April 12, 2019 (LifeSiteNews)
Bishop Joseph Strickland’s interview
with LifeSiteNews’ Lisa Bourne
LifeSiteNews: In a previous conversation we had you
mentioned that you had felt called at one point to begin
teaching the truth more powerfully, so I’d like to ask you if
you could tell us more about the circumstances surrounding
that situation. What made you feel called to begin teaching
the truth more powerfully?
Bishop Joseph Strickland: Well I suppose it really began with
my own childhood and growing up here in East Texas, where
many Catholics would walk away from the Catholic faith.
And I always even as a young person had the impression that
it was because they didn't really know the Catholic faith.
I was born in 1958, so I grew up in the 60s and early 70s.
And the Church was not focusing on really teaching
catechetical truth as clearly at that time as it had in the past.
So I think that it grew from that. And then really, I would say
the more immediate call that I felt was really shortly after I
became a bishop, just a recognition as I traveled the diocese
and worked in various parishes. I’d basically spent most of
my time in one parish as a priest, and so as I was traveling
around, it just became more and more evident that people
really didn't know their faith well. And it's such a treasure to
know Christ through the Catholic tradition that I just felt that
we really had to get busy teaching more effectively, teaching
the basic truth, so that people could know the truth and then
certainly understand why that's so important because it brings
us the life of Christ.
And other than your desire to faithfully exercise the teaching
office entrusted to you as the bishop was there anything else
that prompted you to promulgate the Constitution on
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 Teaching that you have done in your Diocese of Tyler, Texas?
Was there anything else that prompted that? I ask because
you reference reformation of teaching in the diocese in the
Constitution.
It just really grew out of that basic feeling as I was talking
with various priests and staff here in the diocese. I guess the
Constitution on Teaching; really, it was sort of the second
step of my own reflection. Because early on as I recognized
the need to focus on teaching, I thought that we probably
need to establish some sort of an institute, or some sort of a
body that would be charged with teaching, and so thinking
about the need for an institute. Really the Constitution on
Teaching grew out of that, with the idea that this institute was
going to need what I'd call the roadmap, a plan, for moving
forward with trying to teach in all the different ways and all
the different aspects of the life of the community that we're
trying to capture. So really, I'd have to say a need for a body
or an entity, which I determined an institute would probably
be the most appropriate, and then the Constitution on
Teaching grew out of that.
I guess a little further detail of my own reflection was that a
recognition of really putting our resources more into the
primary work of the Church, which is teaching, in my
opinion, rather than some of the other good things that we
were focusing on. But really, and a lot of times, as with
anything, sometimes I've heard that if you want to know
someone's priorities you look at their checkbook and what
they spend money on. And I guess in light of that it was a real
shift that I saw necessary to say the primary thing we need to
put dollars into is the teaching mission; paying good
personnel and having resources, that costs money, but really
putting much more into that than we had. We had a group of
wonderful lay catechists, volunteers, but we really had not
put a large portion of the diocesan budget into the teaching
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 effort, and with the Constitution as the roadmap, the Institute,
the St. Phillip Institute that we've established, is receiving a
significant portion of the funding of the diocese, because I
think we need to put financial resources into paying salaries,
into having resources that are available for the teaching
mission. So a large part of it was a recognition that we had
some wonderful people and some good people employed, but
a very small employment group, and most of it was
volunteers. And I guess part of my realization was, we need
to have on the payroll the most important people, and have
multiple people with expertise in catechesis and in teaching
the faith that are employed by the diocese in order to really
spread this around the 33 counties that make up the Diocese
of Tyler.
To that end do you think that it could be said that to best be
able to authentically live the Catholic faith, one has to know
or learn the Catholic faith and it's that kind of at the heart,
would you say, what's behind why you're doing this?
Absolutely. As I’ve said I guess my bias comes from growing
up in this area. I was in a strong Catholic family and really,
most of what I learned, frankly, was from the family, from
parents who were committed and well-catechized Catholics,
especially my mother who was a cradle Catholic. My father
was a convert and very supportive always. But my bias was,
people are leaving. In my own peers growing up, I was in a
public high school, and there were a very small number of
Catholic young people at my high school. At the same time I
believe I'm probably the only practicing Catholic of all of
those, and I think what the missing ingredient was not really
knowing the basic teachings of the Church and not knowing
what the Real Presence really means - that Christ is there in
the form of consecrated bread and wine. Just across the board
there is a lack of really solid knowledge of what the Catholic
Church is, where it came from, who established it, how it
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 continues through 2000 years of history. I've always had the
bias that if people really know that, they're going to embrace
the Catholic faith. And I think we've seen a lot of those
stories, especially I've seen them in recent years, of some
very high profile converts who have studied themselves into
the Catholic faith. I guess with that emphasis on teaching and
learning, I would hope we can help teach all of the people in
the Diocese of Tyler, teach them into to the Catholic faith,
and not just leave it to them individually to go after that truth
on their own. Which they certainly can, but I feel like it's my
job as bishop and it's our work as a diocese to teach people
the treasure they have in their Catholic faith.
That's really kind of a simple and straightforward way of
looking at it, but it seems like it seems lost in a lot of
situations today, and I say that as a preface for my next
question. Some of the words that you used to describe the
Constitution on Teaching are audacious, far reaching, and
that is a new focus for the diocese. How is this information
implementation going?
I'm pleased with how much progress we've made. The
Constitution on Teaching was published in May of 2017, and
so it will be two years in May of 2019 since it actually was
published. And I think we've made great progress. I was just
meeting with one of our great priests this morning that's been
collaborating with helping to implement the Constitution. As
I told him, God willing, I'll be bishop here for about 15 more
years. And I would expect when I retire, I won't be able to
say, Oh well, we've fully implemented this Constitution on
Teaching. I think it really is the mission of the Church
always. But I feel like, with the Institute, which is already
producing some great teaching tools and instruments for
helping people have access to the wonderful truth that our
Church teaches, I think with the Institute, the Constitution is,
we're making great work great progress in implementing it.
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 But as I said, it will take the rest of my life of ministry and
beyond to continue to implement what it is to teach in every
aspect of our lives from cradle to grave, what it is to live the
Catholic faith and the treasure that we have, in knowing this
truth that is designed to draw us more fully into the life of
God and to the life of God's Son and the Holy Spirit.
Bishop, in the Constitution you make some hands-on
commitments to help foster elements of that constitution. And
one challenge for a bishop in leadership is balancing
between being hands-on, or, perhaps being perceived as
micromanaging. Can you tell us how the Constitution has
been received by-and-large by your priests and other staff in
this regard, as far as you trying to really roll your sleeves up
and be involved?
I think it's been well received. Certainly it varies from priest
to priest, and the energy level and the ability to really
embrace something as challenging as this. But I'd say for the
most part, as priests work with a bishop they're likely to be,
you know, pretty docile and at least our priests are pretty
receptive, or at least not negative or pushing back. How
energetic they get about really implementing elements of this
Teaching Constitution on their own parish level; that varies
from one priest to another. But there are a number of priests
that are very committed and working very hard to do this. I
think as far as the micromanaging idea, I've always tried to
be very conscious of that. I think frankly the advantage that
the staff and the priests have is, as a bishop, any bishop, we
have so much to do; I just don't have the chance too much to
do a lot of micromanaging. So I'm relying a lot on individual
priests in their parishes and the staff of the Institute, the St.
Philip Institute, to really continue the day-to-day work of
making the Constitution really happen, and the work of the
Institute continue to bring the truth more fully to every
Catholic and beyond in the Diocese of Tyler.
Page 5

 Okay, and further on the St. Philip Institute of Catechesis and
Evangelization in your diocese, you say in the Constitution
that the Institute will produce or obtain all the materials
necessary for teaching in the diocese and ensure their
suitability. This, you say, will in part entail ensuring that the
teaching materials are useful, offering clear and concise
teaching, which truly informs and educates and never
obfuscates or confuses. Can you share why you thought this
particular element was necessary, that the material explicitly
be clear, informing and educating, and never confuse people?
Yes. Because I think what’s sort of underlying that is a
perception, at least in my experience, which I acknowledge is
fairly limited, I mean I’m just one individual who's lived his
own journey in the faith, and as a priest and now as a bishop,
but I think there has been some lack of clarity. You know the
classic Baltimore Catechism; I think many have sort of
turned away from that, because it was too, you know, just too
rote or too distilled, maybe, just not elaborating enough. And
I think it's always striking a balance. But I guess the
catechesis that I grew up with was so far from anything like
the Baltimore Catechism, that it did tend to confuse, or just
leave very vague, some basic clear teachings, that need to be
there. I continue to believe that one of our key areas of
teaching and in really emphasizing and embracing more
deeply as Catholics is the Real Presence. And I think to be
very clear and to really develop catechetical tools that help
children, young people, everyone understand that we truly
believe the bread and wine becomes the body and blood of
Christ – that it's not just a symbol, that it's not just a nice
image, but it's a reality. And I think you can translate that
fairly easily and fairly concisely, but using the specific
language of the Church. You know, words like
transubstantiation, and explaining, even to younger children,
I mean if you break it down properly, I think they can
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 understand that; no the bread doesn't look different, and the
wine doesn't look or taste different, but it truly becomes the
body and blood of the Son of God.
I think that sort of clarity of teaching was somewhat missing,
at least in what I grew up with. And I think as I’ve tried to
continue to focus on teaching, I think that the truth is, it's
pretty clear; sin is wrong, virtue is what God has revealed to
us, and it's challenging, but it's clearly what we're supposed
to do.
And I think we're in an age, maybe every age of human
history has certainly had these tendencies, where we say
things are complex, or confused, or you know, just very
difficult to understand. We use that sort of as a crutch to say
then, well I don't really have to worry too much about doing
this, or about changing my life, because it's so complex, it's
so confusing. I think instead we need to just say it's really not
that confusing, and then, like the proper living out of sexual
intimacy - it only happens in marriage. That's pretty clear. I
mean; we don't operate in a world that accepts that clear
truth. But I think that's an example of the kind of clarity that
we need to not say it's not confusing, it's not complex. Yes,
it’s very challenging, and we have to be compassionate to
those who fail — sinfulness — those who fail to live up to
the ideals of our faith. But I think we do need to be very clear
on what those ideals are.
Absolutely, it'd be kind of problematic to ask people to follow
something if it's not clear what the expectation is. The
Constitution on Teaching is very comprehensive. Looking at a
particular area requiring a year of formation for marriage
preparation is just one example of a bold initiative that is
contained in it, as is incorporating natural family planning
training as an integral part of that marriage preparation
program. Are you aware of any other bishops that have done
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 either of these, and in particular, how is the implementation
of that aspect going? How’s it been received, whether by the
prospective couples, pastors or sponsor couples? And also,
as with the earlier question about the clarity of teaching
material, was there anything in particular that made this
necessary in your mind to require a full year of marriage
prep and incorporate NFP in the program?
Well on part of your question I do know a number of bishops
and other dioceses that are working on elements of this where
NFP is part of marriage preparation. I'm not specifically
aware of any mandates of a year of formation, which we're
still working toward. But in talking to other bishops, I think
many agree that we need more time to really prepare for
embracing marriage. And in approaching that one thing, the
change of the language, instead of marriage preparation, we
speak of marriage formation. I really like something that
Pope Francis said in one of his documents that really, for
marriage we need remote formation, which really begins as
soon as children are old enough to grasp the concept of
marriage really, especially in the teenage years, to help guide
young people to understand what dating and courtship, what
role should it play and how does it work in their lives. And
then the actual proximate marriage formation, which is for a
young couple, a year before a wedding date, and then the
ongoing marriage formation, the follow-up for at least five
years, and really for the rest of their married life, to continue
to enrich and be formed in the idea of what marriage is in
Christ and in our Catholic faith.
So I’m really pleased with how the marriage formation
program is developing. We were blessed to hire a wonderful
young wife and mother of three kids. And she was one of the
first hires for the Institute. Because, I guess my philosophy is,
as it speaks of somewhat in the Constitution, is that we need
to start at the foundation, and marriage and family is the
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 foundation of Catholic society, of Christian society. And
there’s so much broken about those foundations, and in the
Church and in the world today, that I think to help young
couples that are in love and approaching marriage, thankfully
they are approaching marriage, which too many are
bypassing marriage, but for certainly the couples that come to
the diocese, or to a parish here in the diocese, seeking
marriage, to bring them to a strong formation.
And with the 50th anniversary of Humanae Vitae, we’ve
focused on in the diocese that this is a truth that the Church
has been teaching for those 50 years. Largely ignored, even, I
have to say, by bishops, and certainly by the faithful, by
priests. I have to admit that as a parish priest, for many years,
I always believed what the Church said. But I can honestly
say I didn't focus on it that much, because it really wasn't
very popular to focus on. But if you read Humanae Vitae,
Pope, now St. Pope Paul VI, in number 14 of Humanae Vitae,
he basically is prophetic and he lays out: This is where we're
headed if we ignore God's plan for a married couple, open to
life and not using contraception. And I think we've ended up
exactly where his prophetic prediction said we would end up.
So with all of that being realized, I felt that we need to start at
the very foundation of the Christian community, which is
marriage, and then the families that are formed on a solid
marriage, and natural family planning, which avoids
contraception, even that is challenging, to always have the
basic principle of being open to life. And using NFP only to
manage somewhat the timing of pregnancies in a marriage,
but certainly not using it as contraception, to really control
that, you know that has to be a balance as well.
But and sadly, after 50 years of Humanae Vitae, it's
somewhat revolutionary to do what we're doing, but it's in
line with what the Church has continued to teach for these 50
years. It's been the official teaching. It's been not emphasized
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 that much, and certainly I guess you could overemphasize it,
because I've had some say that well everything traces back to
Humanae Vitae, I think it is very significant. And I guess the
way I would put it is, everything traces back to ills of our
society, which has been the case since Adam and Eve, it
traces back to disobedience to God's plan and to God's will.
And so the contraceptive mentality that is very much in the
Catholic community, and certainly in the non-Catholic, or
even just humanity, contraception is accepted as something
that is smart to use. And it's like you're strange or you’re
delusional if you're not using contraception. So it's kind of a
revolutionary idea, but it is the teaching of the Church and I
think there's tremendous wisdom there. And so we took the
bold step of saying, yes, we're going to take more time for
marriage formation and we're going to just build-in the
natural family planning. We've made great progress there.
There's still a lot more to do to have the trainers and
physicians that are cooperating with couples that want to
follow the Church's teaching. But I think there's a real desire
there on the part of many of the couples, especially after it's
really explained to them what God's plan is and how natural
family planning can be used properly.
And even in our area, we’re less than 10 percent Catholic in
the diocese, and we're finding more and more non-Catholics
who are saying, hey, I think the Catholic Church has
something here that we need to pay attention to. Because
really, the Catholic Church — and even as eroded as it is as
far as Catholic practice — continues to teach that
contraception is not morally acceptable. And we're the only
church that even attempts to teach that, that many of the nonCatholics individually are saying, we want to learn more
about this because we think the Catholic Church is on to the
truth of God's plan.

Page 10

 Chastity is a call for all Catholics and it is somewhat related
to our last question, obviously. Calling on priests to preach
chastity might be considered by some to be controversial.
How has that particular part of the Constitution been
received would you say?
Certainly no pushback on it. I don't know how many people
have focused on it directly, but I think a lot of the feedback
I've gotten is, as you said, it's a call that every person is
called to, in whatever state of life. And to preach that, I mean,
sadly the devastating scandals that we're dealing with in the
Church is basically a failure of chastity to a large extent. So I
really haven't had it received as anything controversial, now
whether people are living it or not is a whole different
question. But as far as it being the ideal of the Catholic faith
and of Christian life, I think there's been a basic acceptance
of that among those who already believe.
And further on the subject of calling for priests to preach on
certain subjects. In discussing the ongoing formation for
priests in the Constitution, some of the areas in which you
plan to provide continued teaching for priests to be certain
they're educated and therefore can preach effectively in these
areas are on the Church's teaching on moral topics including
contraception, which we've touched on, euthanasia, gender
ideology, same-sex attraction, responsible parenthood, organ
harvesting, it’s a long list, stem cell research and pastoral
care for stillborn and unbaptized children. So, Bishop,
whether in the case of a priest who might be resistant to
preaching on a certain topic or a catechist or any other
diocesan representative, what are your thoughts on how you
would respond to either resistance or refusal to teach or
preach, or in fact if there was a case of someone
disseminating a stance that's in conflict with Church teaching

Page 11

 on any of those areas, how would you think you would
respond to that?
Well just to try to continue to teach clearly what the Church
actually says on each of those complex topics. I guess I feel
blessed. I'm not aware of any one priest, catechist, deacon,
anyone who would be officially teaching in the name of the
Church here in the diocese. And I have an idea that I would
hear about it, the way the lay people, I mean, they have a
right to speak up and I think they are speaking up even more
in recent months, but I haven't heard any direct opposition or
teaching anything contrary. Certainly whether or not in a
given parish on a given topic the teaching is embraced as
fully as I would like it, I'm sure there's some variation there.
But at least as far as any overt opposition, I haven't seen that.
And I think for the most part I have to acknowledge we're in
a fairly conservative area, where a lot of these teachings are
not passé as they are considered in some places. I mean just
for the
gender ideology issues, for example, I've talked to bishops in
other parts of the country where the erosion of those basic
understandings of the human person is much further down
the road than it is here in East Texas among Catholics or
among non-Catholics. I have to acknowledge that probably I
have an easier flock to manage than in a lot of those areas.
Not necessarily holier, but at least more docile to not pushing
back against basic teachings of the Church and the message
of the Gospel and as it relates to morality, sexuality, and
human life.
In the Constitution, Bishop, you say that you wish to expand
and improve the diocese's ministry to those in irregular
marriage situations. Can you clarify what circumstances all
fall under that category with regard to in the Constitution?
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 And how do you respond or plan to respond to those in
irregular marriage situations, or any relationship scenario
that's considered by the Church to be outside of matrimony,
who either perhaps don't desire to regularize their union or
they don't desire to cease being in a union that cannot be
regularized, or if they are planning to, have a desire to, or
are already partaking in Holy Communion without benefit of
Confession and absolution? Have you thought about how you
might, in addition to that, if folks aren't coming to Mass to
hear this teaching how do you think you would try to reach
them to teach them about this issue?
Well, those are a lot of questions. I think that basically that
irregular marriage, I worked in our diocesan tribunal for
about 15 years as a canonist, and irregular marriages are
basically those that are, for Catholics, not accepted as
canonically valid in the eyes of the Church. So we have a lot
of situations where people, really, maybe without even
realizing that when they go to a justice of the peace, or get
married in Las Vegas or are some of those kinds of venues,
that that is not considered marriage, it's irregular as far as the
Church is concerned. So there's quite a spectrum of what sort
of relationships. They may be living together, which is, in
Texas, if a couple presents themselves as a married couple,
by common law in the state of Texas they’re considered to be
a married couple, and there's some legal things that kick-in in
relationship to that. So it would cover the spectrum for a
Catholic, possibly two Catholics married. We have numerous
Catholic couples, both are Catholic and just for whatever
reasons, sometimes economics, sometimes without really
realizing that they're not marrying in a way that is accepted
by the Church, they get married by a justice of the peace or in
some other context. Probably many of our irregular marriages
deal with a Catholic marrying a non-Catholic and without
realizing that they need to get canonical form. You can get
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 permissions for just about any sort of different configuration
of where the marriage would take place, who receives the
vows, all of those questions. But very often we have couples
where a Catholic marries a non-Catholic and the Catholic
was not catechized well enough to even understand that
getting married, for the Catholic, just going and getting
married and their spouse’s Baptist Church or Methodist
Church, they're not considered married in the Catholic
sacramental picture of marriage. So it covers quite a
spectrum to deal with irregular marriages.
The question for those who aren't hearing Sunday homilies,
which is a large portion of the Catholics, at least not on the
every Sunday basis and certainly the non-Catholic side, I'd
have to say that we're still looking for ways. One of the
favorite images that I've used as we've been trying to
implement the Constitution is that the Catholic Church has
the truth, it's in big books on shelves. And to get it out of
those big books into the hearts and minds of the people, that's
really the work of the St. Philip Institute and what we're
working on developing, a lot of things these days are video
based, and where we're certainly exploring that. We have a
studio that is pretty state-of-the-art that is all set up, and
different teaching opportunities are recorded. We can Skype
with different groups, that sort of thing. I think we have to
continue to look for what we've been calling a delivery
system to get it to the Catholics and to the non-Catholics, but
especially Catholics who may not be there for every Sunday,
or not many Sundays at all, to reach out to them as well. So
all of that is an ongoing effort to find the best mechanisms
and the best ways to reach out to people.
Our discussion right now about irregular marriage situations
has concerned heterosexual couples. So I would pose the
same question to you as far as would your answers to the
question apply, I know it's a lot of lot of elements to your
Page 14

 answer here, to couples that are in same-sex relationships
who are seeking to be faithful Catholics. How do you respond
to that as far as ministering to those folks?
Well hopefully with tremendous compassion and embracing
them as children of God and helping them to, and I know it's
challenging, but to come basically to the teachings on
chastity for every Catholic, as we began this part of the
conversation, to recognize that we believe that every person
is called to be chaste, to chastity for their state of life.
Marriage, between a man and a woman, as the Church
defines it, a permanent lifetime commitment open to children
- that's the only place for sexual intimacy. And I think where
a lot of things are confused and kind of conflated in society,
and even among Catholics these days, is that, ‘oh, well, I love
this person. OK. Wonderful.’ Love, true love is always of
God. God is love - love is God, as John's Gospel says.
But I think what we have to do is for those who, as you
mentioned, for someone who is in a same-sex “marriage”
who wants to be a faithful Catholic, first they have to learn,
and we've actually dealt with those situations since the
Constitution was published in a couple of instances, people
have come forward really saying they wanted to live as
faithful Catholics but they're in this kind of relationship that
the Church doesn't recognize as marriage.
So I think it has to be with great compassion, because I think
any kind of mistreatment of any child of God because of an
orientation or of any choice they've made, is not of Christ. I
mean he's always reaching out in compassion, but also
pulling people away from sin. And we believe that sexual
intimacy between people of the same sex is wrong. I mean
it's right there in the Catechism, it's very clearly taught. That
doesn't mean either of those people are bad people or should
be denigrated in any way. And sadly that has happened
Page 15

 through human history. But, so absolutely, we respect the
individual, but the greatest respect is to share the truth with
them that we believe they're called the chastity.
And I know that probably a lot of people would laugh me out
of the room in today's society. But I think we seriously have
to say these two men or these two women are not married,
they're not in a marriage, and so sexual intimacy is not
appropriate.
I think we kind of even, with young couples, I mean I've
talked to couples preparing for, a man and a woman, male
and female, preparing for marriage and many times they are
living together, living under the same roof. I've talked to
individual couples that were seriously committed to living
the Church's teaching and it made a commitment to be chaste
and to abstain even though they're under the same roof,
which a lot of people would say, ‘oh sure, yeah?’ But I mean
these young people have really presented to me in my work
as a priest in the past, that they really are committed to this.
And you have to take them at their word and encourage them.
I mean it's probably a real source of temptation and a very
difficult situation to be in, to really retain chastity, but
certainly doable, according to some of the couples. I mean it's
certainly probably isn't the norm now. I think society
presumes that if a man and a woman are living in and sharing
the same bed, probably they're going to be sexually intimate.
But I think that's where we have to really just be very clear
that who you love is not really the issue. I mean for one thing
we can get into a whole teaching about what love really is.
And it's ultimately built in to sacrifice. I mean that's the love
that Christ shows us. He sacrifices himself for all of us.
But all those kinds of issues I think we have to say all of us
are called to chastity, and whatever your state of life, if you're
not married and according to the definition of the Church
Page 16

 that's between a man and a woman in a lifetime
commitment ... (you must abstain).
Bishop Strickland, you've been speaking courageously with
clarity in recent months in a number of venues on subjects of
great concern to faithful Catholics, in particular the abuse
scandal and abortion. You've been articulating Church
teaching clearly and forthrightly. This has the potential for
you to either be cast as a champion for lay Catholics, at the
same time that you could potentially have some negative
reaction from colleagues if they're uncomfortable with you
standing out. How do you respond to either of those potential
reactions?
Well, really basically a pretty simple response, but my
response is the same, is that I'm ordained. I mean it's not my
truth. It's the truth of Jesus Christ. I'm ordained to shepherd
people according to that truth.
And one thing that I've tried to emphasize for myself through
these past months is, my work and my responsibility is with
the dioceses of Tyler, 33 counties in northeast Texas. In the
flock here, that is a total flock of about 1.5 million people,
within that flock is about one hundred and twenty thousand
on our rolls of Catholics, probably many other Catholics that
should be on our rolls. And really I feel a call to teach the
truth of Christ to every person that lives in the 33 counties, so
the Diocese of Tyler.
So it's my job to teach what Christ teaches and so people, the
laity that feel supported, hopefully they do feel supported.
I'm sure some feel challenged because it's not exactly a
comfortable gospel; it's a narrow path, in all aspects of living
Catholic life of following Christ. It's a narrow path that is
hard to walk.

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 So I think the laity that would say, you know you used the
word champion, I think that's my job in a real sense. Not to
champion myself, but to champion the gospel of Christ and to
help them feel supported in it. And I have to say I've gotten a
lot of support from the people here in the diocese and
beyond, are grateful that I've spoken up.
As far as my brother bishops, my colleagues who have
responsibilities for much larger dioceses, or you know,
smaller even, there are ones than Tyler, but you know, of their
own dioceses, I have to say that, behind the scenes, many of
the bishops have expressed their support and their
appreciation.
And I think in some ways in some of our conversations, I
mean, many of the bishops are in places where the politics
and the general tone of the culture is so anti-Catholic in many
ways, that it just makes it much more difficult for them to
speak up. As I’ve said we're in the Bible belt, we're in an
overtly Christian area, not very Catholic, but many believing
Christians. And a lot of what I speak out on — like the
abortion issue — there are many of the faithful Christians in
this diocese that would very much be in line with that.
So I think in some ways I have, maybe in my own prayer and
reflection, I’ve thought, “I am in a relatively small diocese,
why am I the one speaking out?”
Well, maybe the Lord is using me and helping to support the
basic teachings of the faith, where it's easier said than done in
some places around the country. I mean there are some
dioceses where things are so secular that it's, and I've talked
to some of those bishops privately, that they're just facing so
much pushback, that to say just some of the things that I've
said that are just basic Catholic teaching would create real
challenges for them that, for whatever reasons, they are
choosing not at least in this way, to, I know a lot of the
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 bishops are teaching in their own diocese much more clearly.
But as far as you know some of the social media and that
kind of thing where I've gotten national attention, I guess.
Many of the bishops refrain from doing that, and I respect
their choice to do that.
Like I said, my focus is always on the Diocese of Tyler, but I
recognize when I tweet something it's not just for the Diocese
of Tyler. And I try to be very conscious of that.
So I'd say for the most part certainly the people, I've had a lot
of gratitude expressed and a lot of support for basically
speaking the truth clearly from the laity and from my brother
bishops.
Each one is in his own circumstances, and there are probably
things that I would not choose to speak out, I'm not really
sure that I can think of one now. But I think that the bishops
around the world or in other parts of the United States, each
one has to handle his own flock. And I can say that many of
them have expressed appreciation for my speaking up. It’s
helped to support them when maybe, for whatever reason,
they're not quite ready to join the chorus in a sense at least in
an overt vocal way. But they're certainly supporting the same
teachings.
So if the Lord wants to use me as a sort of a David-voice in
the face of the Goliath of our sinful culture, you know I'm
ready to pull out the slingshot.

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