09 Mar 2021 – Massive Catholic Center Planned for East Texas

[0] Welcome to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[1] My name is Terry Barber, and I have the honor of interviewing Bishop Strickland each week to talk about how people can fall deep in love with Jesus Christ and his bride of the church.

[2] Bishop Strickland, I want to say welcome again to another week.

[3] How are you, my friend?

[4] Good, Terry.

[5] How are you?

[6] I'm too blessed to be stressed and too anointed to be disappointed.

[7] And Bishop Strickland, if Hope was money, I'd be donating to your new, a massive Catholic Center plan for East Texas.

[8] That's what I'm going to start it off with, because you have an article from the Register, Bishop Strickland, that talks about the Veritatis Splendor, which in Latin is the Splendor of the Truth Center.

[9] And it's over 600 acres of land.

[10] That's not part of the diocese.

[11] I understand that, but it's in your diocese.

[12] And I wanted to ask you, tell us about what's going on here.

[13] I mean, I see it in the register, but can you give us an overview of what's going to be taking place in your diocese?

[14] Yes, Terry, I'm glad to.

[15] It's been a few months of meeting with some very committed, joyful Catholic families that are looking to develop this.

[16] It really is not an officially Catholic entity, but it is Catholic families.

[17] And they certainly welcome any who believe in Jesus Christ and would want to participate in something like this.

[18] I have to say the word massive in the title of that article is a little surprising maybe for us here in East Texas.

[19] Massive and Catholic don't often fit together in the same title, but maybe that's going to change.

[20] There are a lot of faithful Catholics here that love the church very much, love Jesus Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary, and all that the church is, the family of God.

[21] That is the reason as a bishop, even though it's not officially Catholic, it's not part of the Diocese of Tyler.

[22] There's no funding of this.

[23] We don't have the funds, and they realize that.

[24] They are working on developing funds and having fundraisers, but that is something independent of the diocese and really independent of even a Catholic entity.

[25] It's just a group of committed Catholic families that are spearheading this.

[26] And really, I see it as a response to the challenges that families are facing to look to the beautiful message of Jesus Christ and the fullness of truth.

[27] Absolutely.

[28] As you know, I am deeply committed to guarding the deposit of faith.

[29] Amen.

[30] And that's what these families are wanting is the full, rich, deposit of faith in Jesus Christ, the good news that he has shared with us.

[31] What the church teaches, what the, as I've said very often on this program and in other interviews, I simply read the catechism out loud.

[32] We literally do that as part of the...

[33] this hour.

[34] And these families are going to be living the catechism out loud.

[35] Wow.

[36] That's what it's about.

[37] I support them spiritually and pray for them.

[38] That really I think it's a good model that I would encourage other places to develop simply Catholic families coming together.

[39] There are probably some clarification.

[40] of it not being an officially Catholic entity, just so that it can clearly welcome anyone who believes in Jesus Christ.

[41] Certainly, I believe that the church is the fullness of the message of Jesus Christ, word and sacrament, where a both -and community is Catholics.

[42] And absolutely, it's not in any way having less than a full appreciation of Catholicism.

[43] But, acknowledging that especially in our area, and really around the world, around the country, there are many believing Christians that line up with what the catechism teaches more than maybe their denomination does or the group that they're with, whether it's non -denominational or one of the what we call the mainline Protestant churches.

[44] There are many individual Christians who say, I believe in the sanctity.

[45] of life.

[46] I believe in the sanctity of marriage.

[47] I believe that God created us male and female.

[48] Pretty basic stuff.

[49] I mean, just in today's reading, the prophet Isaiah was speaking to the leaders of Sodom and Gomorrah and telling them, you better get your act together.

[50] We know what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah.

[51] And I thought it was a great reading in Isaiah for just the daily mass, the Lenton Mass today, where the prophet speaks of certainly the sexual sins of Sodom and Gomorrah, but also mentions that they were mistreating widows and mistreating orphans and forgetting some of the basic call of, for them, the First Covenant people, the Jewish people, of living according to God's commandments.

[52] So that's what we're called to.

[53] Really, I would describe veritatis splendor.

[54] The splendor of truth is what that translates to, as you said.

[55] It's like a seedbed for families.

[56] If you imagine, I mean, you have had children, you've had to nurture them.

[57] Seeing your children in the family as seedlings of new humanity, of the next generation, and to nurture and form and strengthen those seedlings to be strong, well -rooted Catholics for the future.

[58] That's what Veritas Splendor is about.

[59] Some people have already said, oh, is it one of these bunker communities and hiding from culture and wanting to bury underground?

[60] Absolutely not.

[61] But it's just like, I love that image of the seed bed or, you know, the seedling plants, they're tender, they're weak, they need to be nurtured in a somewhat of a hot house environment.

[62] But for the sake of going out, not, you don't have seeds in a seedlings in a hot house are developed in that protected environment to be put out into the world as beautiful trees or beautiful shrubs or beautiful flowering plants, whatever those seedlings are meant to become.

[63] So it's interesting, as I've reflected on it, Terry, we know seminaries for the formation of priests.

[64] They didn't always exist.

[65] Jesus Christ didn't establish seminaries.

[66] For many centuries, priests were formed in different ways, especially and I'm no great historian, but I think it's accurate that after the Council of Trent is when seminaries really began to flourish because the Council of Trent said, we need this structured way of forming priest to make sure that they know the catechism, they know the deposit of faith, that they're well formed in the teachings of the Catholic Church that don't change.

[67] That's the advantage we have.

[68] of teaching the next generation, we can teach them and they can teach the next and the next.

[69] The truth doesn't change.

[70] No matter who may say it changes now, and many people say that, oh, the truth is changing.

[71] It doesn't change.

[72] It's the same truth as it was when Jesus Christ, the incarnate truth, was sharing it with the original apostles.

[73] So really, Terry, and none of us knows exactly what, what, the future holds, but I believe that something like Veritante Splendor may be a new model for the church to flourish in the 21st century and beyond.

[74] Monasteries didn't always exist.

[75] Right.

[76] St. Benedict developed a Benedict and rule that many religious communities adapted, but that basic idea of the monastery was a strong focus of the church for many centuries.

[77] We have lived through a time really since kind of the decline of monasteries.

[78] The parochial model has been where the church has been for years, but that seems to be less effective, less a lot of families because of sprawling cities and the way people live, they don't feel the support that they need beyond absolutely going to Mass on Sunday.

[79] that's sort of become the focus of the parish.

[80] And certainly, their parishes where they still are the focal point of that Catholic community.

[81] But I think that we need new models.

[82] And possibly these lay families, these Catholic families are developed.

[83] I think they're onto something.

[84] I may be wrong.

[85] It may not be what we need to look for.

[86] But I like to think of it as kind of a seminary for families, a seed bed where families can nurture their children, for really the opposite of hiding them away, but really strengthening them in the truth.

[87] And just like Jesus sent out the apostles to send out their children in an apostolic wave of truth and joy and good news in Jesus Christ.

[88] And in talking to these families, that's exactly what they hope for.

[89] is to, like we used to say, Terry, in my years, I was in the seminary for eight years.

[90] So, oops.

[91] Go ahead.

[92] I'm following you.

[93] I disappeared on my side.

[94] I see you, but eight years in the seminary, yep.

[95] We used to say, you're not meant to stay in the seminary.

[96] You're meant to leave the seminary.

[97] Exactly.

[98] And I like that same idea for what Veritatis splendor is developing.

[99] The children of these families are not meant to just stay there.

[100] Yeah.

[101] They're meant to be strengthened there and to go out into the world, into the darkest corners of the world, and bring the light of Christ.

[102] Well said.

[103] So I like that image.

[104] I do too.

[105] And I like a comment that says, overall, Veritas Splendor is the idea to protect, preserve, and proclaim the truth of the faith.

[106] When we come back, we'll have more with the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[107] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[108] Bishop Strickland just gave us a great explanation of this beautiful Catholic Center Plan for East Texas, Veritata Splendor.

[109] I want to also recommend, I believe it was the late 80s.

[110] I want to say 1988 or 93.

[111] I can't remember what year it was.

[112] But that particular document that St. John Paul 2 wrote, I was ecstatic because it went back to a more to mystic approach when we dealt with morality of St. Thomas.

[113] and it was a breath of fresh air and thank God for our Holy Father for putting that document out.

[114] Now, Bishop Strickland, I'm going to go back to your tweets now that you do every week and man, you're tweeting a lot and, you know, this is a good tweet that I saw on the 24th that said, we are all worried about the wrongism.

[115] Racism is immoral and should be shunned, yes, right?

[116] But the root of our problem is atheism.

[117] And then you said, let us repent of our sins and humbly return to God.

[118] If we do this racism and every other ill that plagues our society will fall into dust.

[119] We must address this route.

[120] Bishop Strickland, the Second Vatican Council, said that atheism was one of the biggest problems for the church to face.

[121] That was in the 1960.

[122] So I think you're on to that.

[123] But when you talk about racism, we're talking about how it seems like everybody's dealing with, like I'll say the Black Lives Matter group.

[124] Now, all lives matter, but they seem to make it certain that just because you're not their race, that you must be a racist.

[125] And it seems like that's getting all over the country right now.

[126] So is that why you wanted to talk about what ism is really the most important problem in our culture, which is atheism?

[127] Is that why you did that?

[128] Absolutely, because the rationale that I was basing it on, and it came from a conversation I had with a group of men that day that we were just talking about the realities of, certainly racism is sinful.

[129] Absolutely.

[130] It's forgetting because of whatever race, and it can apply to any, race of people, but because of the color of their skin or because of the language they speak or because of whatever accident of their humanity, that they're somehow treated less than a child of God should be treated.

[131] But even as I use that language, and that's why I wanted to point out that if we don't believe in God, we really don't believe in our own value because Because we are created in the image and likeness of God.

[132] And believe me, Terry, as you can imagine, probably that tweet, I usually don't look at a lot of the responses.

[133] But with a tweet like that, I did look at some, I confess.

[134] And, man, people get angry.

[135] And the vitriol, when it comes down to an issue like that, talking about atheism.

[136] The ugly language and the anger that you can receive through a tweet is just really astonishing that people feel that vehemently opposed to the idea of religion.

[137] And, you know, the old fake news, fake news is really not something new.

[138] It just maybe continues to increase but the fake news that more Christianity has killed more people in history than any other it's just ridiculous it's not the data it's just something that people say and they get away with it because we don't have the data or we we don't respond with the data the way we should the atrocities create perpetrated by people in the name of no god have been powerful in the Old Testament times, in pre -old Testament times, in New Testament times, and in the times of the church, the 2 ,000 years that the church has existed, there have been many people slaughtered in the name of atheism.

[139] So, but it really comes down to, honestly, Terry, if we really believe in the what atheists claim to believe there is no God.

[140] We all just oozed out of somewhere or popped into existence.

[141] Yeah.

[142] Then where, what sort of ethic can you base that on?

[143] It always mystifies me that if there truly is no value.

[144] to this life beyond this world and we're all going to just crumble to dust one day and that's it then what rationality you use for any kind of behavior except I'm going to get everything I can and I'm going to destroy anybody I need to.

[145] Sadly, some people operate that way and we can't how can you really what basis do you have for questioning that if there is no god and we are not created in the image and likeness of god then we have a right to get as much power as we can and use that power however we decide to ethics becomes really meaningless because i mean you can have all these these philosophies and I said, oh, you should live in harmony, but why?

[146] How can you argue that?

[147] So I think it really is and it's very rampant.

[148] I've said before, I don't believe a lot of the young people that really celebrate their atheism are truly atheist.

[149] And sadly, we could talk a lot about the occult and the Satanists and the people that are really embracing.

[150] evil as as their god and satan as their god um that is is prevalent as well maybe growing more prevalent than even classical atheism people embracing evil because people it's everything from just thinking it's sort of fun things to play with which they're playing with fire when they start dealing in the occult and in playing around with satanism but you see way too much of it in the media so i mean i guess i could go on and on about the ills of atheism but that's why i tweeted that because i truly truly believe it is at the root if we don't believe we're created in the image and likeness of god right then the value of the human person begins to diminish sadly we see that with disposable unborn people.

[151] Exactly.

[152] And it opens the door for anybody being disposable when we decide, oh, that person's disposable for whatever reason we've decided.

[153] If we have the power to dispose of them, then they're vulnerable.

[154] And too many people are in the world today.

[155] Well, Mike makes right.

[156] And that's wrong.

[157] And thank you for doing that because the thinking with the church, the church realizes that atheism is really a big threat to Christianity because if there is no God, as you said, there's no boundaries.

[158] We can kill unborn.

[159] We can kill the longborn, the elderly.

[160] And, you know, people are just like animals.

[161] There's no difference.

[162] I've heard people say that.

[163] I've even seen a sign on the freeway in Los Angeles that says, dogs are people too.

[164] I mean, really?

[165] Are you that mixed up, buddy?

[166] But that's what our culture is doing.

[167] Now, I want to tell you, Just a couple hours ago when we were on live radio with the Terry and Jesse show, one of the women who listens to us was pretty upset, just like you said in those tweets.

[168] And my screener said that she was civil.

[169] I said, is she not going to use bad language or she's going to scream at me?

[170] I don't want her.

[171] But if we can have a dialogue, put her on.

[172] So she came on the air and she says, you know, you're not going to like what I'm going to tell you.

[173] And I said, well, that's okay.

[174] I'm not here to be liked.

[175] Let's talk about what's on your mind.

[176] she says well i got three issues that i'm upset with you about i said well let's talk about it she's number one abortion why are you constantly talking about abortion just realize god's merciful and forget it i said okay so that was number one then she went number two you and jesse romero you guys i've been watching you and i looked you up and you guys are for for violence you you you promote that you both have firearms in your home and that you would shoot somebody if they came into your home to harm your family and kids so i said yeah i confess yeah and i quoted the catechism to show that self -defense that yeah my job description is to protect my bride and my children so okay she's number three you make it sound like every catholic has to pray the rosary that's crazy talk i said okay well let's talk about that too so she was i said so i said so i brought up st John Paul 2 and Our Lady of Fatima and that you know this is not my idea Daisy was her name Daisy I'm not I said this is not my personal opinion matter of fact Daisy I could care less about Jesse Romero Terry Barber's opinion I want to know what the church teaches and I think that that's what you need to look at now don't look at us as our personal opinions we're going to give you what Holy Mother the church teaches and give you resources like at the end of every show we talk about the five stones of King David the rosary confession prayer penance you know adoration of the blessed sacrament these are the core things that as Catholics we should be doing but it's not because Terry or Jesse's opinion this is what Holy Mother the Church teaches and so the beautiful thing is that she said well I'm not going to listen to you anymore I said oh I hope you do because I wanted to ask you if you would pray for me because I want to pray for you and then it was silence and then she ended up saying okay I'll pray for you and I said thank you Daisy but you see Bishop Strickland those people who are upset at us I love them with the truth and I don't get angry because they're you know they're picking at me or picking on me and she says you're you scare me I said when you see me Daisy I'm only five foot five I'm a little guy I promise I won't scare you but you know you try a little fun and you but the point is there's a lot of low information Catholics Bishop Strickland that don't know their faith and they're more intimate and more in tune with a political party rather than the Catholic faith and so I just pray for people like that because this is why your show the Bishop Strickland hour is so important because you just teach right from this book the catechism of the Catholic Church if they don't like what you're teaching it's not with you they've got an issue with what Christ and his church teaches so anyhow I just wanted to say thank you for your willingness because you're a bishop I'm a layman I get a I'm happy when when people get mad at me, because you know what I think?

[177] I think I got their attention.

[178] And maybe, maybe through God's grace that they'll think, well, maybe these guys have something.

[179] Well, remember, Terry, though, I mean.

[180] Tell me. I'm a dangerous bishop.

[181] That's right.

[182] I keep forgetting that.

[183] You are.

[184] And you know what?

[185] That's why we work with you.

[186] Because you know what, Bishop Strickland, you're not afraid to speak the truth in charity and with clarity.

[187] And that's, I wish I could say that right now that we had all of our bishops on the same page.

[188] But you know what, Bishop Strickland?

[189] Sad to say, that's not the case.

[190] But you know what?

[191] We pray for all of our bishops here at Virgin Most Powerful every Thursday, a priest, the Holy Father, because they've got a tough job.

[192] You do have a tough job.

[193] I acknowledge that.

[194] But you know what?

[195] Lay people just want, not your opinion, they want Holy Mother's, the church's teaching, the perennial teachings of the church.

[196] And when we come back, we're going to open up those perennial teachings of the church with the catechism of the Catholic Church.

[197] We'll be right back after this quick break.

[198] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[199] My name is Terry Barber.

[200] I'm with the Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[201] And I'm with Bishop Strickland to talk about the catechism of the Catholic Church.

[202] I have the second edition in my hands.

[203] And, you know, this sounds like a laborious process going through a book that's rather thick.

[204] but you know I've had friends in jail that spent time in prison reading this catechism and Fisher Strickland believe it or not they are I've got friends that are in the seminary based on the catechism of the Catholic Church because it gave them the truth of life and so this is such a beautiful document I'd like to go through each paragraph to talk about it now we're on paragraph 85 for those who have a catechism and this one says it's about the magisterium of the church you heard that term magisterium what the heck is that but we're going to talk about it the task of giving an authentic interpretation of the word of god whether in its written form or in the form of tradition has been entrusted to the living teaching office of the church alone its authority in this matter is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ Wow.

[205] This means that the task of interpretation has been entrusted to the bishops in communion with the successor of Peter, the bishop of Rome.

[206] Now, Bishop Strickland, before I ask you to comment on that, I think many of us have read in the Acts of the Apostles about the eunuch.

[207] It's in one of the readings for the daily mass readings, where he asked him, how can I understand this unless somebody reading the Word of God, unless somebody interprets it for him?

[208] And this probably is such a key issue, Bishop Strickland, because if you think about it, we've got about 40 ,000 Protestant denominations, and most of the denominations started when people are arguing about the Bible and what it really means.

[209] And so it seems to me that this paragraph really gives me solace, because I don't have to think, oh, I have to do it myself.

[210] What are your thoughts about a paragraph that said, in a paragraph 85, what are your thoughts?

[211] on that?

[212] Well, Terry, it's interesting because you allude to Chapter 8 of Acts, where St. Philip, the deacon, talks to the Ethiopian eunic, who is reading the scroll of Isaiah.

[213] He says, how can I know what it means?

[214] Nobody here to tell me. So St. Philip, the deacon, tells him, that's why we named the Institute here in the Diocese of Tyler, the St. Philip Institute.

[215] Oh, there you go.

[216] Inspired by that deacon of the church, a brand new deacon sharing the truth that so often alludes to the Messiah, whom we know is Jesus Christ.

[217] So the rest of that story, of course, is he climbs into the chariot and teaches the Ethiopian, and he's ultimately baptized.

[218] Right.

[219] And so that's what the church is supposed to do.

[220] Yep.

[221] And that's exactly what this is talking about with the magisterium of the church, entrusted to the bishops and to the bishop of Rome in union with the successor of Peter.

[222] It's this deposit of faith that the catechism contains.

[223] And one of the key elements of this is that sentence, its authority in this matter, is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ.

[224] Like we've talked about before, Jesus Christ says, all power in heaven and on earth has been given to him.

[225] He is authority incarnate.

[226] He is truth incarnate.

[227] He is God's divine son, Father's Son and Holy Spirit, all that is flows from their love and all that is true flows from their truth.

[228] So this is a key text that as the Catechism, it's paragraph 85 of the Catechism, but it brings together some critical elements.

[229] As you alluded to, there are really almost countless.

[230] I guess you have an exact number, but it's probably changing all the time.

[231] As new groups are developing and some are falling by the wayside, sometimes groups of the Christian communities that come together that are not part of, not in union with the Roman Catholic Church, they are often based on personalities and we've always been very cautious about that in the Catholic church the personality for us is Jesus Christ amen and yes he had a real personality as the God man fully God fully man but he had always with his human personality is a divine personality and the great mystery of the hypostatic union to use fancy theological terminology.

[232] But that just means he's always fully God and fully man. Amen.

[233] We can't understand that fully.

[234] How can God die on a cross?

[235] Well, in his humanity, his body died, his heart stopped, his blood.

[236] flowed out, blood and water flowed from his side.

[237] He stopped breathing.

[238] His body was truly dead and still in the mystery of him as God's divine son, the second person of the Trinity.

[239] Obviously, he was fully, he was still alive as God's divine son, but truly died.

[240] I mean, we don't understand that.

[241] How can he die and still be the eternal son?

[242] of God living, we see a glimpse of how that happens with the resurrection of his body.

[243] And certainly in the early days of the church, there were some that said, well, he didn't really die, did he?

[244] He just reanimated.

[245] He really wasn't dead.

[246] But it's our faith that he died and rose.

[247] and that part of that is captured in this paragraph 85 that the authority of the church is based on Jesus Christ who lived, died, and rose, ascended to the Father, and is eternally with his church as he promised.

[248] So, and that's one way, another way of saying what we always say, Terry, as you just said earlier, it's not my authority.

[249] It's not yours.

[250] It's not my opinion.

[251] It's not yours.

[252] It's the authority of Jesus Christ that the catechism captures.

[253] And as a bishop, every ordained bishop promises to guard the deposit of faith.

[254] That deposit of faith comes from Jesus Christ.

[255] And certainly, old and New Testament, all of sacred scripture is the, as Jesus is the incarnate word of God, all of sacred scripture is him, from the book of Genesis to the book of Revelation all the way through, authentic word of God is Jesus Christ.

[256] He's the incarnate presence of that authentic word of God.

[257] So it's a mystery beyond our understanding, but we need to remember, like the woman that you were talking to that you mentioned in the other segment, had questions about what the church teaches, and many people do through, even in person with Jesus Christ, there were people protesting Jesus even as he was beginning as ministry, even as he was talking.

[258] even as he was teaching it'd be interesting i've never done it but it would be interesting to go through the gospels and mark all the times that it says they were trying to kill him they wanted to throw him off a cliff they wanted to get rid of him they wanted to banish him because they didn't like the truth that he was sharing but what all of us need to remember When we reject what we believe, when we reject the truth that's captured in this catechism, the deposit of faith of Christ's bride the church, we're rejecting Christ.

[259] We're saying, I don't like that part of what he said.

[260] And we all need to examine our conscience and recognize that, again, it's nothing new.

[261] when he said you must eat my body and drink my blood or you will have no life in you the gospels tell us many people walked away but jesus didn't say oh i didn't really mean it because he had to mean it as truth incarnate yeah he's not going to and really can't change the truth because it's his.

[262] It can't, as he says, in another place in the gospel, you may deny me, but I cannot deny myself.

[263] So if you deny me, I have to deny you.

[264] He can't deny himself.

[265] He can't deny himself because truth is woven into existence.

[266] And that's beautifully what the catechism tells us in so many facets of the teaching, the deposit of faith.

[267] It is that is truly tremendous.

[268] If we just open our hearts to it and listen to what the church teaches, it's a beautiful expression of good news.

[269] It brings us joy.

[270] Even this paragraph, paragraph 85, if we just surrender all the doubts and all the questions and all the opinions that we may have and just, say, I am going to do my best to live the truth of Christ as transmitted through his church in this deposit of faith.

[271] It's very freeing, very uplifting.

[272] It's very challenging, absolutely.

[273] But that challenge becomes a joyful challenge when we recognize we're listening to God.

[274] We're listening to how God made creation.

[275] And it goes back to our discussion of atheism earlier, if you deny God, you're really denying the truth of the fabric of who we are.

[276] And it begins to erode that fabric in devastating ways.

[277] Wow.

[278] When we come back, it's a great paragraph that follows what Bishop Strickland just said.

[279] Paragraph 86.

[280] I'm going to tease you.

[281] Does Bishop Strickland have the authority as a magisterium as the Pope and change eternal truths of the faith?

[282] When we come back, we'll let the catechism speak for itself.

[283] You're listening to the Terry and Jesse show.

[284] I'm Noah, Bishop Strickland Hour.

[285] Sorry, we'll be right back.

[286] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland hour.

[287] I gave a big tease, and I was not trying to pick on Bishop Strickland or the Pope.

[288] I was just making a point.

[289] Can Bishop Strickland or the Holy Father change the perennial teachings of the church?

[290] Well, the answer is no, but this paragraph will tell us because Bishop Strickland's job and the Bill's job is to confirm us in the perennial teachings of the faith.

[291] Check this out.

[292] Paragraph 86.

[293] Yet this magisterium is not superior to the word of God, but it is its servant.

[294] It teaches only what has been handed on to it at the divine command and with the help of the Holy Spirit it listens to this devoutly, guards it with dedication, and expounds it faithfully.

[295] All that it proposes for belief as being divinely revealed is drawn from this single deposit of faith.

[296] How reassuring is that paragraph, Bishop Strickland?

[297] Very important.

[298] Very important.

[299] And I love the way it's worded.

[300] Yet this majesty, is not superior to the word of God, but is it servant?

[301] That's beautiful.

[302] And we all know, if you know anything about Jesus Christ, he's constantly the humble servant, the suffering servant.

[303] He tells his apostles, be servants.

[304] He emphasizes that as he washes their feet before he establishes the Eucharist, his body and blood presence in the form of consecrated bread and wine.

[305] He's constantly calling them to be servants, to be humble.

[306] And so I love the way the catechism, just again quoting, it actually, that is a quote from Dave Verbum, one of the documents of the Second Vatican Council, that it says so clearly, this magisterium is not superior to the word of God, but is it servants?

[307] it teaches only what has been handed on to it it goes back to what we were saying earlier that the truth doesn't change right and that deposit of faith yes doesn't change in a beautiful way to look at this Terry yeah besides just like okay well that's what the church says and everything the truth doesn't change because Jesus is a real person who doesn't change, who is the incarnate truth, the incarnate son of God.

[308] He has come to us to show us the way.

[309] As we know, the early church was called the way.

[310] And he is the way, the truth, and the life.

[311] So that aspect of truth not changing in being a living teaching.

[312] It's a reminder to us that we're, it's all about a living person.

[313] It's all about a living God.

[314] Jesus Christ is described the son of the living God.

[315] Truth is alive.

[316] Truth is not some dead, lifeless deposit, but it really is the living expression of God.

[317] for our generation and the next generation and the next.

[318] So once again, the catechism in this time, number 86, fully quoting a document of the Second Vatican Council, Dei Verbum, the Word of God.

[319] But it really says in just a few sentences, something that is so critical for us to understand.

[320] As a bishop, I can't change what the church teaches.

[321] I can't just delete some of it because, well, the culture is saying, oh, we don't like that anymore.

[322] And it speaks of that deposit of faith and guarding it, which really is the job of all of us, but as bishop, I promised to guard it with dedication.

[323] That's the role of a shepherd of all the bishops, starting with the bishop of Rome, Pope Francis, and all the bishops.

[324] of the world, we have to be humble servants of the Word of God in this deposit of faith.

[325] Too often, people want us to not live up to that, to change that, because, oh, it's too judgmental or too harsh.

[326] And we hear a lot, I mean, I see quoted a lot of times that where Christ does say, we should not judge each other.

[327] but woven into that is we should absolutely judge ourselves ultimately we are judged by God, but we need to judge our actions according to this deposit of faith, according to what the word of God says for a while on this program we were talking about the Ten Commandments.

[328] We definitely need to judge for ourselves.

[329] No, we shouldn't judge others.

[330] but I have to judge my actions.

[331] We call it an examination of conscience.

[332] Am I living in accord with this deposit of faith, with the truth?

[333] And too often when I hear people quoting Christ accurately, but we always have to be careful, and this is one of the church's teachings, is we see scripture.

[334] as a whole, as once again a whole person.

[335] And there's a real tendency in the Catholic Church and in other Christian communities.

[336] There's a real tendency to pull out verses and to focus only on that in isolation.

[337] We should never isolate one expression of Christ, the Word of God, in the scriptures, from another.

[338] Sometimes that's where we need the Magisterium, helping us to navigate, where Jesus says, repent of your sins, but he also says, judge not, let's ye be judged.

[339] So how does that, how do we bring that all together and live the ethic of the word of God that is brought to us to good news?

[340] Well, the Magisterium is here to help us sort through that.

[341] So the Magisterium has a critical role in being a servant of the Word of God.

[342] But too often, as servants, I mean, you can look through history and look at our own time.

[343] There's a temptation for the Magisterium, the servants of the Word of God, to begin to try to reshape that word.

[344] And when we do that, if we reach the point of actually altering it, that's not what a servant of the Word of God does.

[345] and it becomes very dangerous.

[346] Well, you just confirmed what Bishop Robert Barron said on the radio not too long ago when he said the church that's not precise is a corrupt church.

[347] And his point was we need to be really clear on what we teach and not ambiguous.

[348] And I'm just going to be honest with you, Bishop Strickland, that Bishop's comment, Bishop Robert Barron's comment, really hit home for me because I think of not just some bishops and some of the things, even coming out of Rome are ambiguous at best, and I'm saying the catechism says we need to have clarity on these issues, and that's what we're looking for.

[349] Now, we just have a couple minutes left, but paragraph 89 has a beautiful way of saying what you just said about dogma and spiritual life.

[350] He says paragraph 89, there is an organic connection between our spiritual life and the dogmas.

[351] Dogmas, I love this analogy, are like lights along the path of faith.

[352] faith.

[353] They illuminate it and make it secure.

[354] Conversely, if our life is upright, our intellect and heart will be open to welcome the light shed by the dogmas of the faith.

[355] Isn't that beautifully stated?

[356] I mean, wow.

[357] It got me. And you know, Bishop, when I see something as clear as this, I know this sounds funny but here you are reading from the catechism of the catholic church and saying this is what we believe and i i want to encourage your listeners please open up your catechism on a daily basis with your bible and read this because you're going to need this kind of stability in your faith because we're not getting a lot of stability in a lot of the local parishes and i'm going to be honest, I'm not trying to be critical.

[358] I'm just saying, even in Rome, I hear things that come out and I scratch my head as a layman and go, what?

[359] Let's look at the catechism, and I want to reassure our listeners.

[360] Don't be flustered by that.

[361] We've been there before.

[362] We've had the Aryan heresy back in the 4th century where Bishop Strickland, I heard that there were two -thirds of the bishops were Aryans.

[363] Now, that's what history teaches.

[364] So I'm just saying, we've been there.

[365] But reassure yourself, everyone, that your Catechism of the Catholic Church, as St. John Paul 2 said at the beginning is a sure norm for your faith.

[366] So always qualify things by opening up your catechism of the Catholic faith.

[367] Bishop Strickland, I won't go to another paragraph, but I want to leave you with the final thoughts and then a final blessing, please.

[368] I guess my final thought from our discussion today is always remember that deposit of faith, the truth is good news.

[369] Amen.

[370] Once again, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus Christ is good news personified.

[371] He is incarnate good news.

[372] It's the news that we need as human beings to know who we are, to know how we can flourish in this world and be with God in eternity.

[373] So it's important.

[374] Yes, it's challenging.

[375] Oh, yeah.

[376] And we fail to live the every aspect of the word of God because we're sinners, but it remains good news.

[377] And there's not, we need good news in the world today.

[378] And we have it in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

[379] So let me bless you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

[380] Amen.

[381] Thank you, Bishop Strickland, for all the time you've given us here at Virgin Most Powerful to proclaim the teachings of the church.

[382] If anyone doesn't have a catechism?

[383] I get this periodically.

[384] Someone will call me. I don't have one.

[385] Can you give me a catechism?

[386] The answer is yes.

[387] I'll even give you my cell phone on the air.

[388] I don't know if another radio host will do this because they're not as crazy as I am.

[389] That's probably why.

[390] 661 -972 -7872.

[391] I'll take your call.

[392] Give me your name and address and we'll shoot you a catechism.

[393] I also want to just thank the people who are supporting us here at Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[394] I know like we get some people who say that we're just kind of an extreme group because we teach what the Catholic Church teaches and we don't deviate, but I have to tell you, I don't have a choice.

[395] I'm a follower of Jesus Christ, and he established a church, and he gave it the fullness of the truth in his church, and so I want to embrace that.

[396] I would encourage you to embrace that, and how do you do that?

[397] By turning your life over to Jesus Christ, and I want encourage someone who's not a Catholic, even a Catholic, go visit Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament on a daily basis or at least a couple times a week and just sit there in the presence of Christ.

[398] And I guarantee it.

[399] Guarantee the peace we'll find because it's Jesus Christ there under the appearance of bread and wine.

[400] And this is Lent.

[401] If you hadn't gone to confession yet in the last month, do yourself a favor.

[402] I mean, you're going to take a bath this week, aren't you?

[403] Well, take a spiritual bath by going to confession at least once a month.

[404] That's my recommendation.

[405] As Joe Sixpack, that's Gary Barber signing off with Bishop Strickland on the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[406] May God richly bless you and your family.

[407] God love you.