The Battle

Transcript of A Shepherd's Voice - June 23, 2025

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

We are living in a time when the battle is no longer hidden. It rages on every front. It explodes in the skies above cities. It festers in the sanctuary. It pierces the soul of the faithful. And through all of it, the wounded Heart of Christ still beats – still calls – still bleeds.

The United States has launched a direct strike against Iran. The threat of global war is no longer distant or theoretical. It is here. It is now. It is the fruit of a world that has rejected God’s law, God’s order, and God’s peace. When nations abandon the Prince of Peace, war follows. This is not merely politics. This is the consequence of sin.

At the same time – the Church – called to be light in the darkness – is herself engulfed in smoke. The battle outside is fierce. But the battle inside is worse.

As missiles are launched, we must ask – Where is the Church? Where is her clear voice? Where is the call to repentance, the proclamation of Christ, the defense of the truth?

For more than a decade, we endured a pontificate under Pope Francis that sowed confusion where there should have been clarity. He allowed idols to enter holy places. He praised men who mock the moral law. He silenced shepherds who spoke plainly. He began the campaign of restricting the Traditional Latin Mass – the Mass of the saints, the martyrs, the Church’s own memory.

Now we have a new pope. Pope Leo XIV.

Many hoped his election would bring light. And still, we pray for him. We honor his office. But we must speak truthfully – the silence continues.

Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, author of Fiducia Supplicans, the document that allows blessings for same-sex couples, remains in place.

This same cardinal wrote a book called Heal Me with Your Mouth: The Art of Kissing, filled with sensual language disguised as theology. He has long promoted the idea that doctrine can “change in its expression” - a betrayal of Christ, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

This is the man who now oversees doctrine for the entire Catholic Church.

Why has Pope Leo not removed him?

And then there is Fr. James Martin, S.J. - a man who affirms Pride parades, defends same-sex relationships, and refuses to call sin what it is. Under Francis, he was promoted. Under Pope Leo, he remains uncorrected.

And more: Pope Leo has appointed bishops who openly question the Church’s teaching on women’s ordination – men like Shane Mackinlay, now Archbishop of Brisbane, who called women deacons a “possibility the Church should explore.”

And while confusion is enthroned in the Church, the Traditional Latin Mass is suppressed. In diocese after diocese, it is driven out of churches, out of the lives of the faithful. The Mass that formed saints is now treated as dangerous.

What message does this send?

It tells the faithful: You must tolerate heresy, but you may not kneel at the old altar. You may speak nonsense, but not Latin. You may question the Creed, but do not whisper the Confiteor in the silence of reverence.

This is the smoke.

And many ask: Where is the sword?

As war unfolds in the world, and betrayal festers in the Church, we must remember: this is not just a political or institutional battle. This is a spiritual war.

As St. Paul writes:

“Put you on the armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places” (Ephesians 6:11-12).

The devil is orchestrating chaos.

He is the father of lies, and his lies are now preached with microphones in parishes and echoed in chancery offices.

He is the murderer from the beginning – and his culture of death now governs nations, fuels wars, slaughters the unborn, mutilates children, and divides man against woman, priest against priest.

He has even turned parts of the Church against herself.

It is no accident that in our day, women religious are placed in authority over men’s communities, over seminaries, over clerical congregations. This is not humility – it is disorder. It violates the very structure of divine authority that Christ Himself gave the Church.

All of this is coordinated. It is not merely human confusion. It is a diabolical inversion.

However, amid the smoke and betrayal, something quiet and powerful is rising. It rises from the homes of faithful families. From Latin Masses. From priests who dare to preach the truth even when they are punished for it.

This is the remnant foretold by Scripture and feared by the enemy.

The Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter, the Society of Saint Pius X, the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, and other faithful Latin Mass communities – not to mention countless quiet parishes worldwide have become refuges of faith and reverence. Not perfect, perhaps – but faithful. Not revolutionary – but rooted.

These communities are not seeking power. They are seeking Christ. They are not trying to “turn back the clock.” They are trying to remember what the Church taught before she tried to forget.

They have not abandoned the Church. They have remained faithful to what the Church is – holy, hierarchical, apostolic, Marian, and Eucharistic.

This remnant is growing. Because the faithful are starving.

If the battlefield is global and spiritual, then the center of resistance must be Eucharistic.

The Holy Eucharist is not a symbol. It is not a social glue to a fellowship club. It is the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ. It is truly Emmanuel, God-with-us. And it is being profaned.

How many tabernacles sit ignored each day? How many receive Our Lord casually, with sin still clinging to the soul? How many priests treat the Mass like a stage show?

And yet, He remains.

The Sacred Heart still waits. Still loves. Still bleeds.

What must our response be?

Reparation.

Holy Hours. Fasting. Acts of love. Visits to the tabernacle. Masses offered in silence and devotion. Small acts that shake hell.

St. Padre Pio said:

“It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun than to do without the Holy Mass.”

And yet Mass is mocked, ignored, and in many places – suppressed. But the faithful must not abandon it. They must build their lives around it.

In this war, the altar is our battleground, and adoration is our sword.

In every age of darkness, Our Lady stands with the faithful. She is the New Eve. The Queen of Heaven. The Mother of the Church.

She was there at the Cross when the apostles fled. She is with us now, under the Cross of a suffering Church.

At Fatima, she warned us of the errors of Russia – errors that would spread and engulf the world in blood and ruin. We see those errors now: atheism, materialism, the breakdown of the family, gender confusion, war.

She also promised that in the end, her Immaculate Heart would triumph.

But first – she asked for penance, the Rosary, consecration, and reparation.

She is not calling us to comfort. She is calling us to combat.

With Mary at our side and Christ in the Eucharist, we are not afraid.

My brothers and sisters, the war has begun. Not just the missiles. Not just the heresies. The war for souls.

We must fight – not with violence, but with truth. Not with rage, but with love. Not with slogans, but with the Gospel.

Let me speak plainly:

Do not abandon the Church, no matter how she suffers.

Do not follow wolves, no matter how gentle their tone.

Do not be silenced by fear, or bribed by comfort.

Be faithful.

Take up your Rosary like a sword. Go to confession. Go to adoration. Return to reverence. Return to Christ. He is calling. He is waiting.

This is not the time to flee. It is the time to stand.

As St. Joan of Arc said:

“I am not afraid … I was born for this.”

So were you.

The smoke is thick. But the sword is drawn.

Now is the hour to fight – where the battle rages most.

And so, dear friends, we lift high the Cross.

We entrust ourselves to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and the sure guidance of the Holy Spirit. In this time of war, confusion, and silence, may we be found faithful – burning with truth, grounded in charity, and anchored in Christ.

May the fire of His love consume all fear.

May His light pierce the darkness.

And may His truth reign in His Church and in the world.

And now I bless you:

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Bishop Joseph E. Strickland