(LifeSiteNews) — In an exclusive interview, Bishop Joseph Strickland speaks candidly about the crisis in the Catholic Church, the confusion facing the faithful, the dangers of relativism, and the urgent need for bishops, priests, and laity to return to Jesus Christ, “Truth Incarnate.” Addressing issues ranging from doctrinal confusion and the Traditional Latin Mass to Amoris Laetitia, Islam, moral relativism, and the role of the papacy, Bishop Strickland repeatedly calls the faithful to fidelity, clarity, courage, and charity rooted in Christ.
LifeSiteNews: Your Excellency, day by day, it becomes more and
more clear that Our Holy Mother Church is under a strategic attack from
within, from the highest level, and in insidious ways. Basic truths,
fundamental doctrines and age-old sacramental and liturgical rites are
under attack. Souls are being lost and led toward eternal damnation.
As lay people, we see all this, and our hearts are broken. Some shepherds betray the faithful by their errors; others by their silence.
In the midst of this, none of us can remain silent. We have the example of courageous martyrs who refused to “pinch the incense.” We too must be ready to lay down our lives for Christ and His Church.
And so it is a great source of consolation and strength to witness your unwavering fidelity to truth and to the perennial teachings of the Catholic Church. Thank you, Your Excellency, for sitting down with us today. Our questions will largely center on this crisis in the Church.
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Your Excellency, how would you explain the seeming rejection of natural law in our society, where many now see intrinsic evils as good things?
To me, it really comes down to the relativism that has taken over the world and, sadly, much of the Church as well. Truth is Jesus Christ. He is Truth Incarnate. We must look to Him, because He is the fullness of God’s revelation.
When we lose Jesus Christ as the focus of Truth Incarnate, then we descend into relativism: “your truth,” “my truth,” “whatever truth is convenient.” Everything begins to unravel.
Pope Felix III said, “Not to oppose error is to approve it; and not to defend truth is to suppress it.” Why do you think so few bishops are defending the Blessed Mother and basic Church doctrine?
I do not want to judge my brother bishops, but I know for myself that when I know the truth, I must speak it. When there is error, I must speak with charity and clarity. As a successor of the apostles, I cannot remain silent.
I simply urge my brother bishops: speak up for the truth that is Jesus Christ.
How do we encourage others to return to or convert to a Catholic Church that now appears to promote blessings of homosexual couples, adulterous Communion, false ecumenism, religious indifferentism, and the suppression of the Traditional Latin Mass?
These things are manifestations of brokenness among individuals in the Church, but they are not the true Church.
The Church in her perfection already exists in heaven. At this very moment, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the angels, and all the saints worship the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in glory: Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus.
The Church Militant on earth often stumbles through history weak, sinful, and wounded. We see that dramatically in our own time.
I encourage clergy and laity alike to remember that these distortions – blessings of sinful relationships, adulterous Communions, confusion regarding the liturgy – are human failures, not the holiness of Christ’s Church.
The saints and martyrs died for the truth. We must cling to their witness and remember that Christ’s Church remains holy even when many within Her are not faithful.
How do you see Islam as a threat to the Catholic Church?
We must always remember that every person is loved by God. Muslims are loved by God. But because they are loved by God, we must call them to Jesus Christ.
There is only one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism.
We cannot be naïve about Islam. History itself teaches us this. Catholics should read about the Battle of Lepanto. Christians resisted a Muslim invasion because they recognized the danger.
We pray for the conversion of all peoples while resisting paths that lead away from Christ.
Dr. Josef Seifert warned that Amoris Laetitia contains a “‘moral theological atomic bomb’ because it permits situational ethics regarding Holy Communion for adulterous unions. What are Catholics to make of Pope Leo XIV praising Amoris Laetitia as “a luminous message of hope”?
At the heart of the issue is situational ethics and the idea that conscience stands above objective truth.
Certainly, we must follow our conscience – but we are obligated to form our conscience according to Christ, who is Truth Incarnate.
Sadly, Amoris Laetitia opens the door to the idea that if one’s conscience says something sinful is acceptable, then it becomes acceptable. That is not the Catholic Faith.
We pray for Pope Leo XIV and for all bishops and cardinals. We must support the Petrine Office because Christ established it. But supporting the papacy does not mean pretending that error is truth.
True charity toward the Holy Father means lovingly calling him back to fidelity to Jesus Christ whenever confusion or error is promoted.
Our Lady of Fatima warned that more souls go to Hell because of sins of the flesh than for any other reason. What should Catholics think of recent attempts to downplay sexual sin?
Read Romans chapter one. Read the words of St. Paul. Read the Gospels.
Sexual sins are grave sins. That is not merely the message of Fatima – it is the teaching of Jesus Christ and Sacred Scripture.
When Church leaders minimize these sins, they lead souls into confusion. True charity calls sinners to repentance and salvation.
Is the Vatican attempting to normalize sodomy?
It is a valid question.
We cannot bless sin. Any blessing that appears to affirm sinful relationships creates confusion.
The Catechism calls homosexual acts “intrinsically disordered,” and the Church must continue to proclaim that truth – not to condemn persons, but to help save souls.
The Church exists for the salvation of souls. If we tell people that grave sin is acceptable, then we are failing in our primary mission.
Over the past decade or so, faithful Catholics have seen many in the hierarchy promote the previously condemned “seamless garment” ethic in which prudential issues such as mass migration, poverty and the environment are put on the same level as – and even elevated above – intrinsic evils such as abortion, which takes the lives of, according to the WHO, 73 million unborn children each year worldwide. What is the danger with the “seamless garment” ethic?
There is a hierarchy of truths and moral issues.
Abortion is preeminent because it directly attacks innocent human life. Prudential matters can involve legitimate disagreement. Intrinsic evils cannot.
To blur those distinctions creates confusion and weakens moral clarity.
If a priest or bishop intentionally refuses to preach against abortion, could that be a sin of omission?
Yes, it can become a sin of omission.
Priests and bishops must ask themselves whether fear of controversy or worldly pressure is preventing them from preaching the truth entrusted to them at ordination.
We are not ordained to preserve comfort or avoid criticism. We are ordained to proclaim Christ.
Your Excellency, you have a great heart for the Blessed Mother. What do the titles Co-Redemptrix and Mediatrix of All Graces mean to you personally?
For me personally, those titles speak of the profound closeness of Our Blessed Mother to the mission of her Son. Of course, Jesus Christ alone is our Savior and Redeemer. But God, in His perfect plan, chose to involve Mary in a unique and intimate way in the work of salvation. She stood beneath the Cross. She suffered with her Son. Her Immaculate Heart was pierced as Simeon foretold. She never turned away from His suffering, and she continues to lead souls to Him.
As Co-Redemptrix, I see Our Lady as the perfect disciple, completely united to the redemptive mission of Christ – never equal to Him, but perfectly cooperating with Him. She teaches us how to suffer with love, how to remain faithful at the foot of the Cross, and how to say “yes” to God even when it costs everything.
And as Mediatrix of All Graces, I see the tenderness of a mother whom God has chosen to help distribute the graces won by Jesus Christ. Every grace comes from Christ, but He delights in involving His Mother in drawing souls to Himself. In my own life, devotion to Mary has always brought me closer to Jesus Christ, never away from Him. True Marian devotion always leads to deeper love for Our Lord, deeper reverence for the Eucharist, deeper repentance, and greater fidelity to truth.
I think one of the great tragedies of our age is that many are trying to diminish the role of the Blessed Virgin Mary in order to make the Faith more acceptable to the modern world. But when Mary is diminished, souls suffer, because she is the mother Christ gave to us from the Cross.
The saints understood this deeply. In every age of crisis, they turned to Our Lady. I believe we must do the same now more than ever.
How can contradictory truth claims come from the same divinely protected teaching authority? Does a pope who teaches false doctrine weaken his authority?
When a pope speaks ambiguously or promotes ideas contrary to the truth, he weakens the credibility of his office – not because Christ or the Church are weakened, but because confusion damages confidence in that office.
Truth remains unchanged. Christ remains faithful.
But the Vicar of Christ must clearly proclaim the truth, not echo the confusion of the world.
READ: A look back at Pope Leo XIV’s heterodox bishop appointments in his first year
What is your opinion on the upcoming SSPX episcopal consecrations and the state of necessity fueling them? Could you please explain what that state of necessity is, how it came about, and how it might be corrected?
Canonically, when people speak about a “state of necessity,” they are referring to a grave crisis in the life of the Church where the salvation of souls – which is always the supreme law of the Church – is perceived to be endangered because of confusion, error, or a failure in shepherding. In Church history, the concept recognizes that extraordinary situations can arise when the faithful struggle to preserve and receive what the Church has always taught and handed down.
I think we have to acknowledge honestly that we are living through a very serious crisis in the Church – doctrinally, morally, liturgically, and pastorally. Many faithful Catholics feel confused and even abandoned because truths that were once taught clearly are obscured, minimized, or contradicted by voices within the Church herself. We see confusion regarding marriage, sexuality, the Eucharist, the uniqueness of Christ, reverence in the liturgy, and many other foundational truths.
When many faithful Catholics feel they are simply struggling to hold on to what the Church has always taught, then we have to recognize that this is not a normal situation in the life of the Church. In that sense, I do believe we are living through a genuine spiritual emergency.
I think this crisis developed gradually over decades through weak catechesis, moral relativism, liturgical abuses, loss of reverence, and too much accommodation to the spirit of the world rather than calling the world to conversion in Jesus Christ.
Regarding the SSPX specifically, this is not a situation that should simply be dismissed or caricatured. There are real canonical questions. But we should at least understand where many faithful Catholics connected to the SSPX are coming from. Many are seeking reverence, doctrinal clarity, fidelity to Sacred Tradition, and the fullness of the Catholic Faith as it has always been handed down.
The Traditional Latin Mass has nourished countless souls and strongly emphasizes the sacrificial nature of the Eucharist, the transcendence of God, and the call to holiness and repentance. The Novus Ordo Mass remains valid, but in too many places reverence and clarity concerning the sacred mysteries have been weakened.
How can this situation be corrected? Ultimately only through a true return to Jesus Christ and the fullness of Catholic truth. We need clarity in doctrine, reverence in worship, fidelity to Sacred Tradition, courageous bishops, holy priests, and authentic unity rooted in truth – not merely institutional unity or enforced silence.
I pray for full healing and reconciliation within the Church. But healing begins with honesty. We cannot resolve a crisis unless we first acknowledge that the crisis truly exists.
Are we now in a situation where a faithful Catholic is sometimes forced to choose between truth and obedience, or truth and unity?
Real obedience never conflicts with truth. Real unity never conflicts with truth.
Any authentic unity is unity in Jesus Christ. Any authentic obedience is obedience to Jesus Christ.
When leaders within the Church fail to proclaim the truth faithfully, Catholics must remain faithful to Christ above all.
St. Thomas Aquinas teaches that obedience is ultimately owed to God.
We must respect the Petrine Office and pray for the pope, but fidelity to Christ comes first. If bishops, cardinals, or even popes speak contrary to the truth revealed by Christ, then charity requires us to say: “Father, return to Jesus Christ. Return to His truth.”
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LifeSiteNews: Throughout the interview, Bishop Strickland repeatedly returned to one central message: Jesus Christ is Truth Incarnate, and every authentic reform, every act of obedience, every unity within the Church must be rooted in fidelity to Him.
At a time of widespread confusion, Bishop Strickland calls upon priests, bishops, and the faithful not to surrender to fear, silence, or relativism, but to remain steadfast in the truth handed down through Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition, and the perennial teachings of the Catholic Church.
Thank you, Your Excellency, for sharing with us your insights and guidance on these various aspects of the current crisis in the Catholic Church. Consistently and unfailingly, your words return us to the Truth Incarnate, Jesus Christ.