19 Apr 22 – A Message to the German Bishops

[0] to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[1] My name is Terry Barber with Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[2] Bishop Strickland, thank you for joining us on this busy Holy Week.

[3] Thank you, Terry.

[4] I'm really pumped up, but people tell me all the time, I say, why are you always excited?

[5] And I always tell people, because I love Jesus Christ, especially in the Holy Eucharist.

[6] That's what fires me up.

[7] I just came from the Blessed Sacrament praying.

[8] And that combination with on the natural level iced tea, I'm fired up.

[9] Bishop Strickland, today I want to talk about your tweets, but I also want to, this breaking news that just came out on the 13th of this month, and it's over 70 bishops, and you're one of them, you guys warn the German bishops that the synodontal path will lead to schism.

[10] I mean, Bishop Strickland, this is guys like Cardinal Pell, Cardinal Renzi, lots of cardinals and bishops around the world, and it's a fraternal, old.

[11] open letter.

[12] I think, what a great thing to do.

[13] The Catholic agency as addressing it, they're saying that they're sending this letter to the bishops of Germany saying that the Sedonaulta path is risking to a dead end and it's a very controversial movement within the German church and it was launched back in 2019 for those who don't know.

[14] But it's the concern these bishops are having is that what these bishops in germany are doing is changing what the perennial teachings of christ taught on sexual morality on women's priesthood and it goes on and on and so uh the article says it well about they're trying to they're appearing to to change the structure of the church and rather than changing people's hearts and turning them to christ they're becoming more worldly in these views.

[15] So I wanted to give you a little time to explain to me why these bishops are signing this letter and sticking their neck out, so to speak, because there's thousands of bishops who aren't on that letter signing.

[16] So can you share with us why you are so firm about wanting the letter to get to your brother bishops in Germany?

[17] Well, absolutely, Terry.

[18] It should be every bishop in my opinion.

[19] And it's because we're being bishops.

[20] Bishops are to guard the deposit of faith.

[21] That's a promise we made.

[22] And frankly, the senatoral path of Germany, as proposed, is doing the opposite.

[23] It's eroding the deposit of faith and saying, oh, it's all up for grabs.

[24] That's not what we're celebrating during this Holy Week.

[25] And Terry, really, the way I would frame it is you have a crucifix there behind you.

[26] I do.

[27] This holy week, it's the week of weeks.

[28] It is the greatest seven days in all of our time.

[29] Every year, we commemorate what the Son of God, Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, what he accomplished.

[30] And we can't let it go.

[31] Even if every person on earth decided to deny it, it's still the truth.

[32] Right.

[33] And it's the truth that will set us free if we will just allow it to.

[34] So frankly, Terry, we need not just 70 bishops, but 70 times seven bishops.

[35] We need every bishop being a bishop.

[36] supporting the truth.

[37] I'm proud to stand with the bishops that did sign it, and I humbly and lovingly urge every bishop to consider joining it, because we need every bishop.

[38] And there are bishops even in Germany.

[39] It's not that every single bishop is on this sentinel path.

[40] The leadership is, but I've spoken to bishops that are there and are not, but they're in the minority, and they're not certainly not the loudest voice, but we need to join them.

[41] Every bishop that is true to the call of bishops has to face the challenges of living the truth of Jesus Christ.

[42] I'm a sinner.

[43] We all are.

[44] And we've got to call people from sin to truth, from sin to virtue.

[45] And I'm very glad that, I mean, and I don't think it's divine providence, I believe, that this letter is coming out during Holy Week.

[46] We had our, each diocese does the chrism mass. I mean, the liturgy calls for it on Thursday, but that's simply not practical when priests have to travel.

[47] we had ours this morning for Tuesday of Holy Week, a beautiful liturgy with a renewal of priestly commitment for me and all the priests and the blessing of the holy oils for catecumans and oil of the sick and the consecration of the chrism that will be used at baptisms, ordinations, confirmations throughout the coming year.

[48] These are signs and symbols of what we believe, event.

[49] The sacraments are offering us in reality the strength and grace that Jesus Christ unleashed when he died for us.

[50] The sacraments, as the church fathers say so beautifully, and the church is echoed through the ages, when blood and water flowed from his pierced by the lance of a soldier to prove that he was dead, that he had given his life for us, that blood and water flowed forth as an image of the sacraments, especially baptism and Eucharist, but really all of the sacraments flowing out of those two sacraments, baptism and Eucharist.

[51] And that's the truth that Jesus Christ sent his apostles out to teach.

[52] He said, go and baptize all nations.

[53] In the name of the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit.

[54] Share with them the good news of his truth.

[55] and message.

[56] And that has, that mandate, the great commissioning there in Matthews Gospel at the very end, it's still our commissioning.

[57] It's our mandate for today.

[58] And we can't let go of it.

[59] I won't let go of it until they pry it from my dead hands.

[60] I mean, that's how that's the only way I'll let go is if they eliminate me. But I can't.

[61] Nope.

[62] And, you know, so, Both of us, when it comes to Jesus Christ, we get carried away.

[63] Amen, we should.

[64] We get enthusiastic.

[65] We get on our bandwagon.

[66] Yep.

[67] But that's your job as just a disciple, a father and a grandfather, a husband, a Catholic man. And for me as a Catholic bishop, we start as Catholic sons of God.

[68] We believe in our faith.

[69] And we need to be willing to stand for it.

[70] I mean, you know, we're witnessing the attacks on Ukraine right now, and we have men and women willing to sacrifice their lives for a nation.

[71] Yep.

[72] It's happened through the ages.

[73] It happened for this nation, the United States.

[74] So we honor that.

[75] But as Catholic men, we stand for something much greater than any nation of this world for the kingdom of God.

[76] and we've got to people need to wake up and start speaking out more bishops more priests more deacons more men and women religious and more Catholic men and women we need to say we've had enough of all the confusion and all the harm and all the division in pointing the finger at us and saying you're dividing that's simply not the truth Jesus Christ is the principle of unity for the church.

[77] We will never be unified.

[78] Look where we are.

[79] Even as people say, oh, yes, I believe in Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior.

[80] But he's the one that will unite us.

[81] He prayed for us to be one.

[82] And look how fractured Christianity is.

[83] And sadly, even the church, the Roman Catholic Church, which we know is the church he established with all her brokenness through the ages.

[84] But she is fracturing more and more.

[85] But Jesus Christ is the, is the person.

[86] The principle of unity is not just a book of ideas.

[87] The catechumen is, catechism is great, but only because it expresses who Jesus is and points to the Father and the Spirit, the truth of God, God who is love.

[88] That's why the catechism is great, not because it's some great.

[89] book, but because it shows us our living Savior, he is with us.

[90] And people need to grasp that and be willing to sacrifice whatever they need to in order to live this truth.

[91] We've got to get very clear in this dark world.

[92] Where is the light?

[93] Where is the joy?

[94] It's in Jesus Christ.

[95] Well, said, and other bishops are saying similar things like Bishop Paraki said, himself, a signature of that letter.

[96] He said the German Sedonaway has strayed far from the path of authentic he, Tristan, has placed itself in opposition to the truths of our Catholic faith as taught over the centuries from scripture and tradition.

[97] And this is what I like.

[98] He says, in fraternal correction, and in union with bishops from around the world, I encourage the bishops of Germany to return to the true deposit of faith as handed on to us by Jesus Christ, something that you just said, similar.

[99] It's the same echoing.

[100] And then, of course, Cardinal Pell, who's been on our show here, he's a successor to the apostle.

[101] He says, we have a duty to bear witness to the truth.

[102] How many times have you said that, Bishop Strickland?

[103] Cardinal Pell told the National Catholic Register.

[104] He said, I described the Sedanolpath as a rupture not compatible with the ancient teachings of Scripture, the Magisterium, not compatible with any legitimate doctrinal developments.

[105] Hey, we're all on the same page.

[106] That's what the Catholic Church needs today.

[107] More bishops suing like Bishop Strickland.

[108] When we come back, we'll talk more about our Catholic faith and our love for Jesus Christ, especially in the holy youth.

[109] Stay with us, family.

[110] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[111] I'm Terry Barber.

[112] Do you get the message from the bishop?

[113] We're all on the same page.

[114] We're calling all of us.

[115] If I teach something that's not going to be in accordance with the Catholic faith, the bishop says, Terry, hold on a minute, you're wrong.

[116] And here's why you're wrong.

[117] And to be honest with you, folks, if I heard Bishop Strickland say something that's not part of the deposit of faith out of love, I say, excuse me, Bishop, I'm sorry, that's not what the catechism says.

[118] And he can say, go pound sand, Terry, or he could say, let me look it up.

[119] No, you're right.

[120] Okay, I'll, that's not what I, I should, I stand corrected.

[121] That's humility, Bishop Strickland.

[122] It's a truth that sets us free.

[123] Bishop Strickland, you, You've been telling us that lay people need to stand up, too, not just bishops.

[124] And I thought of this story in Vietnam, there's a new story.

[125] It says, Vietnam Catholics drive out communist officials who interrupted the archbishop's mass. This was for the first time he saw local government officials approach the altar to interrupt a mass without waiting for it to end as they had done in the past.

[126] For the first time, we see them addressing priests with violence, disrespecting the sacred.

[127] ministries.

[128] And so what happened, Bishop Strickland, is as these officials came in with their helmets on to the altar to confront the archbishop, lay people decided to protect their prelate and drove the two guys out of the church by just pure numbers.

[129] And now they're filing a report with the government saying this is wrong, it's brutal.

[130] They're calling it blasphemy to come in and to interrupt a sacred mass. And I thought, those people must believe Bishop Strickland.

[131] They must really believe in the faith to take a risk like that.

[132] What are your thoughts about that story?

[133] Well, really, like you said, Terry, it's obvious that they do believe.

[134] And we need to stand for that belief.

[135] Yeah.

[136] We certainly, violence is not the way, but strength is not violence.

[137] And people need to be strong in their faith and simply say no. Like you said, the numbers can overwhelm.

[138] And, you know, thankfully these officials were smart enough to recognize they were outnumbered.

[139] And people, you know, it may come to that in this country as well.

[140] I hear you.

[141] It's certainly the mood around the world is like people can be pushed around and the authority of the state and people need to, people have resisted before and they need to resist again according to the truth that they know and, you know, to keep it peaceful, but to be strong.

[142] And I think that that's something that we really need to recognize in our time that being peaceful does not mean being passive right and being run over that really is not peace real peace is strength certainly not attacking anyone no violence but we need for real peace we need people to be strong in their faith and to support each other and to speak up and not let a few voices of insanity just keep shouting us down.

[143] People need to speak up because I still believe that the vast majority of people are believers and share a lot of what we believe.

[144] And we need to be firm in the truth that we know, the goodness of our nation, the goodness of the people here.

[145] Yes, we have our problems.

[146] but we need to speak up more.

[147] And I think that's a great example from those people in Vietnam.

[148] And I would hope that if something similar happened here, that the people in our churches would do the same and say, no, we're not going to allow you just to run roughshod over us.

[149] And certainly, we hear tragic stories in nations already where that is happening.

[150] and human rights are being trampled, religious rights are being trampled.

[151] We've got to speak up before it's too late, and we don't any longer have the freedom to speak up.

[152] Well, said, and I see that happened in Poland during World War II, when the Polish people said, no, you're not going to close our churches, and they kept praying.

[153] Bishop Strickland, this kind of fits in with a tweet you sent out about St. Catherine of Sienna, Because, I mean, you know, it fits right in.

[154] You said, he quoted her, she says, start being brave about everything.

[155] Well, everything, yes.

[156] She says, drive out darkness and spread light.

[157] Don't look at your weakness.

[158] Realize instead that in Christ crucified, you can do everything.

[159] Is that good advice for us today?

[160] I would think so.

[161] Absolutely.

[162] And to, and as she says, be brave in everything.

[163] Yeah.

[164] it's easier to be brave in the little things and to and some of that bravery is I'll be the first to point to myself and say part of my bravery is to just get over it and and to be stronger to live up to my commitments to be ready to do what I've promised to do and and not be wimpy about it but just do your duty for me as a bishop for you as a husband and father and grandfather in the smallest ways don't i can't just let my flock get away with things that are ultimately harmful to them amen the same thing for you and your little flock of your family yep so i think what st catherine says to be brave in everything to look at everything we do.

[165] Are we living the truth?

[166] Are we being genuine to what a Christian disciple, a Catholic disciple is called to do?

[167] To quit making excuses for ourselves and to be more committed and stronger.

[168] We need that strength across everything in our society and to eliminate the things that are pulling us into darkness.

[169] There have been there have been too many years of compromise and weakness, we need to be strong, strong and joyful in Jesus Christ.

[170] Well, said, and Mother Angelica said something similar in another tweet you sent out, and she said, Teach me, my Jesus, how to maintain joy in the midst of difficulties.

[171] And I'm going to tell you, Bishop Strickland, my humble opinion is, how do you bring people to Christ?

[172] Not so much, and I'm just going to say the teaching, but your joy.

[173] People have to get the idea that why is this guy so happy?

[174] Why is he so enthusiastic about it?

[175] Why is he so?

[176] What's going on with him?

[177] And I'm going to share a quick story and zip my lip, but I took it from you, not Don Bosco.

[178] Well, Don Bosco did the same thing.

[179] Bishop Strickland, do you remember the time you asked a young teenager if he could do more push -ups than you could?

[180] Remember that?

[181] Yes.

[182] Well, you know, I have a lot of funerals here that we work with and a lot of fallen away Catholics.

[183] Well, there was a young guy that his brother's, died and he'd been away from the church.

[184] So I was trying to befriend him and doing everything I could deserve him.

[185] And I asked him, this is going to make you laugh.

[186] But I said, what's it going to take to bring you back to the church?

[187] I said, you know, he'd need to come home.

[188] And he says, yeah, I know, I need redemption, probably, probably.

[189] And I said, I'll tell you what, let's make a deal.

[190] You said, you know, he goes, I don't drink.

[191] I don't use drugs.

[192] You know, I live a good life.

[193] I said, great.

[194] But let's get you back in the flock.

[195] I said, you're a lot.

[196] I said, you're in good shape, right?

[197] He said, yeah.

[198] He says, I've exercised.

[199] I said, okay, you can do more push -ups than I can.

[200] Right now, let's see who can do the most push -ups.

[201] If I do more push -ups than you, you come back to the church.

[202] You got a deal?

[203] I go down on my knee.

[204] I start pumping the push -ups out.

[205] And he looks at me and he goes, no, no, wait a minute.

[206] No, no, no, I can't do that.

[207] And my joke was that I was wanting to challenge him to come back, that I love him that much that we're willing to do this right now.

[208] Come on, put it up.

[209] The point I'm making Bishop Strickland is this is what I think is necessary to bring people back to challenge them to come back to the bride of Christ.

[210] And you're doing that right now by sending these tweets out from Mother Angelica, St. Catherine of Siena, and others.

[211] And I just want to say, all of us need to be that way.

[212] We need to get involved.

[213] I'm taking my grandson to a park.

[214] I get into a conversation with other people there with their children, and I'm giving cards out for Virgin Most Powerful to help build their body up with their family.

[215] Why is it?

[216] We have to reach out to people right now.

[217] There's a lost race out there.

[218] They're not following Christ many times because they don't have an invitation to bring them back, and you're doing that through your tweets.

[219] Bishop Strickland, I have a couple minutes before the break.

[220] I wanted to ask you, you had a tweet about a great a movie called This is the Night, Catholic short film.

[221] Can you tell us about that and why you're asking people to watch it?

[222] Yeah, it was produced by the St. Philip Institute actually for last year, but I've encouraged them to promote it for every holy week.

[223] Good.

[224] It's just, it's a short video with no words, with some beautiful music and some beautiful imagery.

[225] Good.

[226] It just attempts in an artistic way to say, what is this Jesus dying and rising all about?

[227] And it basically captures one young man, probably late teens, maybe 20s that is, again, it's creatively done without any words so that you didn't have to worry about whether it's in it.

[228] In our world, it's, you've got to make it bilingual, which we've got to reach out to everyone.

[229] So it's bilingual in the sense that that there's no language.

[230] Yeah.

[231] It's just the language of music and visual imagery.

[232] But I think they did a beautiful job.

[233] It actually won an award.

[234] Good.

[235] And so I've encouraged them to put it out there.

[236] And that's why I tweeted it again.

[237] They actually did an explanatory kind of behind the scenes video of how it was made.

[238] And I tweeted that as well.

[239] I just encourage you, it's probably less than five minutes long.

[240] but it's a way of capturing the beauty of all the liturgies and all that we're doing during Holy Week.

[241] And that's the St. Philip Institute.

[242] Not only does it have that film, but there's tons of other resources on the website.

[243] Is that correct, Bishop Strickland?

[244] Yeah, lots of things for families, just the life of faith here in the diocese, which, you know, people are people.

[245] and the St. Philip Institute exists primarily to bring the truth of our Catholic faith to form disciples in the Diocese of Tyler, 33 counties in Northeast Texas.

[246] But there where you are in California or in Washington State or in Florida or in Georgia or in South Carolina or in New York, people are people.

[247] We all need the same truth that Jesus Christ suffered.

[248] died and rose to share with us, to make it possible, to choose the light.

[249] So I encourage people to watch the video and to look at all the resources that the St. Philip Institute produces.

[250] Awesome.

[251] And I just want to welcome people from China.

[252] We're actually getting people that are being monthly donors.

[253] Are you ready?

[254] From China.

[255] And I just can't believe all around the world, France, Italy, English -speaking Catholics around the world.

[256] tune in to Virgin Most Powerful.

[257] So that St. Philip Institute, you can tune into that on a daily basis and get much valuable resources.

[258] We need to pray for the people in Shanghai from what I'm hearing in the news.

[259] I mean, they're not saying much, but from what I'm hearing, the people there are suffering drastically.

[260] Yeah, we'll talk.

[261] Eat our prayers.

[262] Absolutely.

[263] And we're going to talk about that.

[264] And also about some U .S. priests who are very bold and standing up for the faith right Now, stay with us, family.

[265] You're here at the Bishop Strickland.

[266] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[267] My name is Terry Barbara.

[268] I'm with Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[269] Bishop Strickland mentioned some folks, the people in Shanghai, China.

[270] I read the article, Bishop Strickland, that they're keeping people in their homes but without much food.

[271] They can't even leave their homes.

[272] And so, yeah, we need to pray for them.

[273] And that's about what I read on the article.

[274] it's a very difficult situation they're in.

[275] Is that your understanding, Bishop Strickland?

[276] Yes, I don't know a lot of details, but clearly they're suffering, and it sounds like a drastic injustice to the people of God there.

[277] But all we can do at this point is pray.

[278] Absolutely.

[279] And I think of that right.

[280] At this very moment, there's a 28 -year -old man, I'm meeting the family later.

[281] Their son hung themselves within a half a mile from our studio.

[282] and they're doing the funeral right now.

[283] And I just, my heart goes out to these people who are lost, and this is the world we're living in.

[284] Now, Bishop Strickland, I know as a layman, I've said a similar thing to the bishops and cardinals that are not teaching the Catholic faith in Germany and other parts of the world.

[285] I implore them to return back to the faith.

[286] But I actually have, was good, not good friends, but I recorded a lot of recordings for courage.

[287] Harvey back in the 1980s when he started Courage.

[288] And this is an organization that ministers to people have same -sex attraction.

[289] And now the director there from Courage, I have not met him, but you said you applaud Father Voloski's plea to the Cardinals that Truth is the Greatest Charity.

[290] So basically, what did he do?

[291] He's telling the Cardinals to uphold.

[292] I mean, this is almost like, what are you having to do this yes we are actually having to have lay people priests bishops calling other people in the church to say go back to the fundamentals of the faith don't you know compromise on these moral teachings on sexuality and i just say this to you bishop strickland that it seems that this is a wake -up call all throughout the church i'm hearing more people willing to you know pay a price for this to say wait a minute this isn't what our church teaches and we're actually saying and I know this is an analogy but the emperor has no clothes on and we're calling them out and saying in charitably in a charitable way return back to the teachings of Christ yeah Terry that's what it's all about and thankfully more and more voices you do hear you know the truth being proclaimed and we need to hear every voice that, because it is the truth, it sets people free.

[293] And we've simply got to make it very clear that whether it's same -sex attraction or whatever the issue a person is dealing with, absolutely, prior to any action, we're simply children of God, all of us, beloved by God, whether you have same -sex attractions or you're prone to alcoholism or whatever the malady you're dealing with and we according to the Catholicism yes it is disordered yes an attraction that is to the same -sex is disordered people want to change that but that's simply the truth it doesn't mean a condemnation of the person.

[294] And even if, even if they've been living that lifestyle, that doesn't mean that they are not beloved of God any longer.

[295] Right.

[296] But real love is the truth.

[297] The greatest charity is to share the truth.

[298] And that's why I really applaud courage.

[299] Yes.

[300] Because what they're doing is ministering to people who are having these struggles.

[301] Yes.

[302] but not saying, oh, well, you're struggling, so go ahead and keep sinning.

[303] That's not charity.

[304] Yeah.

[305] That's horrible.

[306] Yeah.

[307] That's devastating.

[308] And people have contacted me and told me that when these organizations that don't follow the path of the gospel, that courage is promoting, love the person and teach them and help them to turn away from the sin, whatever it is.

[309] Yep.

[310] And that has gotten lost in the past several years where people say, oh, you're condemning, you're judging.

[311] The scriptures say, judge not yet, lest ye be judged.

[312] Absolutely.

[313] We're not to judge each other.

[314] That's up to God for all of us.

[315] We will be judged by God.

[316] That's right.

[317] But it's not up to any of us.

[318] But we make judgments.

[319] And that's what's gotten lost.

[320] People say, oh, well, you can't judge another person.

[321] So that means you don't judge.

[322] Is this true or is this false?

[323] We've got to make judgments.

[324] We do it constantly.

[325] That's part of being human.

[326] Being created in the image and likeness of God means that we make judgments.

[327] Should I drink this?

[328] Should I eat that?

[329] Should I go there?

[330] We make judgments daily.

[331] We make decisions to say that we can't make judgments about what's true and false.

[332] in our lives.

[333] It dehumanizes us.

[334] That doesn't mean we're judging the person, but we're judging, is this a life -giving action that will help the person flourish or not?

[335] If it's not, the charitable thing to do is to say, no, don't do that.

[336] I mean, Terry, we've talked about it before, and I've used the analogy that as you as a father, if you see your child about to run out into the street.

[337] You don't say, oh, well, Johnny's about to run into the street, but I'm not going to correct Johnny, and I'm going to let Johnny do whatever he feels for that moment.

[338] No, you're going to say, as his father, you're going to say, Johnny, stop, stop running into the street.

[339] I literally witnessed that with a family just the other day.

[340] Tell me. The dad goes running off for the little two -year -old who's about to get out into traffic.

[341] Oh, no. And the dad says, no. You can't just sit there and say, oh, well, Johnny's decided he's going to run into the traffic.

[342] And, well, we love Johnny, so we don't want to correct Johnny.

[343] And Johnny's going to get killed.

[344] That's maybe people will say, oh, that's a silly analogy.

[345] But that's really basically what it comes down to.

[346] If a person is walking toward danger, the loving thing to do is to say, stop.

[347] You're on a dangerous path.

[348] You're going to destroy yourself.

[349] It's not the loving thing to do is say, oh, well, if this is where you feel like going and this is the path you've discerned, you want to take, you identify as this today, that is not love to just say, oh, well, go ahead.

[350] And part of it is we've lost our grip on reality.

[351] Yeah.

[352] The objective truth.

[353] If it's all just things that we make up on a daily basis, then it makes it very hard to make a real judgment.

[354] but we need to get back to the basics.

[355] We need to recognize that things are really not that complex.

[356] If we want to be healthy, we've got to eat healthy food.

[357] If we want to have a healthy soul, we need to pray and to avoid sin.

[358] It's really basic, and that's what we need to get back to, as we've said many times, to the fundamentals, to the basic truth that guides us.

[359] And you know, Bishop Strickland, we're in our sick.

[360] we've experienced what I call the spirit of Vatican 2.

[361] Not the Vatican 2 documents, but the spirit of Vatican 2, many priests, bishops, I'm sorry, lay people, all of us have unfortunately got the mixed signal that Vatican 2 said it's okay to do anything.

[362] No, it's not.

[363] That's a false understanding of what they use that Vatican 2 as a way of an excuse to teach something that's erroneous.

[364] Now, this brings back to me something I shared with you from Pope Pius I 12, because this is what we call modernism.

[365] Let's just be honest what this is infiltrating the church.

[366] And Pope Pius the 12 saw modernism coming in years and years ago, and on February of 1949, he rallied the troops, just like you're rallying the troops as a bishop.

[367] The Holy Father said, do you want a church that remains silent, but she should speak?

[368] and 200 ,000 people in the square said, no!

[369] You want a church that diminishes the law of God when she's called to proclaim it loudly?

[370] The people said, no. Do you want a church wanting to accommodate to the will of man?

[371] And it goes on and on and on.

[372] Now, I put that on on VMPR website because I want people to read the whole presentation by Pope Pius I, because it got me thinking, wow, if he said that back in 1949, I mean, can you imagine, now this just me, 2022, the vigor of Christ saying, folks, no compromises.

[373] You want a church that just is one with the world?

[374] No, then I'm not going to give, I'm not going to compromise.

[375] And I think that this presentation by Pope Pius the 12th has a lot to say to the church, you know, what, 70 years later, 75 years later, and there's a lot of truth.

[376] We can't compromise with the world.

[377] that it's one of the things that I feel strong about that the church has to be not with the world.

[378] We have to, who's going to influence who?

[379] We have to influence the world rather than the world influencing the church.

[380] Am I on to something or am I just kind of pontificating with you, Bishop?

[381] Well, you're on to something for sure, Terry.

[382] We're called to be in the world but not of the world.

[383] And right now, too much of the church, too much of humanity is, of the world.

[384] And it's as if too many people live, even within the church, as if this world is, is that all there is?

[385] That's, you know, that old song.

[386] I think it was Peggy Lee that sang it.

[387] Is that all there is?

[388] Let's just keep dancing.

[389] No, that's not all there is.

[390] Not just the, the drudgery of this life.

[391] We're called to glory.

[392] That's what we're celebrating this week.

[393] and the resurrection of the Lord.

[394] And I know we're about to run out of time in this segment, but I think for this, we're in Holy Week.

[395] Yes.

[396] And I know when people listen to this, I guess it'll be after Holy Week.

[397] It'll be during the Easter season.

[398] But let's talk a little bit about some of those changes of Vatican 2 and how they got derailed, really.

[399] Yes.

[400] let's take the simple thing of giving up meat on Fridays right what was the purpose of that yeah to connect us to what we celebrate on good Friday amen the sacrifice of Jesus Christ to make some little sacrifices ourselves in the church with Vatican 2 said this I mean the the council fathers judged that that needed to be updated it need to be renewed because it had missed it's it they'd lost meaning.

[401] I think we went further away from its meaning, sadly, but that wasn't the intention of the documents.

[402] It was to say, why are we doing this?

[403] I mean, I frankly, love fish.

[404] So that's not much of a sacrifice.

[405] We need to make sacrifices for the Lord.

[406] We'll be back with more of Bishop Strickman.

[407] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickman hour.

[408] Bishop, I love what you just said at the end of the segment that you'd like to talk about these changes, especially when it comes to, you know, no meat on Friday.

[409] What does this mean?

[410] So, okay, I'll throw it over to you.

[411] Let's hear the authentic teachings of Vatican II.

[412] Well, really, Terry, what I believe was a recognition.

[413] Let me just focus on this for a moment.

[414] The documents, talking about the liturgy, they say, that we need to promote full and active participation in the liturgy.

[415] Absolutely.

[416] I fully embrace that more deeply than I even understood, you know, just a few years ago.

[417] I understand more deeply and I still have to keep going deeper.

[418] But absolutely, full and active participation in the liturgy is a beautiful call to recognize what the liturgy is about.

[419] Every person there is beloved of Christ.

[420] We're all part of him.

[421] We need to embrace that.

[422] And the human tendency to go to mass, and frankly, whatever form the mass takes, whatever language, whatever the ceremony, it's a human reality that becomes routine.

[423] We're human beings.

[424] We have to fight against that human tendency by recognizing what's really happening.

[425] The glorious celebration, commemoration of what Jesus Christ has accomplished for humanity.

[426] Amen.

[427] That's what every mass is and should be.

[428] I celebrate a lot of times at least two masses in a given day.

[429] Wow.

[430] It's a challenge in our weak, unfocused humanity to each time we celebrate the mass to really enter into what we're doing.

[431] And as a bishop of the church, I would confess that I probably never have because I'm human.

[432] I'm distracted.

[433] I'm weak.

[434] But we have to keep striving for it.

[435] I've we've grown up through a time where that full and active participation went off the rails in significant ways because instead of calling the heart the way I would put it Terry in my own in my own limited understanding it's still limited it always will be but what I believe full and active participation really means is my own my heart and your heart more deeply connected to the sacred heart of Jesus Christ.

[436] You nailed it.

[437] That's full and active participation in the mass. Wow.

[438] That doesn't mean carrying banners up the aisle or waving streamers or doing all the things that we got caught up in.

[439] That's right.

[440] In the years after Vatican, too.

[441] It's a matter of heart.

[442] Amen.

[443] It's a matter of participating.

[444] participating more body, mind, and spirit with what's going on in the mass. It's not about moving around.

[445] It's about entering more deeply into this wondrous mystery that I'll confess, like I already am, we always will fall short, and that frustrates people.

[446] We, as human beings, we want to get there.

[447] We want to say we've perfected this.

[448] We never will.

[449] we're approaching the heavenly realm at the mass and so i mean you know i get a little carried away but it should just that one phrase i would encourage all of us to just take some time to ponder what does it really mean the reality of vatican too not some spirit of oh i'm free to do whatever it actually means I'm more and more profoundly called to focus, to focus my body, my mind, my spirit, my entire being on Jesus Christ, because he totally focused on us.

[450] He poured himself out literally.

[451] His body and blood, soul and divinity poured out for all of us.

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

[453] That's what Holy Week is about that's what the mass is about that's what making some little sacrifice during length and hopefully throughout the year to live a sacrificial life and to do it in ways that are meaningful for you as a husband and father and now a grandfather you're called to make little sacrifices and i saw my father do that.

[454] Wow.

[455] To maybe step back when we weren't sure there was enough meat for everyone, my mother and father would often be the last to be served.

[456] Wow.

[457] That's the sacrifice we're talking about, a loving sacrifice.

[458] As we talk about St. Catherine of Siena, be brave in the little things.

[459] We need to focus on Christ in the little things.

[460] Then the liturgy will come alive.

[461] The Mass will come alive for all of us.

[462] But we've got to go deeper.

[463] And that's challenging.

[464] People don't necessarily want to do that.

[465] It takes a lot of energy.

[466] It takes really facing the challenges.

[467] Bishop Strickland, you sound like Bishop Athanasius Snyder's new book on the Catholic Mass. I've been promoting everywhere.

[468] And if people want to get a copy of that book, It's from Sophia Press, or you can call us at 877 -526215.

[469] But he does an excellent job in portraying the Catholic Mass from the fathers of the church and the 2 ,000 -year history and the saints and just inspirational material for those of us who want to study the Mass because it's a lifetime occupation.

[470] We're never going to know it all.

[471] We just keep studying this.

[472] Bishop Strickland, I love what you said about Vatican II and about these things.

[473] We have a few more minutes.

[474] I just wanted to ask, if you want to continue on that, but this reading for Wednesday, the day before Holy Thursday, was talking about Judas.

[475] And I think the theme says, The Son of Man indeed goes as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.

[476] It's Matthew Chapter 26, verse 14 to 25.

[477] And I think of that verse where here, Judas was an apostle Okay I mean this guy Had had contact with Jesus Christ And he betrayed him And I think of myself I could be Judas I can I was like gonna do Say no no I want to go out the other way Don't don't put the pressure on me And I think of this And I think of even bishops Not just applying it to me But doesn't this also apply To successors of the apostle That when they teach something contrary to what Jesus Christ teaches, and in a sense, they're removing themselves from Christ and saying, I have a better idea than what Jesus Christ is saying.

[478] And I'm just saying this scripture verse hit me because of what we talked about with some bishops who are teaching things that aren't within what Christ taught.

[479] So I'm just saying, does this apply to not only bishops but to lay people to all of us about the possibility of all of us being able to reject Christ as Judas did?

[480] Absolutely.

[481] We all need to look at Judas and recognize there, but for the grace of God, go all of us.

[482] And to the extent, we're all sinners.

[483] So our sinfulness is a little hint of Judas.

[484] Hopefully, just a little hint that we need to repent of, confess, cleansed once again over and over and over again because we remain sinners.

[485] But that little hint of Judas can grow and pride and all the deadly sins can just take over our lives.

[486] And we see it illustrated so often throughout history and in our own time.

[487] We need to see Judas as a cautionary tale.

[488] All of us can go that direction of Judas.

[489] And, You know, I can't sit back and say, oh, well, I'm a bishop now, and I've been anointed, so I'm off scot -free.

[490] Absolutely not.

[491] In many ways, I would put it this way, Terry, the greater our responsibility, the greater the threat of following the path of Judas rather than following the path of Jesus Christ.

[492] Wow.

[493] That happened for you.

[494] When you were a single man, I know it's a long time ago, and you've been married for many years.

[495] But when you were a single man, you were just really responsible for you.

[496] That's right.

[497] Living rightly.

[498] But you've taken on more responsibility.

[499] And I would wager that as you think about your life since you first married and with the children and then the grandchildren in your years of marriage, I would wager that you've come to understand that you have more responsibility than ever to follow Christ and be faithful to him and more temptations to not live up to that responsibility.

[500] That's the same for me. The tremendous responsibility of being a shepherd of souls, of being a bishop, of being responsible to help others.

[501] I can't make their individual choices for them, but I do have the responsibility to stand for and share the truth of Jesus Christ with all the people of East Texas, all the people that I can speak to.

[502] And in these days, with these videos, I can speak to more than the people of East Texas.

[503] They're my bride.

[504] They're my primary flock that I've got to speak to.

[505] And that's a tremendous responsibility.

[506] We all, the more responsibility we take on, the more fraught with difficulty it is.

[507] We have to rely on the grace of God.

[508] Every husband and father has to rely on the grace of God.

[509] Every wife and mother has to rely on the grace of God.

[510] But we've got to really be very clear that we can all.

[511] And in many ways, the world is calling us on the path of Judas.

[512] Oh, compromise here.

[513] You'll have more money.

[514] Compromise here.

[515] And you'll get more fulfilled.

[516] fulfillment, more pleasure in life, more focus on yourself.

[517] There are all those temptations that just can overwhelm us so easily.

[518] Thankfully, the Lord never abandons us.

[519] He never abandoned Judas.

[520] No. Judas walked away.

[521] The Lord didn't walk away from him.

[522] Judas went and got the 30 pieces of silver and betrayed the Lord.

[523] The Lord didn't leave Judas.

[524] Judas left the Lord.

[525] I think that gives us hope that the Lord is always going to be there.

[526] Even if we tend in the direction of Judas, we can always awaken to the truth again and return to the Lord, repenting of our sins.

[527] And that's exactly what Peter did.

[528] He denied Christ, but then he repented of that.

[529] We can go to confession.

[530] So we have right now.

[531] Bishop, how about a blessing for our listeners, please?

[532] Heavenly Father, we ask your blessing for everyone listening.

[533] Let us joyfully continue to seek and live the truth of your son and know that this truth is what sets us free.

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

[535] Amen.

[536] Thanks again, folks, for listening to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[537] You can hear all these shows by going to VMPR .org, all the past shows and all the future shows that we have here at Virgin Most Sorrowful Radio.

[538] I hope you have a great Easter Tritium.

[539] May God bless you and your family.

[540] And thanks for joining us here on the Bishop Strickland.

[541] power on Virgin Most Power Radio.

[542] God love you and your family.