God’s word has given warning of the impending danger; let this be unheeded, and the Protestant world will learn what the purposes of Rome really are, only when it is too late to escape the snare. She is silently growing into power. Her doctrines are exerting their influence in legislative halls, in the churches, and in the hearts of men. She is piling up her lofty and massive structures in the secret recesses of which her former persecutions will be repeated. Stealthily and unsuspectedly she is strengthening her forces to further her own ends when the time shall come for her to strike. All GC 581.2

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Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, and other U.S. bishops from Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas concelebrate Mass Jan. 21, 2020, at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome. The bishops were making their “ad limina” visits to the Vatican to report on the status of their dioceses to the pope and Vatican officials. (CNS/Paul Haring)

BY BRIAN FRAGA

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August 23, 2023

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In a new public letter that echoes the Catholic Church’s anti-modernist statements from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the controversial Bishop of Tyler, Texas, predicts that many of “the basic truths” of the Catholic faith will be challenged during the upcoming October meeting in Rome of the Synod of Bishops on synodality.

Having previously accused Pope Francis of “undermining the Deposit of Faith,” Bishop Joseph Strickland warns in his Aug. 22 letter of “the evil and false message” that he said has “invaded” the church. 

Strickland also urges his readers to be wary of any “attempts to present an alternative to the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” and declares that anyone who resists such changes is not seeking to leave the church.

The agencies which will unite against truth and righteousness in this contest are now actively at work. God’s holy word, which has been handed down to us at such a cost of suffering and blood, is but little valued. The Bible is within the reach of all, but there are few who really accept it as the guide of life. Infidelity prevails to an alarming extent, not in the world merely, but in the church. Many have come to deny doctrines which are the very pillars of the Christian faith. The great facts of creation as presented by the inspired writers, the fall of man, the atonement, and the perpetuity of the law of God, are practically rejected, either wholly or in part, by a large share of the professedly Christian world. Thousands who pride themselves upon their wisdom and independence regard it as an evidence of weakness to place implicit confidence in the Bible; they think it a proof of superior talent and learning to cavil at the Scriptures and to spiritualize and explain away their most important truths. Many ministers are teaching their people, and many professors and teachers are instructing their students, that the law of God has been changed or abrogated; and those who regard its requirements as still valid, to be literally obeyed, are thought to be deserving only of ridicule or contempt.
In rejecting the truth, men reject its Author. In trampling upon the law of God, they deny the authority of the Law-giver. It is as easy to make an idol of false doctrines and theories as to fashion an idol of wood or stone. By misrepresenting the attributes of God, Satan leads men to conceive of Him in a false character. With many, a philosophical idol is enthroned in the place of Jehovah; while the living God, as He is revealed in His word, in Christ, and in the works of creation, is worshiped by but few. Thousands deify nature while they deny the God of nature. Though in a different form, idolatry exists in the Christian world today as verily as it existed among ancient Israel in the days of Elijah. The god of many professedly wise men, of philosophers, poets, politicians, journalists—the god of polished fashionable circles, of many colleges and universities, even of some theological institutions—is little better than Baal, the sun-god of Phoenicia GC 582.3 – GC 583.1

The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan by Ellen G White

“Instead, those who would propose changes to that which cannot be changed seek to commandeer Christ’s church, and they are indeed the true schismatics,” Strickland wrote in his provocative three-page letter, addressed to the Catholics in his diocese.

Appointed by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012 to become the Tyler Diocese’s fourth bishop, Strickland in recent years has cultivated the public persona of an outspoken firebrand who does not hesitate to challenge the current pope’s leadership or criticize his fellow bishops in public. His leadership of the East Texas diocese is currently the subject of a Vatican investigation, known formally as an apostolic visitation.

Protestants little know what they are doing when they propose to accept the aid of Rome in the work of Sunday exaltation. While they are bent upon the accomplishment of their purpose, Rome is aiming to re-establish her power, to recover her lost supremacy. Let the principle once be established in the United States that the church may employ or control the power of the state; that religious observances may be enforced by secular laws; in short, that the authority of church and state is to dominate the conscience, and the triumph of Rome in this country is assured.
God’s word has given warning of the impending danger; let this be unheeded, and the Protestant world will learn what the purposes of Rome really are, only when it is too late to escape the snare. She is silently growing into power. Her doctrines are exerting their influence in legislative halls, in the churches, and in the hearts of men. She is piling up her lofty and massive structures in the secret recesses of which her former persecutions will be repeated. Stealthily and unsuspectedly she is strengthening her forces to further her own ends when the time shall come for her to strike. All that she desires is vantage ground, and this is already being given her. We shall soon see and shall feel what the purpose of the Roman element is. Whoever shall believe and obey the word of God will thereby incur reproach and persecution. GC 581.1 – GC 581.2

The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan by Ellen G White

In addition to his social media posts questioning Francis’ fidelity to the Catholic faith and endorsing videos attacking the current pontiff as a “diabolically disoriented clown,” Strickland has questioned the concept of synodality, a historical practice where bishops consult the faithful in communion with the universal church.

Francis has sought to revive synodality. In 2020, the pope announced the Synod of Bishops on synodality, a three-year process of consulting the world’s Catholics in advance of gatherings in 2023 and 2024 in Rome of bishops and voting delegates, including lay men and women.

Many of the consultations highlighted issues such as how the church can be a more welcoming space to marginalized people, including LGBTQ Catholics, and can better integrate women into leadership positions, including the possibility of ordained ministry.

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While Francis has described synodality as “what God expects of the church in the third millennium,” Strickland struck a different note during a radio interview in 2020: “All this synodality is garbage as far as I’m concerned. It just is not living the truth.”

And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the sea side for multitude. And when Gideon was come, behold, there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow, and said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it, that the tent lay along. And his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel: for into his hand hath God delivered Midian, and all the host. And it was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and the interpretation thereof, that he worshipped, and returned into the host of Israel, and said, Arise; for the LORD hath delivered into your hand the host of Midian.
Judges:7:12-15

In his new letter, Strickland lists seven “basic truths” that encompass official Catholic teachings on sexual morality, the sacraments, redemptive suffering, and the theological claim that only the Catholic Church provides the authentic path to salvation. 

“We must hold fast to these truths and be wary of any attempts to present an alternative to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, or to push for a faith that speaks of dialogue and brotherhood, while attempting to remove the fatherhood of God,” Strickland wrote.

In seeking to cast contempt upon the divine statutes, Satan has perverted the doctrines of the Bible, and errors have thus become incorporated into the faith of thousands who profess to believe the Scriptures. The last great conflict between truth and error is but the final struggle of the long-standing controversy concerning the law of God. Upon this battle we are now entering—a battle between the laws of men and the precepts of Jehovah, between the religion of the Bible and the religion of fable and tradition. GC 582.2

The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan by Ellen G White

On the possibility that conservative Catholics will be labeled “schismatics” for disagreeing with proposed changes that could emerge from the synod, Strickland added that “no one who remains firmly upon the plumb line of our Catholic faith is a schismatic.”

Strickland outlined his seven “basic truths,” and his defenses of them, in a manner consistent with two early 20th-century papal documents that he quoted and posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, the day before the letter’s release. 

In those documents — “Syllabus Condemning the Errors of the Modernists” and “The Oath Against Modernism” — Pope St. Pius X reiterated traditional Catholic doctrines and sought to defend them against what he saw as errors in some then-emerging philosophical trends and historical-critical approaches to biblical scholarship.

Thousands deify nature while they deny the God of nature. Though in a different form, idolatry exists in the Christian world today as verily as it existed among ancient Israel in the days of Elijah. The god of many professedly wise men, of philosophers, poets, politicians, journalists—the god of polished fashionable circles, of many colleges and universities, even of some theological institutions—is little better than Baal, the sun-god of Phoenicia GC 583.1

The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan by Ellen G White

Several other conservative prelates have raised concerns about the synod of synodality. Reflecting longrunning conservative criticisms during Francis’ pontificate, Cardinal Raymond Burke claims in the preface of a new book that the pope is risking confusion and even schism in leading the synod.

This story appears in the Synod on Synodality feature series. View the full series.