Terminus Est said:
https://fsspx.news/en/news-events/news/united-states-pope-francis-removes-bishop-strickland-office-87024
The SSPX with short article on the Bishop Strickland situation; hard to argue with much here.
Quote:
It is important to note that relieving a bishop from office is a rare event, normally motivated by grave errors. That does not appear to be the case here, even if we ignore the results of the Apostolic Visitation.
We must also note that Bishop Strickland has shown himself to be particularly incisive against the Synod on Synodality. He wrote a courageous letter, appearing in August, to warn his diocese of certain novelties incompatible with the Faith that would be discussed at the Synod.
While the leitmotif of the Synod was: "listening to all," and in particular to those who feel excluded, Bishop Strickland was entitled to treatment that could qualify as "clericalist," in the sense of an authoritarianism that the Pope has not ceased to exercise since the start of his pontificate. There are thus very distinct limits to the "listening" proposed.
If we compare the treatment reserved for this bishop with that of priests and indeed of bishops whose doctrine is nothing less than defective, the injustice is even more blatant: it is truly tyrannical.
Very odd signals coming from Pope Francis, hard to interpret. He makes an example of Bishop Strickland yet lets all manner of heterodox things flourish without saying a peep, but will randomly drop the hammer on the Masons (which is awesome, but they're like Z on my list of problems affecting the church).
I had a big old LOL at the Masonic hammer that came out yesterday… yes, let's be clear, distinct and deliberate in our communication regarding freemasonry and all that it entails… those old men and their chicken fry's and children's hospitals are surely deserving of such a strong NO!
I have been praying a lot on the situation and read some more and my anger has tempered. +Strickland's concerns about the direction of the church are valid, his wanting to Sheppard his flock and be pastoral to those who desire and prefer to worship in the TLM are not faults.
However, one can only air grievance and poke the boss publicly and forcefully so much. There have been things he has said publicly that while initially I probably yelled "finally someone said it…" In hindsight they went too far and can see the error and how it didn't advance the conversation but perhaps furthered the divide..
That is not to say that the other side is free of error in the same vain, and that it is not frustrating that the standards are not equally applied. But like our Lord, the standards are not equal. For He took the weight of our sin, undeservedly, and that is a lesson I am trying to learn since a child. Life's not fair, and in the end we win through Him, and we should take whichever injustice is wrought to Him and move forward. Speak boldly but lovingly.