This is How The Church Dies- To Thunderous Applause
The Trained Seals Clap for Bishop Strickland
As the Great Apostasy continues to unfold, the bleary-eyed denizens who inhabit the ruins of what were once our glorious churches have become ever more desperate in the quest for a hero to represent them. Clutching for anything and everything but the obvious solution- devotion to the Immaculate Heart, faithful recitation of the Most Holy Rosary, and steadfastness in the Traditional Catholic Church- they flail about grasping hope after hope, from Pope John Paul II to Our Lady of Medjugorje to Archbishop Lefebvre to Cardinal Ratzinger and lately Archbishop Carlo Marie Vigano'.
Lately, they have latched onto Bishop Strickland of Tyler, Texas. He had been flirting with stardom for years, but then went over the top with his appearance contra the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence last spring. He became an instant hero.
On Oct 4th, 2023, at the Remnant Newspaper Conference, he gave a talk before an enthusiastic audience that ended with, in the words of Michael Matt: "The longest standing ovation that I have ever seen." That is pathetic. And so this screed- this unabashed rant- will chronicle how low humanity, represented by what is purportedly the best of the best, Traditional Catholics allegedly holding dear to the Sacred Deposit of Faith bequeathed to us by the Apostles, has fallen.
First off, it seems a prerequisite these days that bishops must take stupid pills before being created princes of the church. The speech is vile and insipid, effeminate and condescending. Every time one suspects that something actually profound might come from the mouth of this prelate, the topic changes abruptly and we begin anew to be treated to language that would insult a prepubescent. Only once does he rise above the stupid, the obvious, and the mundane. And that is where Bishop Strickland actually cites St Sr Lucia telling us we should all be apostles to everyone we meet. Bravo!
Of course, just a few sentences later in that famous discourse the Last Surviving Seer of Fatima gave to Fr Augustine Fuentes on December 27th 1957, the topic would turn to the diabolic attack on those occupying positions of power within the church. But Bishop Strickland has steered well clear of Our Lady of Fatima long before then, never to broach the topic again.
Instead, he will give us such profound insights such as we should pray for the Pope and the bishops. You don't say? Isn't that something we should be doing even in the very best of times? Duh. You mean, we had to have a bishop journey hundreds of miles to tell us THAT? Why, Michael Matt could have told the audience that. Or he could have had his daughter come to the podium with the exact same admonition.
And then Bishop Strickland told us how we should be devoted to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Well, your excellency, instead of preaching to the proverbial choir, seems like the priests of your diocese could use some instruction on this topic, given as to how they view the Blessed Sacrament in their parishes. I checked three different parish websites, and no clear statement that in the Blessed Sacrament is contained the "Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, present under the Appearances of Bread and Wine". Holy Cross Church in Pittsburg TX had this to say: "The holy Eucharist completes Christian initiation. Those who have been raised to the dignity of the royal priesthood by Baptism and configured more deeply to Christ by Confirmation participate with the whole community in the Lord's own sacrifice by means of the Eucharist." You would think you were reading something from a Baptist Church. Next up is Christ the King Parish in Kilgore. They are satisfied to quote the JP2 "Catholic Catechism": "The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life... For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch. The Eucharist is the efficacious sign and sublime cause of that communion in the divine life and that unity of the People of God by which the Church is kept in being. It is the culmination both of God’s action sanctifying the world in Christ and of the worship men offer to Christ and through him to the to the Father in the Holy Spirit.” (Wow. Talk about compacting a lot of Communist/New-Age gobbledegook in just three sentences. One must hand it to the authors of the "New Catechism"!) Then we have Holy Family Catholic Church in Lindale. "So rich is the mystery of the Eucharist that we have a number of terms to illumine its saving grace: the Breaking of the Bread; the Lord's Supper; the Eucharistic Assembly; the Memorial of Christ's Passion, Death, and Resurrection; the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Holy and Divine Liturgy; the Eucharistic Liturgy; Holy Communion; and Holy Mass." Yes, I do think Bishop Strickland has his work cut out for him concerning this topic. And while he is at it, Bishop Strickland might publish a decree categorically forbidding "Communion in the Hand", insisting instead that it be given on the tongue to eligible communicants who are kneeling. That would be a great start. That would be some real "Bishing".
Next, His Excellency (By now, it should be obvious this Wolf is using the term loosely, but alas, in 2023, often it be needful to state the obvious!) will admonish us that Truth does not change. You don't say! And here I thought that 2+2=4 only when the moon was less than half full, and that fish swam in the sea only when the sun was out. You mean to say, we have standards that we cannot vote on? You mean we cannot conduct a plebiscite and determine that henceforth dogs shall give birth to kittens, and that cows will produce milk in all the neapolitan flavors? No, by golly, we are assured that truth does not change, and, therefore, a man cannot decide he is going to get married and have a baby. Well, again, bravo! But what about more germane topics, excellency? Is the marriage bed a recreational activity? Can a couple married for 20 years happily apply for an "annulment" because suddenly they are incompatible? Can we continence politicians who vote for or otherwise support a "woman's right to procure an abortion"? What about the banks wanting us to forego cash and use a "digital currency"?
Oh no, no, no! That would be asking far too much of His Excellency. Sufficient that he tells us he is not in favor of Pope Frantic and his coterie of Pederast BirdBrains not casting infants into the blazing furnace of a Potbellied Moloch.
In case one has not noticed, the line of demarcation between those we can support and those we must condemn keeps retreating, and dramatically at that. Once upon a time, back in the 1970's, Bishop Strickland would have been excoriated simply for allowing "Communion in the Hand", which no Catholic with even an ounce of respect for the Blessed Sacrament could continence. And this Wolf suspects that in Bishop-Strickland-Land, on any given Sunday, the following liturgical abuses are occurring: "Altar Girls", "Communion Distributed under Both Species", "Communion Distributed by 'Lay Ministers'", "Female Lectors" and a litany of other practices from Cramner's Godly Order condemned by the Council of Trent.
And of course, this is not to even mention those other 600' gorillas in the room- the "New Mass", the errors of Vatican II, false Ecumenism, the "New Sacraments", and the "New Theology".
No, Bishop Strickland will not mention these topics. Not once. Instead, he gives a whole series of vapid statements that are vague, circular, repetitive, and pointless. And what is left of "Traditional Catholicism" applauds like trained seals.
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us. You are our only hope!
Nice job Wolf