CV NEWS FEED // Bishop Joseph Strickland of the Diocese of Tyler in East Texas recently received an apostolic visitation launched by the Vatican.

As CatholicVote reported Sunday:

Witnesses confirmed to CatholicVote that the apostolic visitation is being led by Bishop Dennis J. Sullivan of Camden, New Jersey, and Gerald Frederick Kicanas, retired bishop of Tucson, Arizona, and former Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago, Illinois. Both bishops, accompanied by two priest experts in canon law from out of town, interviewed the witnesses about what they know regarding the personal life and pastoral activities of Bishop Strickland.

The interviews took place “under confidentiality” at a Holiday Inn in downtown Tyler, and according to the witnesses, they were requested to sign non-disclosure agreements; something unusual in a canonical process.

Strickland has been outspoken on various social issues and matters of Church politics. He has expressed support for denying Communion to President Joe Biden and has criticized Pope Francis as well.

Here is an inexhaustive list of Catholic public figures who have publicly weighed in on the unfolding situation regarding Tyler’s prelate.

Father Donald Calloway, MIC

The Marian priest took to Facebook Sunday to express his support for Strickland.

Calloway wrote:

Here’s the thing: Truth and light can’t be overcome. You can murder it, cancel it, and try to silence it. But it always comes back. What so many in the Vatican and church leadership don’t seem to realize is that going after Bishop Strickland will not stop the victorious march of truth and light. Several generations of priests will soon take the reigns and we are completely fed up with your liberal gay insanity. So stack the deck and fire all your guns. You won’t win. The Deposit of Faith has been passed on. Truth and light shall conquer. Viva Cristo Rey!

Calloway’s post also included a picture he had taken with Strickland.  

Father V

Monday, Father Ronald Vierling, widely known on Catholic Twitter simply as “Father V,” tweeted an article about Strickland’s visitation along with a quotation from 19th-century businessman and explorer George Francis Train:

Strange times are these, in which we live, forsooth; When young and old are taught in Falsehood’s school: And the man who dares to tell the truth,—Is called at once a lunatic and fool.

Shawn Carney

Tyler native Shawn Carney, president and CEO of 40 Days for Life, revealed Sunday that he was a parishioner at Strickland’s church prior to his appointment as bishop in 2012. 

“An investigation from the Vatican for a bishop leading a prayer vigil in response to homosexuals blatantly mocking Catholic nuns and being honored for it is absurd,” Carney wrote.

Peter Kwasniewski

Peter Kwasniewski, a prominent writer on the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM), on Sunday compared Strickland’s predicament to that of French Bishop Dominique Rey. 

In an earlier Facebook post from June 16, Kwasniewski had called Strickland “one of the few Catholic bishops left in the USA who pursues the truth above all things and does so with courage.”

Kevin Wells

Kevin Wells of Crisis magazine praised Strickland’s outspokenness in a lengthy Facebook post on Sunday. 

“Bishop Strickland is called ‘divisive’ by numberless thousands of Catholics, who believe his candor to be off the mark, judgemental, harsh, and evil,” Wells wrote. “He did not want to travel to LA to lead a procession against the pus the Dodgers allowed. But he felt called, and when no other bishop would go – he went.”

Wells also shared a group picture that included both him and the bishop.

The Pillar

The Catholic news website The Pillar published an article Sunday detailing the visitation and stating that, according to an anonymous source, Strickland did not want to “make too big of a deal of it.”

Acknowledging the bishop’s penchant for controversy, one source close to Strickland told The Pillar that the bishop is confident about the visitation.

“The bishop doesn’t want to make too big of a deal of it,” the source said. “He’s got vocations, the diocese is doing well financially, so by all the numbers, he’s doing very well.”

Bishop Strickland responds

Amidst the uncertainty surrounding his visitation, Strickland on Monday posted an encouraging, prayerful message on social media.

“In Christ alone my hope is found. He is my light, my strength, my song. This Cornerstone, this Solid Ground.”

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