Posted on 11/27/2023 3:40:08 PM PST by ebb tide
Bishop Joseph Strickland issued an open letter to the faithful on Monday, November 27, 2023. Below is the full text.
An Open Letter to the Faithful from Bishop Joseph E. Strickland:
As I am sure you have heard by now, I have been removed as Bishop of the Diocese of Tyler. I was asked to meet with the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, and in that meeting I was read a list of the reasons I was being removed. I would make these reasons available to you if possible; however, I was not given a copy of this list at that time, and I have not been able as of yet to obtain a copy despite my requests.
In the reasons that were read to me, no mention was made of administrative problems or mismanagement of the diocese as the reasons for my removal. The reasons given seemed to be related, for the most part, to my speaking the Truth of our Catholic faith, and to my warnings against anything that threatened that Truth (including things that were being brought up at the Synod on Synodality). Also, mention was made of my not walking alongside my brother bishops as I defended the Church and her unchangeable teachings, and of my not implementing the motu propoio Traditionis custodes, which were I to have implemented, would have required me to leave part of my flock unfed and untended. As a shepherd and protector of my Diocese, I could not take actions which I knew with certainty would injure part of my flock and deprive them of the spiritual goods which Christ entrusted to His Church. I stand by my actions as they were necessary to protect my flock and to defend the Sacred Deposit of Faith.
This is the time for everything now covered to be uncovered, and everything now hidden to be made clear. In fact, it was in a time when things were being hidden regarding disgraced now-former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and the Church sex abuse scandal that it seems I first entered the Vatican’s radar. My main crime, then as now, seems to always have been about bringing to light that which others wanted to remain hidden. Sadly, it now seems that it is Truth Himself, Our Lord Jesus Christ, that many desire to be hidden.
Although I am now without a diocese, I am still a bishop of the Church and therefore a successor of the apostles, and I must continue to speak Truth even if it requires my very life. I want to say this to all of you today – DO NOT ever, ever leave the Church! She is the Bride of Christ! She is now undergoing her Passion, and you must resolve to stand resolutely at the cross! It is important to attend Mass every Sunday and as often as possible, to spend time in adoration, to pray the Rosary daily, to go to confession regularly, and to call always upon the saints for assistance! I urge you to persevere that you might say in the end, “I have fought the good fight to the end; I have run the race to the finish; I have kept the faith.”
May Almighty God bless you, and may our Holy and Blessed Mother intercede for you and point you always to her Divine Son Jesus as we enter this Advent season.
I remain your humble father and servant,
Bishop Joseph E. Strickland
Dictator Pope Ping
More secrecy.
and of my not implementing the motu propoio Traditionis custodes
How sad.
Pope John Paul II allowed the TLM, and even set up the FSSP for that purpose: to train priests to celebrate it.
Pope Benedict XVI then lifted the excommunications of the SSPX and stated that the TLM was never abrogated.
Then along comes Pope Francis...
Bttt.
5.56mm
Wr wete told for years that God does not change and the Church was a solid place of refuge. Modernism is the ruination of not just the Church.
I am in this Diocese and had to go to our parish office today. I have been away for awhile and asked the clerk what the feeling is among the parishioners. She said sadness. And asked me to pray hard for this upstanding leader. While discussing this, she just looked at the floor while shaking her head side-by-side.
I have personally been at meetings with Bishop Strickland long ago when he was a priest in Tyler, TX., and I was a local prayer president at our church. He left one feel how holy he was in his vocation. This is beyond comprehension what happened to him.
Anyone who lived through that time would tell you the claim that the Latin Mass wasn't "abrogated" is utter nonsense at best, and a falsification of history at worst.
"In conclusion, we wish to give the force of law to all that we have set forth concerning the new Roman Missal. In promulgating the official edition of the Roman Missal, Our predecessor, St. Pius V, presented it as an instrument of liturgical unity and as a witness to the purity of the worship the Church. While leaving room in the new Missal, according to the order of the Second Vatican Council, "for legitimate variations and adaptations," we hope nevertheless that the Missal will be received by the faithful as an instrument which bears witness to and which affirms the common unity of all. Thus, in the great diversity of languages, one unique prayer will rise as an acceptable offering to our Father in heaven, through our High-Priest Jesus Christ, in the Holy Spirit. We order that the prescriptions of this Constitution go into effect November 30th of this year, the first Sunday of Advent. We wish that these Our decrees and prescriptions may be firm and effective now and in the future, notwithstanding, to the extent necessary, the apostolic constitutions and ordinances issued by Our predecessors, and other prescriptions, even those deserving particular mention and derogation." - Paul VI, Missale Romanum, 1969
Accordingly, no one whosoever is permitted to infringe or rashly contravene this notice of Our permission, statute, ordinance, command, direction, grant, indult, declaration, will, decree and prohibition. Should any person venture to do so, let him understand that he will incur the wrath of Almighty God and of the blessed Apostles Peterand Paul.
Pope St. Pius V, July 14, 1570.
The money quote: "This reflects a general principle in law: An equal does not have power over another equal. No pope who used perpetuity in his disciplinary decrees understood the term to mean that no future pope could ever amend or replace his legislation. And popes did in fact change some of the provisions of Quo Primum, even before Vatican II. In 1604, for instance, Pope Clement VIII issued new regulations for the Blessing at Mass, and in 1634 Pope Urban VIII changed the wording of the Missals rubrics and hymn texts."
And besides, for those who lived through the promulgation of the Novus Ordo Missae, they would tell you that the deprivation and removal of the Latin Mass from their parishes was far from "hogwash".
Whether Paul VI was beatified, canonized, or not (which is an entirely separate discussion, but TL;DR: canonizations are secondary objects of the Church’s infallibility with regards to her universal ecclesiastical laws; a true Pope is protected by the Holy Ghost from declaring someone as a saint [and therefore eligible for the veneration of the laity, and the general worship in the liturgy] who in fact isn’t
; thus, if Francis is the Pope, then his beatification and canonization of Paul VI is legitimate), that has nothing to do with the papal authority to revise the liturgy.
(Just to be clear, I don’t think either Paul VI or Francis are true Popes. However, papal authority with regards to revising the liturgy and canonizations is still unchanged; if Paul VI was a true Pope, his revision of the Mass was legitimate and lawfully promulgated. If Francis is a true Pope, his beatification and canonization of Paul VI is likewise legitimate.)
Unlike Montini, Pope St. Pius V did not suppress any Mass rites that were over 200 years-old.
So? Both cited the same authority when imposing obligations with regards to the liturgy. Both Quo Primum and Missale Missale Romanum utilized the same type of preceptive language: https://www.sodalitiumpianum.com/did-paul-vi-illegally-promulgate-the-new-mass/
The liturgy is a gift of the Holy Spirit; it is not the province of some liturgical minister or director or priest or bishop or Pope.
And what the Holy Spirit has given cannot be revoked by any human.
That the Pope has picked a fight with the Holy Spirit over the holy liturgy tells us all we need to know about said Pope.
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