Texas Bishop Prompts Pope on McCarrick Report

Church Militant ^ | 1/22/20 | Kristine Christlieb

[marshmallow]

Bp. Joseph Strickland: report likely to spark more pain

VATICAN CITY (ChurchMilitant.com) - In a Jan. 20 audience with Pope Francis — his first — Bp. Joseph E. Strickland of Tyler, Texas asked the pontiff about the status of the promised report on former cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

This week, bishops from Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas traveled to Rome for a meeting with the pope. During the visit, Bp. Strickland asked Francis about the long-awaited McCarrick report.

Strickland later told Catholic News Service (CNS) that work on the report is underway, and it will be released in the future. Reportedly, its main focus will be McCarrick's impact on victims, but it will also address how the former cardinal — widely known among the hierarchy as a serial sexual predator — could have been promoted up through the ranks of the Church to achieve such a position of power.

Bishop Strickland is noted among conservative Catholics for his commitment to accountability. In August 2018, when Abp. Carlo Maria Viganò released his statement to the press about his knowledge of corruption in the Catholic Church and the hierarchy's long-standing acceptance of McCarrick's sexual exploitation of seminarians and minors, Strickland was the first bishop to call for an investigation.

At the Church Militant-sponsored the Silence Stops Now rally in conjunction with the U.S. bishops' conference in Baltimore in November 2018, Bp. Strickland was the only prelate to walk over to the rally and talk with attendees. At the conference, Strickland specifically called out the problem of homosexuality.