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Bishop Joseph Strickland invited priests this month to join a “prayerful community” of fraternity, while criticizing Pope Francis for apparently failing “to reject the siren call of sodomy.”
The invitation came in a letter distributed by the former Bishop of Tyler, Texas — given to priests who attended a March 19 gathering of Catholics at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Resort.
“As we lift up Pope Francis and all the bishops in prayer, we must do so with abundant charity but also with unyielding clarity in the truth,” Strickland wrote.
“If the Holy Father, and the many cardinals, bishops, and priests who clamor to his side, refuse to reject the siren call of sodomy, we must remain steadfast. True mercy toward our brothers in Holy Orders demands that we tirelessly call them back to the truth, regardless of how deaf their ears may remain to our pleas.”
The bishop invoked for priests the example of “St. Peter Damian, a fearless defender of truth who stood against the corruption of his time. He lived in an age much like our own, when the rot of sodomy was like an acid eating away at the Church.”
Strickland’s letter comes more than a year after the bishop was removed in November 2023 as Bishop of Tyler, Texas. While the Holy See did not state a reason for his removal, Strickland had tweeted months before his removal that “it is time for me to say that I reject [Pope Francis’] program of undermining the Deposit of Faith.”
Since his removal, the bishop has appeared twice outside of U.S. bishops’ conference meetings, leading the rosary and greeting supporters.
In November 2024, Strickland read aloud an open letter to U.S. bishops urging them to acknowledge that “Pope Francis no longer teaches the Catholic faith,” and accusing them of “frolicking with evil.”
Strickland accused the “Francis-controlled Vatican” of “sleight-of-hand” — namely, using the synod on synodality for the “dismantling of Christ’s Church, by replacing the structure of the Church, as Our Lord instituted it, with the diabolically inspired new structure of ‘synodality,’ which in actuality, is a new Church that is in no way Catholic.”
The bishop suggested that Francis had established a “counter-Church” in place of the true Catholic Church.
While Strickland’s rhetoric regarding Francis has grown increasingly oppositional, the bishop has garnered growing support from Catholics who say they oppose the pontiff’s leadership in the Church. Among those supporters are a cadre of priests who say they have been “canceled,” — seen their ministry restricted — in many cases because of their public rhetoric regarding the pope.
Strickland addressed those priests in his March 19 letter, which has since been distributed to U.S. priests across the country.
“If you are reading this, it’s likely that you have already suffered the consequences of speaking the truth of the Deposit of Faith that is our treasure. You are among a throng of faithful brothers who have remained steadfast and unshaken, and who have refused to embrace the modern trend of the Church to be in the world AND of the world,” Strickland wrote.
Strickland said he wrote the letter because of his plans “to lay the foundation for creating a community of priestly brothers united in prayer and truth.”
It is not clear from the letter whether Strickland’s intends to form a religious community of priests, or a more informal association committed to common prayer and fraternity.
While urging priests to email him, “as a means of gathering us into a prayerful community dedicated to strengthening one another in our sacred calling as priests of Jesus Christ,” the bishop also urged priests to pray and fast for one another, especially each Thursday.
And while he identified a broad swath of concerns regarding the state of the Church, Strickland singled out homosexuality for particular attention.
The bishop lamented homosexuality’s effect on the “manly purity” of priests and other Catholic men.
“It is true that the institution of the Church in the world has compromised herself in grievous and devastating ways. We must fight against this constant erosion of the faith in Jesus Christ who is the only path to salvation of our souls and eternity with God. Although the betrayers and betrayals in these days are many, we must fight sodomy as the most malignant and virulent of all the attacks. It attacks our manly purity, the sanctity of marriage, and the foundation of society which is meant to be holy families.”
The bishop did not explain directly his charge that Pope Francis and other clerical Church leaders “refuse to reject the siren call of sodomy;” it is not clear whether Strickland was suggesting that Francis has himself engaged in homosexual activity.
Instead, the remark might be taken as a reference to Fiducia supplicans, the 2023 directive from the Vatican’s Dicastery for Doctrine of the Faith, which would allow spontaneously requested priestly blessings for Catholics in same-sex partnerships.
But in June 2024, Francis himself sparked controversy for remarks that would seem aligned with Strickland’s own concerns, with the pope lamenting the presence of frociaggine — an Italian slur often translated as “faggotry” — in both the Roman Curia and in Italian seminaries.
While the Vatican press office apologized for the pope’s choice of language amid a global media firestorm, reports emerged suggesting additional use of the same term by Pope Francis.
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Strickland, 66, has been active in public life since his 2023 ouster from the Tyler, Texas diocese. The bishop has given several media interviews and made public appearances, telling reporters that he has kept “very busy” with travel, pilgrimages, and visits to supporters, and “speaking about the treasure of our Catholic faith.”
“Some bishops have been welcoming and some haven’t,” Strickland explained in a 2024 interview, regarding his activity.
But while bishops have had mixed reactions to him, Strickland has garnered widespread popularity among some Catholics in the U.S., who say that he is one of few courageous bishops speaking during a difficult papacy.
At a 2024 rally in Baltimore, Catholic Jennifer Schuberth told The Pillar that Strickland “is a very holy and reverent man of God who is only speaking the truth, and he is trying to help the flock in these confusing times — he is trying to speak the truth. “
At the same rally, prominent physician Sr. Dede Byrne told The Pillar that she sees “Bishop Strickland as [like] St. John. You know, there were 12 apostles, one denied him, and one stayed at the foot of the cross, and that’s Bishop Strickland.”
The bishop appeared this month to offer Eucharistic benediction at a gathering organized by “Catholics for Catholics” at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.
Strickland offered remarks alongside YouTube polemicist and former presidential candidate Taylor Marshall, former national security adviser Michael Flynn, political advisor Roger Stone, and controversial Denver hermit Fr. David Nix, who was feted with an award at the event.
Ahead of the benediction, Strickland urged the gathering to “pray for [priests] that are weak and misled, and to pray in thanksgiving for these strong ones, many of whom are canceled from public ministry because they are the strong ones.”
“We do need to fight in the name of Christ,” Strickland told the gathering. “Many of you — not just my brother priests — have felt silencing for speaking the truth. … Let us stand strong.”
Though it was not clear whether he was making reference to a particular person, Strickland told the gathering: “We cannot allow anyone — no matter in what office, no matter what position, no matter with what voice of authority — we can allow no one to tell us that the consecrated host that I will place in this monstrance is just an idea, just a symbol, just an image.”
While the bishop’s public ministry is not known to be restricted after his removal, his frequent criticism of Pope Francis has raised the question of whether Strickland could face the prospect of ecclesiastical penalties.
In addition to his references to the pontiff and the “siren call of sodomy,” and his claim that the pope is “dismantling the Church of Christ,” Strickland in Oct. 2023 read aloud publicly from a letter which questioned the validity of the Francis papacy.
Vatican officials have not publicly commented on those remarks. But in July 2024, Archbishop Carlo Vigano, former apostolic nuncio to the U.S., was declared guilty of the canonical crime of schism and declared excommunicated. Vigano had raised questions about the validity of the Francis papacy, which the DDF said were a sign of “manifesting his refusal to recognize and submit to the Supreme Pontiff, his rejection of communion with the members of the Church subject to him.”
Vigano had also floated the idea of founding an unsanctioned seminary in Italy, prompting pushback from some Italian bishops.
Strickland could not be reached for comment, and has previously declined interview requests from The Pillar.
