Joseph Strickland


Joseph Edward Strickland is an American prelate of the Catholic Church. Since his consecration on November 28, 2012, he has been the Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tyler.
On the announcement of his appointment, Vatican Radio called Strickland "one of North America’s new generation of blogging priests" for his Running Priest Blog. He is an avid runner, having run in numerous races in the East Texas area, hence the reason for the name of his blog.
Strickland succeeds Álvaro Corrada del Río, SJ, who was appointed Bishop of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, in July 2011.

Biography

Strickland was born in Fredericksburg, Texas. As a young child, his family moved to Atlanta, Texas, where his parents were founding members of St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church. Strickland attended Holy Trinity Seminary and was ordained to the priesthood on June 1, 1985, for the Diocese of Dallas. His first assignment was to Immaculate Conception Parish in Tyler, Texas. Upon the creation of the Diocese of Tyler in 1987, Strickland was incardinated into the new diocese and was named the first vocation director for the diocese in March 1987 by Bishop Charles Herzig. His service in the diocese also included periods at Sacred Heart Parish in Nacogdoches, Texas and St. Michael Parish in Mt. Pleasant, Texas.
In 1992, Strickland was assigned by Bishop Edmond Carmody to study canon law at Catholic University of America, where he earned a JCL in 1994. He was then named judicial vicar of the Diocese of Tyler and Rector of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. In 1995, he was named a Prelate of Honor with the title of Monsignor by Pope John Paul II.
Strickland served as administrator of the diocese of Tyler from March 2000 until January 2001 when Bishop Alvaro Corrada was installed as the third bishop of the Diocese. In 2010, Strickland was named vicar general of the diocese. He served in that capacity until being named delegate of the apostolic administrator upon Bishop Corrada's departure for Puerto Rico.

Bishop of Tyler

He was appointed to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tyler by Pope Benedict XVI on September 29, 2012, and was consecrated on November 28, 2012, at Caldwell Auditorium in Tyler, Texas. Daniel Cardinal DiNardo was the celebrant and principal consecrator. Strickland is the first native East Texan to head the 33-county Church in Tyler.

Views

Strickland is a vigorous defender of the Catholic Church's doctrinal and dogmatic positions on marriage, human life, and religious freedom. On November 4, 2012, Strickland led a public rally and prayer service in downtown Tyler asking the faithful to turn toward God prior to the election. In an editorial written for the Tyler Morning Telegraph, Strickland said, "The fundamental truths that once were and still should be the bedrock of our society are being challenged daily. I believe the election on Nov. 6 brings a great task to all of us as people of faith to soberly reflect on what we believe and how those beliefs should be embodied in our laws and supported by our leaders."
In May 2020, Strickland signed a manifesto led by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò cricitizing restrictions that were enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic as being instituted for the purpose of "creating panic among the world's population with the sole aim of permanently imposing unacceptable forms of restriction on freedoms." The petition singles out the use of contact-tracing devices as well as mandatory vaccinations as infringments on people's rights and cites "growing doubts... about the actual contagiousness, danger, and resistance of the virus."
On July 4, 2020, Strickland denounced 'Black Lives Matter' a decentralized movement for racial justice without any binding policy positions on its chapters, members or participants. Strickland took issue with a statement on the BLM website that he claimed opposed the nuclear family: "We make our spaces family-friendly and enable parents to fully participate with their children. We dismantle the patriarchal practice that requires mothers to work “double shifts” so that they can mother in private even as they participate in public justice work. We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and “villages” that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable.

Illness

While attending meetings in September 2012 for new Bishops in Rome, Strickland and Bishop John Folda of Fargo contracted Hepatitis A from contaminated food served to them.

Arms