U.S. Bishop Joseph E. Strickland issued a strong message warning of what he considers a serious doctrinal crisis within the Catholic Church, following the recent report from Synod Study Group 9 on synodality.
In his statement, the bishop expressed deep concern about attempts to reinterpret Catholic teaching on marriage, sexuality, sin, and moral law, stating that “the Church cannot change what God Himself has revealed.”
đ Here’s what Bishop Joseph E. Strickland said:
An emergency in the Church.
The recent report published by Synod Study Group 9 on synodality is deeply alarming and directly contradicts the Catholic Church's consistent teaching on human sexuality, sin, marriage, and the moral law.
The Church cannot change what God himself has revealed.
Sacred Scripture speaks clearly about the sin of sodomy and homosexual acts. St. Paul writes in Romans 1 that such acts are “contrary to nature,” and the Catechism of the Catholic Church clearly teaches that homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered” and “contrary to the natural law” (CCC 2357). This teaching does not stem from prejudice, politics, or cultural customs. It comes from Divine Revelation, Sacred Tradition, and the perennial Magisterium of the Church.
To suggest that the sin does not reside in the homosexual relationship itself is not merely confusing language. It is a direct attack on Catholic moral doctrine and on Scripture itself.
In every age, the Church is called to love sinners without ever blessing sin. Authentic charity calls every soul to repentance, chastity, holiness, and conversion through Jesus Christ. True pastoral care does not affirm behaviors that distance souls from God. A pastor who sees the danger and remains silent is not merciful.
The attempt to normalize or redefine homosexual relationships within the Church is part of a broader effort to transform Catholicism into something more acceptable to the modern world. But the Church does not belong to the modern world. The Church belongs to Jesus Christ.
The destruction of doctrine under the pretext of “discernment,” “listening,” and “lived experience” is one of the most serious spiritual dangers of our time. Truth is not determined by experience. Truth is revealed by God.
Our Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah as a warning to all generations against grave sexual sin and rebellion against the order established by the Creator. Yet even these truths are being reinterpreted and minimized by voices within the Church itself. This should cause deep sorrow and holy alarm among the faithful.
For this reason, many Catholics increasingly recognize that we are living through a genuine emergency in the life of the Church. When fundamental moral truths about marriage, sexuality, sin, repentance, and salvation are addressed as open questions, the crisis ceases to be theoretical. It becomes a present and palpable reality.
It is precisely events like these that have led many faithful Catholics to conclude that the Church is experiencing a genuine doctrinal and pastoral emergency. When truths that Catholics have always considered established and immutable are suddenly treated as matters of “discernment” or reinterpretation, confusion spreads rapidly among the faithful.
This climate of doctrinal instability also partly explains why groups like the Society of Saint Pius X argue that extraordinary measures are necessary in our times. They justify their planned episcopal consecrations, without the explicit approval of Rome, as a response to what they perceive as a grave emergency within the Church itself.
While Catholics may debate the prudence or canonical issues surrounding such actions, no honest observer can deny that statements and documents like this Synod report intensify the crisis and deepen the concern of countless Catholic faithful worldwide. When voices within the Church question Divine Revelation and the Church’s perennial moral teaching, the alarm among the faithful is neither irrational nor imagined.
The warnings of Our Lady of Fatima and the great saints of the modern age resonate now with greater urgency than ever. Sister Lucia of Fatima wrote that “the final battle between the Lord and the kingdom of Satan will revolve around marriage and the family.” We are witnessing that battle unfolding before our very eyes. The attack on marriage is never limited to human relationships; it is an attack on God the Creator, on the order of creation, on the family as the domestic church, and ultimately, on the salvation of souls. When the meaning of marriage is distorted, the understanding of humanity itself is distorted.
The confusion now spreading in some sectors of the Church regarding sexuality, marriage, and sin does not reflect the voice of Christ the Bridegroom, but rather the spiritual battle that the Virgin Mary warned would come. Therefore, the faithful must return with renewed fervor to prayer, penance, the Rosary, Eucharistic devotion, and fidelity to the truths handed down throughout the centuries. At Fatima, the Virgin Mary did not call the world to adapt to modern errors, but to repentance, conversion, and reparation.
As a pastor, I call today on all the faithful to remain faithful to Christ, to Sacred Tradition, to the perennial Magisterium, and to the truths that the Church has always taught. No synod, committee, study group, or ecclesiastical initiative has the authority to annul the law of God.
We must pray and do penance for the Church. We must pray for those who promote confusion, that they may return fully to the truth entrusted to the Apostles. And we must ask the Holy Spirit to raise up pastors with the courage to speak clearly in defense of the Catholic faith, no matter the cost.
“Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is Truth itself, does not contradict himself. What was sin yesterday cannot be holy today.”
May the Blessed Virgin Mary, Destroyer of Heresies, intercede for the Church in this dark hour.
Bishop Joseph E. Strickland
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