(LifeSiteNews) — On this week’s episode of The Bishop Strickland Show, Bishop Joseph Strickland discusses his new YouTube channel, how Eucharistic devotion affects the way priests celebrate Mass, active participation in the liturgy, the Spanish Socialist government’s decision to stop a Rosary rally, and more.
Strickland addressed the decision of the Spanish government to ban Rosary rallies near the headquarters of the current ruling party, the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE). While the rallies began on November 12 in protest of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s amnesty for Catalan secessionists in an effort to create a coalition government, rally organizer José Andrés Calderón said in a November 27 post on X (formerly Twitter) that the government banned the rallies and other prayer events. Calderón received a fine on two days later for defying the government’s orders, and a 60-year-old woman was arrested.
His Excellency observed that if enough people resist the government’s ban, “they can’t throw the whole country in jail.” He also said that going to jail for praying the Rosary is “ridiculous,” “atheistic and anti-Christian,” and that people “shouldn’t put up with” the fact that people “get away with” persecuting Christians more than any other group, as that hurts humanity as a whole.
“When Christianity is persecuted, it diminishes the blessings and the availability of the Good News of Jesus Christ for all of humanity,” he said. “We have to resist prayerfully and peacefully, but we have to resist.”
Strickland, meanwhile, started a YouTube channel on November 28. He said he wants to do “shorter segments” so people can “listen about a topic if they find it interesting and to just talk about the faith.” The channel would be similar to the show, but in a format more accessible to a different group of people.
READ: Bishop Strickland barred from saying Mass in Diocese of Tyler, Texas
He also addressed Eucharistic adoration in the latter half of the show, saying that he wants to get priests to know Our Lord in the Eucharist more deeply. He explained that Eucharistic adoration had an immense effect on his life and on how he celebrates Mass – something that people notice whenever they attend his Masses. He also stated that every priest needs to treat the Mass with great reverence and hopes the YouTube channel will be a means to help priests to that end.
Reacting to an observation of show host Terry Barber – that the liturgical practices surrounding the Eucharist from before the Second Vatican Council should return, such as kneeling when receiving the Eucharist, receiving on the tongue, and an ad orientem posture for the priest – Strickland said that while the Council talked about the active participation of the laity at the liturgy, he thinks that what the Council meant was misunderstood.
“I think we missed the point that ‘full and active participation’ is being engaged in the sacred and really being alert and at work and praying actively, but not necessarily doing anything but kneeling there in the pew, and sitting and listening deeply to the Word of God, but really being spiritually present, I would say, rather than just saying, ‘Oh yeah, well, his homily’s still a little too long,’ or the distractions could easily come,” he said. He further observed that the devotion of the priest and the people during the liturgy bolsters both priests and laity, feeding each other’s faith.
According to Strickland, if people were to say the liturgy is too long, then “we’re not fully and actively engaged in the way we should be.”
“It’s really not a matter of how long it takes,” he noted. “I think it is a matter of taking the time to make sure that it’s a sacred event, and that we’re not just saying, ‘Okay, how quick can we zip through this?’”
At the end of the episode, His Excellency addressed a question posed to him recently on what to do if a priest faces a situation where his preaching of the Gospel without compromise earns him a scolding, or if he is told to avoid discussing certain topics.
Strickland answered that the world and all its troubles are temporary, but Catholics should focus on those things that are eternal. “We need to ask ourselves: ‘Can I dilute or ignore this eternal truth for the sake of a temporary consequence that I may avoid, but that’s only temporary?’”
While we are in the world, further, we are made for eternity, and “that’s a lot of what we’ve forgotten.” While most are worried about “today and tomorrow,” Strickland said we need to be worried about “everlasting life … and live today and tomorrow in that context, rather than saying, ‘Oh, I don’t want the consequences of what may happen.’”
“I think I’m an example of not worrying about the consequences, but you’ve got to speak the truth,” he chuckled. “It brings joy, it brings peace, it brings fulfillment, even in these temporary days.”
To watch all previous episodes of The Bishop Strickland Show, click here to visit LifeSite’s Rumble page dedicated to The Bishop Strickland Show.