Transcripts For CSPAN Bishop 20240704 : vimarsana.com

Video telling us your issue and be part of the conversation. On monday, the supreme co will hear two oral arguments on ether states can restrict social media platforms from the two cases address laws in florida and texas that argue that contentation suppresses conservative spee you can watch both the cases live starting 10 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan, on cspan now, or online at cspan. Org. Now, former republican president ial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Bishop Joseph strickland speak at the conservative Political Action conference is Ronald Reagan dinner. Hello, everybody. I want to introduce you to bishop strickland. He has become one of the most inspirational figures in the Catholic Church worldwide. He is a hero. He suffered for what he believes and what all christians believe. Im going to talk to him now about some of the things that are on his mind that he wants to tell you, the community here at cpac. [applause] so, bishop strickland, in my conversations with you, you have often taken the phrase one nation under god and talked about how important that is to our nation, how important that is to our culture, and to individual lives. My question is, how are we doing with that in this country . Bishop strickland it is great to be with you. Truly an honor. This i have to say is not my usual venue. I am much more comfortable at the altar of jesus christ, because then i just point to the lord. But it is an honor to be here at cpac to speak of the lord. We sang, how great is our god. Not every place that is allowed, even in our great nation. So it is a blessing to be with all of you, whatever your faith, you are beloved of god, because that is our human reality. And we need to remind ourselves of that with all the politics and troubles in the world and in the church, we need to remember how great is our god. [applause] one nation under god. All of those words are significant. I will let you reflect upon each of them individually, because i have more things to say, but one nation under god, we need to really pray and reflect on what that means and return to those values. Because too many in the political world especially are encouraging an atheistic approach to leading this nation. That will never last. That will never thrive. Because how great is our god . We need to come to what the great work you do, the work that i am called to do, the work you do, with humility. Think about our nation, think about our time, our culture. Humility is not one of those most popular words. We need to be prideful and bold and arrogant and strong, but humble . But humility is the greatness of jesus christ. So humble that he began as a human embryo in the womb of the blessed virgin mary. We need to remember that, and how sacred life is that our lord entered into. So rather than, as we all know in the scripture, pointing to the other and say, im glad im not like them, let us be stronger in humility and say, god have mercy on me, a sinner. Then we begin to live as one nation under god. What a glorious place to be under god, under the creator of all. I want to share some words that a friend of mine sent, encouraging me and all of us, challenging me and all of us. You notice i am pretty analog. I am 65 years old. This friend said, those of you who are gathered here today are a group of people who understand the importance of tradition, the sanctity of life and the importance of staying on course. However there are many people in our country who might describe you as intolerant while lamenting that the country cannot be moved to where it needs to go because of these people. There is a great quote from an archbishop that comes to mind. America, it is said, is suffering from intolerance. And remember, this is more than 60 years old, written by the archbishop. Americas suffering from intolerance. Its not. It is suffering from tolerance. Tolerance of right and wrong, truth and error, virtue and people, christ and chaos. Tolerance of false messages. Our country is not nearly so overrun with the bigoted as it is overrun with the broad minded. Those are words of the archbishop. I want to add to that personally. I am here today at this dinner as a witness to truth, under god. Jesus christ, truth incarnate. And i am thankful for those of you who sit here today who are also witnesses to truth. We applaud the great work so many of you are doing. I met many of you and hopefully we will meet a few more before i go back to texas tomorrow. But let me speak a word of caution here. When we portray ourselves as standing for truth, it is easy to pat ourselves on the back and to feel we have arrived. And it is easy to think that it is fine for us to cut corners or to be just a little dishonest or to attack people unjustly if it furthers the purpose a little. Beware, though, and remember what the lord said to the leaders, the elite in his day, you brood of vipers, how can you preach how can your speech be good when you are evil . For words flow out of what fills the heart. Brothers and sisters, i think those words of our lord are critical, right out of the gospel. Words flow out of what fills the heart. Let our hearts be full of the lord, of his word. For us who are catholic to live the sacraments, it is a great joy but a great responsibility. We believe that christ works through those seven signs. Let us do our best to humbly let his work flow from our hearts. Therefore, as we go forward and fight this battle, and we know it is a battle, we must be careful to not take on the attitude that the lord will overlook our transgressions, because after all, look at what we have accomplished. We must understand that if anything we will be held to a higher standard, because to whom much has been given, much is required. I know that im answering your question in a long way. And several others i have in mind. Bishop strickland but i am a preacher, after all, and you are a pretty captive audience. I need to get to what i believe is a preeminent issue, and a great quote from saint teresa of calcutta, best known and most beautifully known as mother teresa. These are her words. America needs no words from me to see how your decision in roe v. Wade has deformed a great nation. The socalled right to abortion has pitted mothers against children and women against men. It has done violence and sown violence and discord at the heart of the most human relationships. It has aggravated the derogation of the fathers role in an increasingly fatherless society. It has portrayed the greatest of gifts, a child, as a competitor, an intrusion, and an inconvenience. It is fettered mothers lives over there physically dependent sons and daughters, and in granting this unconscionable power it has exposed many women to unjust and selfish demands from their husbands or their sexual partners. Human rights are not privilege conferred by governments, they are every human beings entitlements by the virtue of its humanity. The right to life does not depend and must not be declared to be contingent on the pleasure of anyone else, not even a parent or a sovereign. When the Supreme Court those are mother teresas words. I continue with a few of my own. When the Supreme Court overturned roe v. Wade, that was a wonderful day, but we are still far from stamping out the killing of our children. [applause] make no mistake, that every one of us, and i humbly and sorrowfully include myself, has the blood of children on our hands when there is always more we can do to make abortion not only illegal, but unthinkable. [applause] i have to address, as a catholic pastor, a topic that is of today, of this moment. The Catholic Church proclaimed a document in 1987 under the papacy of pope st. John paul the second. John paul the great. The document, i encourage you at this moment, this critical moment, i encourage all of us who know this entity of life to read this significant document. And i will read a few words from it. The possible recognition by positive law and the Political Authority of techniques of artificial transmission of life , for example, in vitro fertilization, and experimentation connected with it, would widen the breach already opened by the legalization of abortion. Brothers and sisters, we must be strong in the sanctity of life, and all of its repercussions. I know that todays controversies, many of us are not wellversed, but we must be. We must guide our great politicians, those who we hope will serve this nation into a brighter future, we must guide them to the sanctity of life. We cannot expect those busy people who are doing their best to fight the battle that we must face, we cant expect them to do it alone. We must help them to be informed, that the controversies that are presently in the news right now, this decision by alabamas court was correct. According to our catholic faith, we must stand strong and instruct these good men and women that are calling to lead us, and we need them to lead us. We must help them understand the encourager sees the intricacies of what science has done in playing god, and having children, embryos, frozen and too easily disposed of. When the Alabama Court says no, we cannot dispose of these human beings, let us guide our politicians to know that truth. A few last words to share, and if i have any wisdom, i know to turn for wisdom to the word of god. And i turned to the second book of chronicles. Let us all open our hearts, as christ encourage just a few moments ago in those words from the gospel, to speak from hearts that are full of his glorious life, his joyful message, his good news. Let us listen to chronicles, second chronicles, in that spirit. If my people who bear my name humble themselves and pray and seek my presence, and turn their wicked ways, then i will listen from heaven and forgive their sins and restore their country. Let us trust in those words. We in many ways, from another scripture passage in the prophet jonah, let us humble ourselves before the lord and repent and call others to that same repentance. And continuing from chronicles, but if you turn away and forsake my laws and commandments, listen to that, but if you turn away and forsake my laws and commandments, which i have laid down for you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, then i shall uproot them from the country which i have given them. Those are powerful words from sacred scripture that this great nation needs to hear today, because others are threatening by the reversal of commandments and turning away from gods law and ignoring the sanctity of our bodies, the sanctity of marriage, the sanctity of the family, the sanctity of life. [applause] they threaten this great nation with bringing down the wrath of god. If you read the Old Testament, and i know many of you are better experts than i, if we read the scriptures of the Old Testament in our judeochristian tradition, the lords mercy is abundant, but the people are constantly returning to idols. Look at the idols we serve today, not just in this nation, around the world. We need to be that shining light once again, for a world too caught in darkness. Let us be the glorious nation. I believe god has called us to be. But we can only do that as one nation under god. [applause] can i ask a question . If the things you are talking about have polarized our country, polarized our church to a great extent. Certainly has polarized Christian Communities across the world. And with that polarization, there is such an intensity of hate. In other words, when im out speaking publicly, even at a dinner table or somebodys home party, i can get hit with such an intensity of eight in somebodys eyes hate in somebodys eyes that it is frightening. I wonder to myself how to react, what should i do in response to that kind of hatred that comes from this polarization . Bishop strickland that is a wonderful question. And its natural for all of us. We get angry. We yell at the television. We rant at people that are saying. That that are saying false things that we know are not the truth. But we can never give into that hate, to that anger. No matter how it is spewed at us, look to the example of jesus christ. Look to our god, whatever our faith, we know god is love and jesus christ, im proud to wear this crucifix. That is the love that god shows us. A sacrificial love. All of you who are parents, husbands and wives, grandparents, you know that sacrificial love. You know what you have given, because you love deeply. And god will always outdo us in that sacrifice of love. Let us not give into the eight, no matter how much is hate, no matter how much is spewed at us. Just send out a tweet. You will get some hate. But trust in the real power. At the end of the gospel, jesus christ just before he ascends to the father, he tells us, all power in heaven and on earth has been given to him. Gods divine son. We all need to remember in the power halls of this capital city, he is the real power. The power of father, son and spirit. And let me conclude these thoughts with words from Saint Ignatius of loyola, with great wisdom, truth always ends by victory. It is not unassailable, but invincible. Brothers and sisters, and i tha nk you for being with me to support these few words that come from my heart, to remember the power of truth. We are here to unleash that power, to allow a nation to return to the greatness that is our birthright. Many of us have loved ones that died in wars of the past in order that our freedoms could be vibrant and real and this glorious flag should waive in our wave in our nation. [applause] many of us, and i was trained to do this with my own father my father, a man from east texas, a country boy like me, i could see him with emotion of love for this nation in his eyes as we pledged to the flag and sang the starspangled banner, as we beautifully sang this evening. All of that is about being, living, letting it pervade all that we do. To live lives of members of a nation that is one under god. I fail. I am a sinner. We all are. Im glad to admit. I went to confession this morning. Not because i am some holy guy, but because i am not holy enough. We have to bring that humility into the wonderful Sacrificial Service that so many of you do. The generosity of that auction. I have been at a few auctions. I was saying in the back, im glad i did not have a dinner. I thought it was two, then it becomes four. Some of you know how that feels. But that generosity comes from hearts that have been touched by the wonder that this nation is. We cannot allow this great treasure that is the united states, we cannot allow it to be lost. And it will not happen if we stay true to god, and the truth is revealed incarnate among us in his son, jesus christ. [applause] one last question. We have a room full of people who are involved in politics at levels, grassroots levels. They serve counties, cities, states, they serve in the federal government. What is your advice to those who are taking political stands and seeking office, seeking to serve this country . What is your advice to them as they faith a kind of seething enemy . It is very challenging, but i will share the advice thats tough to live up to. I know it. On the day to day, in the simplest things, dont compromise the truth. [applause] another party, another candidate, other powerful people may make accusations. Be strong in the truth. Dont compromise. In the short term, and there may be many that are saying it is the wiser thing, a little compromise cant hurt. It can destroy. I encourage you, we need those grassroots candidates working hard to transform the School Boards that are too woke and too confused and doing evil for our children