Plus: Catholic morality is in freefall.
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Sources
https://bishopjosephstrickland.substack.com/p/intersections
Text of Bishop Strickland’s letter to priests
Dear brother priests,
I pray that these Lenten days we presently journey through are a time of abundant grace for you, deepening your life as a priest of Jesus Christ and renewing your heart in His truth and love.
I urge you to acquaint yourself with St. Peter Damian, a fearless defender of truth who stood against the corruption of his time. He lived in an age much like our own, when the rot of sodomy was like an acid eating away at the Church. Yet, I believe that if St. Peter Damien were to speak to us today, he would warn that the decay we now face is even more insidious and entrenched than what he confronted in his day.
As we lift up Pope Francis and all the bishops in prayer, we must do so with abundant charity but also with unyielding clarity in the truth. If the Holy Father, and the many cardinals, bishops, and priests who clamor to his side, refuse to reject the siren call of sodomy, we must remain steadfast. True mercy toward our brothers in Holy Orders demands that we tirelessly call them back to the truth, regardless of how deaf their ears may remain to our pleas.
If you are reading this, it’s likely that you have already suffered the consequences of speaking the truth of the Deposit of Faith that is our treasure. You are among a throng of faithful brothers who have remained steadfast and unshaken, and who have refused to embrace the modern trend of the Church to be in the world AND of the world.
It is true that the institution of the Church in the world has compromised herself in grievous and devastating ways. We must fight against this constant erosion of the faith in Jesus Christ who is the only path to salvation of our souls and eternity with God. Although the betrayers and betrayals in these days are many, we must fight sodomy as the most malignant and virulent of all the attacks. It attacks our manly purity, the sanctity of marriage, and the foundation of society which is meant to be holy families.
I write to you now in order to offer my support to lay the foundation for creating a community of priestly brothers united in prayer and truth. To foster this bond, I have established an email, asacredday@gmail.com, as a means of gathering us into a prayerful community dedicated to strengthening one another in our sacred calling as priests of Jesus Christ. Please share this with any of our brothers who stand with us in the unwavering pursuit of our vocation to be true priests of Jesus Christ.
The simple request I begin with is that we make Thursdays our day to pray and fast for each other. Let us offer Holy Mass on these days for our priestly brothers, that all of us may grow closer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Mother.
Let us implore the intercession of St. Peter Damian as we begin this quest together.
Bishop Joseph E. Strickland,
Bishop Emeritus
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Most Loved Anthony ,
Thank God for Bishop Strickland and all praise and glory to Our Lord Jesus Christ whose Way may inspire our imitation of God’s life ( Kempis ). Bishop Strickland’s challenge to priests can be understood as an encouragement to anyone.
1 Peter 2:9
9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
The call , by means of Bishop’s Stricklands’s letter, to those of us sitting in the pews, asks our discernment as to if each of us might make a sacrifice of ourselves towards efforts of purity, fidelity to marriage, and a sharing of any individual authenticity each of us might have with The Body of Christ – an authentically as might amplify purity and family throughout His Church, living out our lives as Royal Priests by actions of fidelity to Father God our Creator. While His Priests make vows, royal priests can easily accommodate themselves to His Plan by joining oneself to His Priest ( s )- this by the Thursday devotion to which Bishop Strickland invites participation. In our participation, by means of prayerful Mass attendance, we can join ourselves to His Priest, bring ourselves to His altar,and offer our prayers and ourselves (reparation ) for all the outrages, blasphemies, and sacrilegious conduct that is so offensive to His Sacred Heart and His Mother’s Most Immaculate Heart.
Thank God for Bishop Strickland !!! His loyal voice
shared is akin to that of Bishop Fulton Sheen in our present moment – it is steadfast, brave, and courageous. He is an instrument of God who gives an illumination of God’s intersection with His Creation. Bishop Strickland, following Christ, in persona Christ, by means of intersection gives of himself, to all of us, as he lives our his present moment; by surrender to His service Bishop Strickland’s life is no longer his, but given to Him who lives in him.
The “intersections”, The Cross borne by all of us,
to be known as a gift from God, accomplished with the the knowledge that the weight need not be burdensome:
Matthew 11:28-30
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
In our prayers, as any of us might join Bishop Strickland on Thursdays by our Mass attendance, may we recall to pray for Bishop Strickland, that God continue to share with him His Graces from the infinite abundance of those graces which He has available to give.
I am convinced, as God knows all, that He knows every grace that he sends to each of us -may our prayers then include ourselves ,as well as Bishop Strickland, asking God to illuminate our awareness that each of us might recognize and embrace those graces which He unendingly showers upon each of us – that we might know of the constant gifts given in every moment, that which he might ask from each of us, and that which is necessary to walk closer to Christ upon each step that attempts to follow His Way.
Upon Bishop’s Strickland’s intent, that his letter might be shared with His priests, I immediately became desirous to share with that priest to whom I will offer my confession this day . I will do so, before asking His sacramental grace of forgiveness, presented as a gift of message enclosed in an envelope as I discern myself as inspired to present; the contents of an “unmarked” envelope, Bishop Strickland’s letter, a treasure of invitation to His Priest, to perform with volitional intent, an effort to daily offer a Holy Mass.
Bishop Strickland , aware or not , is presenting to anyone, an opportunity to give of oneself , to live out God’s transcendent intersection with our soul, Emanuel, a gift of God of Himself to each of us, two thousand years in action. The mystery of life, by intersection with each of our individual lives, Christ in us, The Immaculate Heart of Mary will triumph:
1 John 4:4
4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
Pray for Bishop Strickland,to be given His Strength, as he lives out His intersections – that he has any and all gifts necessary that he can realize himself to be that overcomer that God knows him to be. Bishop Strickland , just as Dr.Scott Hahn, knows himself as in the intersection of the USCCB, Cardinal McElroy, Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop Weisenburger, Bishop Kicanas, the Tucson Diocese, & The Trinitarians of Mary.
Pray, pray, pray – may Her Immaculate Heart Triumph.
Blessings, Dr.Scott
Thank you Dr. Scott !
Let us thank the Holy Trinity for sending us
Bishop Strickland.
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, BE our Salvation !