(LifeSiteNews) — On this episode of The John Henry Westen Show, Deacon Keith Fournier joins me to discuss his time working with Bishop Joseph Strickland in the Diocese of Tyler, Texas, what led to Strickland’s removal, the controversy surrounding canceled clergy, and more.

I asked Deacon Keith about his time working with Bishop Strickland in the Diocese of Tyler, Texas, and what he experienced working with him. Deacon Keith recalled how he had been working as a dean of an online Catholic school and in ministry when someone sent him Strickland’s Constitution on Teaching [the Catholic faith], which he had promulgated for the diocese.

“As somebody who had spent years studying theology and serving the Lord, I read this, and I said, ‘This is absolutely wonderful.’ In fact, I went farther than that. I said, ‘If this were implemented in every diocese, we would see the desperately needed restoration of the fullness of the truth in the Catholic Church,’” Deacon said.

From there, Deacon Keith and Bishop Strickland began exchanging letters and emails, and he eventually visited the bishop in Texas. Backtracking a little, I asked Deacon what was so attractive about that constitution, which eventually led him to travel down there. He underscored that from the beginning of the document, the heart of this shepherd was so clear, and that the emphasis on the Church’s teachings, on living out vocations, whether as clergy or as a married couple, was wonderful. Deacon Keith felt inclined to be a part of Strickland’s ministry, so he went to visit the diocese and was impressed with his character.

“He was a [true] shepherd, he loved the faithful. It’s a large geographical diocese, but he went everywhere. When there was a confirmation, he was always there. And his manner of approaching the people with the love of the Good Shepherd, and the way he presided at [the] Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the way he preached it was so properly evangelical and solid and inviting and catechetical, I said, ‘This is a gifted man.’” After a subsequent visit to Texas with his wife, and much prayer and consideration, Deacon Keith decided to move to the diocese to work with Bishop Strickland.  

Once there, the deacon was put in charge of implementing the Constitution of Teaching in various roles. He first advised Strickland on theology and law because of his background as a lawyer, then served as the director of deacon formation to help implement the section of the constitution on how to select and form deacons, and then the dean of Catholic identity at the schools to implement the bishop’s vision of education.

“This diocese was on fire for, as bishops love to say, a profoundly Catholic witness. The parishes were packed, Masses were packed everywhere, seminarians were lining up, people were moving here, 400 of them from other parts of the country, and the Church was alive and faithful. Faithful to the Scriptures, faithful to the Fathers, faithful to the magisterium, and he had such a simplicity about him.” 

Despite the flourishing of the diocese, Deacon Keith told me that Strickland’s trouble with the hierarchy began to arise when he began speaking up in defense of authentic Catholic teaching, first in front of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).

“When he stood up and raised a question about the Cardinal [Theodore] McCarrick thing and how it was handled, when he stood up and raised the question about allowing a certain priest who travels around not teaching what the Church teaches on matters of sexual morality, I knew this man had courage, and I knew that courage rubbed some people the wrong way,” he said. 

Deacon noted how His Excellency had also publicly stood up for Tinslee Lewis, a young baby girl in Texas born with a heart defect, and her mother against the effort to withdraw the child’s nutrition, which also upset many of his brother bishops.

“He didn’t do things to cause problems, he simply tried to stay faithful to the authentic magisterium of the Church. Particularly the teaching of now St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. … And when it came to the implementation of Evangelium Vitae, the Gospel of Life, this was a passionately pro-life bishop, and Veritatis Splendor, the Splendor of Truth, that was what he wanted implemented in the Diocese of Tyler,” Deacon Keith said.

Watch or listen to my full interview to hear more from Deacon Keith Fournier.

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