If you don’t know who (permanent) Deacon Keith Fournier is, you ought to. He had a distinguished lay career and then clerical ministry (of some 30 years). About five years ago, he and his wife uprooted and moved from the East to Tyler, Texas to work with Bp. Strickland. (A lot of people moved to Tyler, as a matter of fact.)
The editor of Crisis did a thorough video interview with Dcn Fournier about Bp. Strickland the man, how he was as the bishop, and the factual situation of the diocese. HERE
The first part of the video involves Dcn Fournier covering his own background (an amazing CV). In the video, below, I set the time to just after all that personal background That it not to say that Dcn. Fournier’s background isn’t relevant. It is. This guy has been a stand up guy for a great many years.
As a matter of fact, Fournier has done a heck of a lot more for people and for the Church than the shave-tails who are bloviating in their own videos about Bp. Strickland. Fournier has been there and is the sort of person with the experience who could make serious assessments, rather than the half-assed mean-spirited … I digress.
Listen to this and I think you will have a stronger sense of perhaps why some people wanted Bp. Strickland out of his see. TRANSCRIPT HERE
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After reading the transcript, I now am even more distressed about this situation than before. It’s very troubling to me, and not a little suspicious.
“Pray, hope, and don’t worry” is one thing to do in moments like this, hard as it sometimes is.
And go to confession. :)
It sounds like we should pray for an extended personal encounter between Pope Francis and Bishop Strickland. Maybe the Pope would discover that the good bishop is everything he says he wants men of the Church to be: humble, poor, simple, authentically spiritual, gentle, joyful, genuinely pastoral, smelling if his sheep, evangelical and deeply rooted in faith and prayer rather than politics and ideology. Such a meeting would challenge all the preconceptions and prejudices of Pope Francis. Perhaps the scales would fall from his eyes and he would realise that he has been lied to, not just about this case. He might even wake up to the reality that he is being used as a puppet by enemies of Christ inside the gates. He could even become the Holy Father we really need. It’s not too late. A pious dream? Maybe, but still worth hoping for.
If only they had listened to Father Kolvenbach.
Huge prayer procession in Tyler on Saturday in support of the holy and saintly and persecuted Bishop. He is loved by the faithful.
This is part of the demonic activity that is pervasive in the church right now.
On a side note, in our time, it seems pretty perilous to relocate in order to be near anything Church-related.
Keith Fournier is a good and trustworthy man for whom I have the utmost respect. Thank you for posting this important discussion.