Former Bishop pens open letter to community

TYLER – Our news colleagues at KETK report that former Bishop of the Diocese of Tyler Joseph E. Strickland released an open letter to the community on Monday after his forcible removal by the Pope earlier this month. In the letter, Strickland said he was asked to meet with the Apostolic Nuncio of the United States where he was read a list of reasons why he was being removed. He said he would like to make these reasons available but was not given a copy of the list. Strickland wrote that the reasons read to him “seemed to be related, for the most part, to my speaking the Truth of our Catholic faith, and to my warnings against anything that threatened that Truth” and mentioned him “not walking alongside my brother bishops as I defended the Church and her unchangeable teachings.”

Strickland was removed from his position by the Pope on Nov. 11, and said in the reasons read to him no mention was made of “administrative problems or mismanagement of the diocese” as part of his removal.

“This is the time for everything now covered to be uncovered, and everything now hidden to be made clear,” Strickland wrote. “In fact, it was in a time when things were being hidden regarding disgraced now-former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and the Church sex abuse scandal that it seems I first entered the Vatican’s radar. My main crime, then as now, seems to always have been about bringing to light that which others wanted to remain hidden.”

In the letter, Strickland said he stands by his actions that were “necessary to protect my flock” and defend his faith.

“Although I am now without a diocese, I am still a bishop of the Church and therefore a successor of the apostles, and I must continue to speak Truth even if it requires my very life,” Strickland said.

After his removal, community members gathered to march through downtown Tyler in support of Strickland.