(LifeSiteNews) — On this episode of Faith and Reason, Bishop Joseph Strickland joins John-Henry Westen and Deacon Keith Fournier to discuss St. Patrick, St. Joseph, and other great saints whose feast days we celebrate this week, and the need for both clergy and lay faithful to follow their examples.
Deacon Keith began the episode by discussing the story of St. Patrick, emphasizing that this holy bishop exhibited tremendous courage in converting pagan Ireland to the Catholic faith. Then he compared this courage to that Bishop Strickland has shown in speaking out against Church prelates.
“Where’s the courage of the rest of the bishops?” he pondered. “We need them to rise to this moment and remember the primary purpose of the Church is the salvation of souls.”
Bishop Strickland stressed, as stated in the Code of Canon Law, that the supreme law of the Church must always be the salvation of our souls, which is often not the priority of contemporary Church leaders.
“Everything our lives should be about, day to day, moment by moment, should be about the salvation of our souls, the salvation of our children’s souls, the salvation of our families, and all that we care about,” the bishop said. “And so, St. Patrick, St. Joseph, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, St. whomever, they’re all people that focus their lives on the salvation of souls, and very often sacrificed their lives.”
Turning back to St. Patrick, His Excellency highlighted how, when evangelizing the Irish, unlike our current bishops, he never compromised the faith.
“[St. Patrick] definitely gave his life for Christ, for the Church, and for the salvation of souls,” Strickland said. “He did so courageously, not in any way that could be described as milquetoast or some sort of compromising, wishy-washy voice. He would never have accomplished anything, he would never have evangelized Ireland, if he had been that kind of man.”
“He was ultimately an apostle of his time like all bishops are called to be, speaking the truth of Christ, putting his life at risk, and ultimately triumphing in the truth and life that is Jesus Christ,” he added.
Later in the episode, Strickland turned to St. Joseph, whose feast day is today. He underscored that St. Joseph is a model for lay Catholics to follow in our times.
“We need to be reminded by St. Joseph that he wasn’t ordained, he wasn’t a prelate, he wasn’t part of the hierarchy of the Church, but he is the universal patron as a layman,” he said. “As a man who knew his role and did risk his life in order to protect Mary, the woman chosen to be the Mother of God and the Son of God Himself, Jesus Christ.”
“St. Joseph isn’t recorded [as] having said anything, but his actions spoke boldly and vigorously that he knew who he was, a son of God, and that he was honored to have the role to guard and protect Mary and Jesus, the Holy Family,” he added.
To hear more from Bishop Strickland, tune in to this episode of Faith and Reason.
Faith and Reason is available by video via LSNTV on YouTube, Rumble, Banned, and right here on LifeSiteNews.
It is also available in audio format on Acast. To subscribe to the audio version on various channels, visit LifeSite’s Acast web page here.
We’ve created a special email list for the show so that we can notify you every week when we post a new episode. Sign up now by clicking here.
RELATED:
EXCLUSIVE: Bishop Strickland explains why he called out Pope Francis and other bishops
This St. Patrick’s Day let us imitate the penitential spirit and faith of the Apostle of Ireland
St. Joseph gives us a model of true devotion to Jesus and our Blessed Mother
