Pledge your prayers for Bp. Strickland HERE
(LifeSiteNews) — By now you’ve all heard the news of the Vatican’s investigation into Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler Texas, a bishop who has – at least for orthodox Catholics in America – taken on the mantle of Bishop Fulton Sheen as “America’s Bishop.”
For those who have been aware of Pope Francis’ reign of terror in the Vatican and seen, for example, the cancellation of Cardinal Raymond Burke, the shunning of Cardinal Joseph Zen, and the shocking rebuke of Cardinal Robert Sarah, the news of this investigation into Bishop Strickland is not surprising and certainly full of foreboding.
The latest news we have at this time about visitation phase, where the Vatican had Bishop Dennis Sullivan of Camden, New Jersey, and former Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tucson, Arizona, is that the interview portion is complete.
In order to understand the gravity of this situation, you need to know about Bishop Kicanas, a former auxiliary Bishop of Chicago.
Kicanas was the head of Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in 2012 when they were funding pro-abortion groups. When LifeSite and American Life League pointed out that CRS was funding major pro-abortion groups, like Population Services International, which markets abortion drugs in the developing world.
He defended the $2.7 million grant to the abortion giant, saying it was for malaria prevention, bashed LifeSite for “misinformation,” and even cut a major CRS printing contract with the husband of the head of the American Life League in retaliation.
At the U.S. bishops’ conference in 2018, Bishop Kicanas was among a rat pack of bishops and cardinals wanting to change the bishops’ voter guide to downplay abortion as a primary concern. Joining Kicanas was a who’s who of the most unfaithful bishops in America, including Bishop (now Cardinal) Robert McElroy of San Diego, Bishop John Stowe of Lexington, Kentucky, and of course Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich.
But Kicanas was bad news long before that. Already in 2006, pro-lifers in his diocese of Tucson were concerned about him supporting pro-abortion politicians.
And remember, back in 2010 he was all set to become the president of the USCCB. The homosexual-pushing Rainbow Sash Movement endorsed him. Kicanas was vice president, and it was customary to go from vice president to president. But he was so controversial that Cardinal Timothy Dolan was appointed instead.
However, Kicanas’s history on priestly sexual abuse was likely the final nail in the coffin of his failure to be approved to take the top spot in the USCCB. Before becoming Bishop of Tucson, Kicanas served as the rector of the Mundelein Seminary in Chicago. During his time there he allowed future child molester Father Daniel McCormick to be ordained despite allegations of sexual misconduct.
Bishop Kicanas recently defended himself against allegations of wrongdoing by saying, “I never received any allegation, report or concern about McCormack during his seminary years at Mundelein that involved sexual abuse of anyone.”
The National Catholic Register has pointed out that Kicanas was at least aware of McCormick engaging in consensual homosexual acts while intoxicated, if not actual illegal abuse. According to the NCR article, Kicanas commented on these early “experiences” by saying, “Evaluation indicated that the nature of the experiences he had related was experimental and developmental, although it indicated that drinking might be a concern.”
That is who Pope Francis sent in to investigate Bishop Strickland!
Like most good men, good bishops are very trusting people. And therefore, they do not suspect ill intent in those they meet. However, among those who are living corrupt lives, suspicion is the name of the game. They tend to distrust everyone because they themselves are not worthy of trust. So when you have a man like Bishop Kicanas doing the investigation on Bishop Strickland, it is very concerning.
While Bishop Strickland might believe it is going to be fair, I find that hard to believe. Rather, I think that, from my experience of watching these things play out over the last 25 years, bad bishops conspire against good ones to have them removed.
That Pope Francis is going after Bishop Strickland is not new news. A month ago, Terry Barber of Virgin Most Powerful Radio revealed that the papal representative in America, Christophe Pierre, had waved his finger at Bishop Strickland during the bishops’ conference years ago.
Bishop Strickland is a hero. He not only stands for life and family, faith and freedom with dignity and a deep love for Christ, he is courageous even when he knows it may cost him. That is what saw him come to Los Angeles to defend the dignity of nuns and pray for deliverance from anti-Christian spirit invading America. His great love for the faithful and for Pope Francis is what led him to publicly correct the Pope, saying that “it is time for me to say that I reject his program of undermining the Deposit of Faith. Follow Jesus.”
So we must pray for Bishop Strickland now. Please join in praying for him, fasting for him, and if you’d care to do so with us, we will be delivering to Bishop Strickland a prayer pledge soon. Please click here or on the link below to add your name to the prayer pledge and share that with all those you think might like to join.
For LifeSiteNews, this is John-Henry Westen.
Pledge your prayers for Bp. Strickland HERE
