.

[438] And the way we do that is to know His Word and to know His teaching.

[439] That's what the St. Philip Institute is all about.

[440] Wow.

[441] Well, Bishop Shreckman, if we could get your blessing for our listeners, and we pray that this coming Lent that we're going to be experiencing next week will be a very efficacious Lent that brings us closer to Jesus Christ.

[442] So if we could get a blessing, that'd be great.

[443] The Lord be with you.

[444] And with your spirit.

[445] Almighty God, we ask your blessing for all of us as we are on the doorstep of another Lenton season.

[446] May it be a time to be renewed, to turn from sin, and to embrace the wonderful good news, the joy of the gospel that is always available to us.

[447] May this retreat of the church be a time to grow in faith and to know that the darkness has been overcome by the light of the Son of God.

[448] And we ask this blessing in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

[449] Amen.

[450] And I just want to remind you, Bishop Strickland will be participating at our time.

[451] spiritual warfare conference with Father Chad Rippaker and others coming up in March.

[452] If you'd like to watch the presentations, you can go to vmpr .org and check that out.

[453] And at the same time, if you want to watch a men's conference or visit us here in California, which I don't, you know, I think Bishop Strickland is doing some penance coming out here from Texas.

[454] I wouldn't want to go to California.

[455] I live here.

[456] but my fact the fact is Jesse Romero and his brother Johnny are going to do a men's conference on the 17th of June every year it's a packed house and this is something that I mentioned to the wives right now give your husband a Father's Day gift by going to the spirit to by going to the men's conference with Jess Romero and Johnny Romero you won't regret that I'll be there also and you can sign up by going to vmpr .org or calling us at 8777 526 -215.

[457] And I want to recommend again the St. Philip Institute because those resources are valuable for all of our listeners.

[458] And also I just want to make a little pitch.

[459] I have a minute here, Bishop Strickland, that you have a lot of seminarians proportionate to the size of your diocese that you have to feed, educate, and clothe.

[460] And I'd like to recommend that people go to the diocese of Tyler and make a donation to fund the work of the diocese of Tyler, Texas.

[461] things there in that little diocese that's a rather large events that they're putting together with the St. Philip Institute and also bringing in good religious into the diocese and it all takes expenses.

[462] So would you please seriously consider writing a check to the diocese of Tyler, Texas and say this is your Lenton sacrifice because Lent will be here the day after we play this.

[463] And I want to thank the bishop for joining us each week and teaching us about Jesus Christ and his bride the church.

[464] May God bless you folks for supporting us here at Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[465] Until next week, we'll see you again at the same time and thank all those AM stations that are picking up the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[466] Church militant, LifeSight News, and other apostles.

[467] We welcome all to promote on this show.

[468] God love you.