Joseph Strickland

Joseph Edward Strickland (born October 31, 1958) is an American prelate of the Catholic Church who served as Bishop of Tyler from 2012 until his removal by Pope Francis in 2023.

Early life
Joseph Strickland was born on October 31, 1958, in Fredericksburg, Texas. As a young child, his family moved to Atlanta, Texas, where his parents were founding members of St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Parish. Strickland attended Holy Trinity Seminary in Irving, Texas.

Priesthood
Strickland was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Thomas Tschoepe on June 1, 1985, for the Diocese of Dallas. His first assignment was to Immaculate Conception Parish in Tyler, Texas. Upon the creation of the Diocese of Tyler in 1987, Strickland was incardinated in, or transferred into, the new diocese and was named its first vocation director in March 1987 by Bishop Charles Herzig. Strickland's service also included periods at Sacred Heart Parish in Nacogdoches, Texas and St. Michael Parish in Mt. Pleasant, Texas.

In 1992, Strickland was assigned by Bishop Edmond Carmody to study canon law at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where he earned a Licentiate of Canon Law in 1994. Returning to Texas, Strickland was named judicial vicar of the diocese and rector of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. In 1995, he was named a prelate of honor with the title of monsignor by Pope John Paul II.

Strickland served as apostolic administrator of the diocese from March 2000 until January 2001 when Álvaro Corrada del Río was installed as the new bishop. In 2010, Strickland was named vicar general. He served in that capacity until being named as a delegate of the apostolic administrator upon Corrada's 2011 departure to become Bishop of Mayagüez in Puerto Rico.

Bishop of Tyler
Strickland was appointed as bishop of the Diocese of Tyler by Pope Benedict XVI on September 29, 2012, and was consecrated on November 28, 2012, at Caldwell Auditorium in Tyler. Cardinal Daniel DiNardo was the celebrant and principal consecrator. Strickland was the first native Texan to head the 33-county diocese.

Strickland in August 2018 publicly vouched that Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò had "credible" allegations of Pope Francis protecting former cardinal Theodore McCarrick; Strickland instructed his followers to publicly distribute the allegations. The slow release of the Vatican's report on McCarrick was "evil", said Strickland in an October 2020 interview, while inviting Pope Francis to "go ahead and fire me" for this comment. In the same interview, Strickland described the Vatican and the United States as both having a "deep state ... The church is weak. The church is not clear", with Pope Francis' support for civil unions being "Pope Francis' opinion on this, and I think that is confusing and very dangerous". In May 2023, Strickland accused Pope Francis of having a "program of undermining the Deposit of Faith".

In June 2023, it was reported that Strickland had been subject to an apostolic visitation, which one priest anonymously said was focused around "governance issues" of Strickland's diocese, including the early removal of finance officers, rather than Strickland's views on Pope Francis. A meeting of members of the Dicastery for Bishops in September 2023 discussed a recommendation that Strickland be asked to resign. Following the apostolic visitation, several senior cardinals advised Pope Francis to pressure Strickland to resign. In an open letter to the faithful of the Diocese of Tyler in October 2023, Strickland refused to resign, "because that would be me abandoning the flock that I was given charge of by Pope Benedict XVI". On 31 October 2023, at the Rome Life Forum of LifeSiteNews (which describes itself as an anti-globalist Christian alliance), Strickland read out a letter that he attributed to a "friend"; the letter included the question: "Would you now allow this one [Francis] who has pushed aside the true Pope [Benedict XVI] and has attempted to sit on a chair that is not his define what the church is to be?" Strickland described the letter as "challenging" and did not dispute this accusation. The letter that Strickland read also described Pope Francis as an "usurper of Peter's chair" and "an expert at producing cowards"; Strickland then made his own comment that Pope Francis backed an "attack on the sacred" by the Vatican.

Removal from office
The Dicastery for Bishops, after an investigation into "all aspects of [his] governance and leadership" concluded "the continuation in office of Bishop Strickland was not feasible", and recommended that Strickland be asked to resign. On November 9, 2023, Strickland was asked to resign, but refused. Pope Francis then removed Strickland from his post as bishop of Tyler on November 11, 2023, appointing Bishop Joe Vásquez as apostolic administrator in his place.

In an online interview given several hours after his dismissal, Strickland stated that he was uncertain of the exact reason he was removed from office, "except I've threatened some of the powers that be with the truth of the Gospel". Strickland encouraged Catholics upset by the decision to pray for Pope Francis and remain members of the church. In another interview, Strickland urged Catholics “to be more faithful than ever, not allowing [his dismissal] to pull them back from living faithfully and vibrantly and joyful,” and to pray “for the deep abiding conversion of Pope Francis and of all of us to a deeper relationship with the Sacred Heart of Christ.”

Mgr. Athanasius Schneider defined his removal as being "unsubstantial and di sproporzionate."

Politics
On November 4, 2012, days before the 2012 United States presidential election, Strickland led a public rally and prayer service in downtown Tyler asking the faithful to turn toward God before the election. In an editorial written for the Tyler Morning Telegraph, Strickland said:"The fundamental truths that once were and still should be the bedrock of our society are being challenged daily. I believe the election on Nov. 6 brings a great task to all of us as people of faith to soberly reflect on what we believe and how those beliefs should be embodied in our laws and supported by our leaders."

In September 2020, after pastor James Altman made a video stating "You cannot be Catholic and be a Democrat", Strickland told his followers to "heed this message" by Altman, endorsing the video and praising Altman for "courage".

In December 2020, Strickland spoke at a rally in Washington D.C., held by supporters of President Donald Trump who were trying to overturn the result of the 2020 United States presidential election.

By 2023, Strickland had described President Joe Biden as "evil".

Controversy and Cardinal McCarrick allegation
In August 2018, Carlo Maria Viganò, Apostolic Nuncio Emeritus to the United States released a letter accusing several high-ranking prelates, including Pope Francis, of covering up allegations of sexual abuse against former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, and calling on those responsible, including Francis, to resign. Strickland stated that he found Viganò's allegations "credible". In January 2020, after meeting with Francis, Strickland said he never agreed with Viganò calling for the Pope's resignation and that he was satisfied with the Holy See's investigation of McCarrick.

COVID-19 pandemic
In May 2020, Strickland signed a petition released by Viganò which criticized restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic as intentionally "creating panic among the world's population with the sole aim of permanently imposing unacceptable forms of restriction on freedoms." The petition singles out the use of contact tracing devices as well as mandatory vaccination as infringements on people's rights, and cites "growing doubts ... about the actual contagiousness, danger, and resistance of the virus."

In a December 2020 letter to his diocese regarding the COVID-19 vaccines, Strickland wrote "I urge you to reject any vaccine that uses the remains of aborted children." He later tweeted, "The fact remains that ANY vaccine available today involves using murdered children before they could even be born." He added, "I renew my pledge — I will not extend my life by USING murdered children. This is evil WAKE UP!"

Tridentine Mass
Strickland celebrated the Tridentine Mass for the first time June 2020, describing it as reverent and beautiful. Strickland encouraged Catholics to attend Mass in that form of the Roman rite, and encouraged Catholics attached to the Tridentine Mass to attend the Mass of Paul VI, which he said could also be celebrated reverently.

Criticism of Pope Francis
On 8 July 2022, Strickland reposted on Twitter a video from the traditionalist Catholic newspaper The Remnant, which was fiercely critical of Pope Francis, describing him, among many things, as a "diabolically disoriented clown".

On 12 May 2023, Strickland attacked Pope Francis on Twitter, accusing him of "undermining the Deposit of Faith".

On 31 October 2023, Strickland attended a meeting in Rome hosted by the Catholic website LifeSiteNews: during it, he read a letter from an unnamed friend, in which the Pope was described as "an expert at producing cowards", "one who has pushed aside the true Pope and has attempted to sit on a chair that is not his", a "usurper of Peter’s Chair" and a person who "proclaims the devil’s voice to be the voice of the Holy Spirit"; the letter also quoted Revelation 17:11, a part of the Bible that is generally interpreted as a reference to the Antichrist.