You’d think a bishop who stood up to the Dodgers when they invited The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a drag group that mocks the Catholic faithful, would be praised by the Pope. Surely God’s representative on Earth is against mocking God? Apparently not, as the Vatican placed Texas Bishop Joseph Strickland under investigation after he led the anti-Dodgers Prayer March.
Pray for Bishop Strickland! pic.twitter.com/DZq9vX8ZlZ
— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) June 26, 2023
Tennessee GOP stalwart Robby Starbuck called out Pope Francis for the investigation in two comments on Posobiec’s tweets, saying “Pope Francis seems more likely to invite the sisters of perpetual indulgence to the Vatican than he is to invite Bishop Strickland” and “Pope Francis should be honoring Bishop Strickland for standing up against the sick, sacrilegious actions of the sisters of perpetual indulgence but instead he’s put Strickland under investigation. That really explains his ideology and why he’s driven so many out of the church.”
Commenting on the investigation, Elizabeth Slaten, the communications director for the Diocese of Tyler, Texas, said, “The whole process was very confidential. The whole thing was conducted by the Holy See. We respect their processes. I’m not free to speak on behalf of Mother Church and the nuncio.” The only real detail she added was that the investigation int Bishop Strickland, called an “apostolic visitation,” occurred over “a series of days.”
In addition to leading the Prayer March against the Dodgers, Bishop Strickland has criticized the woke pope, Francis, saying, “I believe Pope Francis is the Pope but it is time for me to say that I reject his program of undermining the Deposit of Faith. Follow Jesus.”
One priest involved in the investigation told The Pillar, “It was not even primarily about his ‘rants’ about Pope Francis. The questions really focused on years of governance issues, which have had us priests concerned. We had two finance officers removed before their five year terms were expired, and that’s not typical at all.”
The Pillar also noted, however, that the woke portions of the church “distanced themselves” from the Prayer March against the Dodgers, indicating that those like Poper Francis were upset about Bishop Strickland leading it, saying, “While the rally reportedly drew thousands, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the leadership of the U.S. bishops’ conference had distanced themselves from it, urging instead that Los Angeles Catholics attend a Mass in the archdiocesan cathedral, and make prayers of spiritual reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.”
The National Catholic Reporter emphasized in its report on the matter that Bishop Strickland’s outspoken conservative rhetoric, particularly on Twitter, has angered some in the Catholic Church’s leadership and might have led to the recent Vatican investigation into his office.
A source within Bishop Strickland’s office said that Bishop Strickland is not particularly worried about the investigation because the diocese is doing so well in terms of both parishioners and finances. In that source’s words: “The bishop doesn’t want to make too big of a deal of it. He’s got vocations, the diocese is doing well financially, so by all the numbers, he’s doing very well.”
Featured image credit: By Edgar Jiménez from Porto, Portugal – Papa rock star, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26680499
"*" indicates required fields