Eric Sammons from Crisis Magazine has interviewed Keith Fournier, a Permanent Deacon from the Diocese of Tyler where Joseph Strickland was a reigning bishop for 11 years. Strickland was recently relieved from his role by Pope Francis for defending his flock against the pope’s Motu Proprio Traditionis Custodes which placed painful restrictions against the Traditional Latin Mass.

The text below is my rough transcription of some parts of the 42-minute interview.

Anyone who doubts the holiness and humility of Bishop Strickland and the impact he made in the Diocese of Tyler should read this or listened to the interview. Please share!

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Somebody sent me… this document “The Constitution on Teaching” by a bishop named Joseph Strickland… So I read this “Constitution on Teaching”. I thought if this were implemented in every parish in the United States, we would see the desperately needed restoration of a authentically Catholic Church.
So, I wrote to this bishop, he wrote back and… I had this wonderful relationship… with a man of God and we just grew close. We were texting one another and emailing one another and recommending books. He invited me to come out to Tyler. The first time I came alone, I am known a little bit nationally, so I did it incognito, traveled with him for a week. And I saw humility and holiness and evangelical joy of this man and how he was loved by the faithful here, and I got to help them. I got to do whatever I can to help them. I went back home. We stayed in touch. Then he invited my wife to come, we went out. Long story short at some point, he invited me to consider coming and helping. And so I came here and I saw my task, and I was 64. I’m now going to be 69 and a couple of weeks. I saw my task is basically holding his arms up whatever it meant. So, legal adviser, theological advisor. I became a director of deacon formation. And then he also asked me to become Dean of Catholic Identity at a Catholic school here… and I’ve been working at his side for five years. It has been the highlight of my life, honestly, and I have to be careful because I tear up when I think of the way he’s being treated. I’ve never met a more genuinely humble and holy man of God is a true successor of the apostles. And the key is he prays, he is continually in Eucharistic Adoration. He is consecrated to Our Lady. So things are shaking here right now. I think you know that. I don’t want to get into that. But I will say this in the almost five years that my wife Loraine and I have been here, we found a diocese in love with Jesus, dedicated to our Lady committed to Eucharistic Adoration, flourishing. Let me make that clear, flourishing, flourishing, spiritually flourishing in the seminary, more vocations than per capita than perhaps any diocese in the country, flourishing in every way financially flourishing, in great shape. And I have stood with a man who guards the deposit of faith without compromise. And he does it with joy. Not with finger wagging, and he was continually on his knees, and I’m proud and honored to stand with him. I don’t know what the future holds. But I know this. He’s going to continue to serve the Lord as a bishop now without diocese, and I think the best is yet to come.
Why they moved to Tyler
First of all, there was there was no sales pitch… There was an invitation from a holy man in the midst of prayer… We just knew we knew this was a calling, and we had to do it… I remember when we visited together, she said to the bishop, “Jesus is everywhere here.” And I remember thinking to myself, because Lorraine so blind, I mean, she’s so down to earth and so real, she keeps me grounded. And the bishop smiled and said, What do you mean? And she said, “He’s been adored everywhere! There’s Eucharistic Adoration everywhere.”… Tyler itself is a very friendly, delightfully politically incorrect behind the times place. That’s predominantly evangelical. People actually say to you, God bless you when you leave the grocery store and they mean it… And the bishop is loved here. His priests love him, an overwhelming majority of his priests love him, the overwhelming majority of the faithful love him. Now I know people are seeing these things in the social media and everything else. I can tell you I’ve never seen a bishop who’s more fatherly and joyful and loved than this bishop is and was.
On Why 400 Families moved to Tyler
To be fully Catholic, and that means to live the Catholic faith according to the Sacred Scripture, pointing to the sacred tradition of the church, according to the authentic Magisterium of the Church… They get beautiful masses, celebrated throughout the day. I mean, for example, I’m sitting here in a small office in the school and the chapel of St. Peter and Paul is right over the hill. It’s an extension of the cathedral. Because the Cathedral is beautiful, but it’s small. And so they extended it and we have this beautiful chapel of Saints Peter and Paul. And there’s this mass going on all the time. Eucharistic Adoration going on all the time. People supporting one another in the Lord. In the living in various different ways… Knowing that they’re going to get good teaching, they’re gonna get solid homies. They’re gonna be able to go regularly and adore Jesus in the Eucharist and they’re going to have a Catholic culture surrounding them. That’s what’s been going on here. And it’s it’s a wonderful work of God, a wonderful work of God that I think it provides great hope for the rest of the church. Now, I don’t know how all of this is going to shake out, but I trust the Lord Jesus Christ, he is the head of his church. And he knows he knows what’s going on here. And I believe we’re going to probably have some surprises of the Holy Spirit, but in the interim, I invite people please pray for this holy Bishop and realize how simple and humble this guy is. You know, I saw some guy on social media this morning, “he’s in Baltimore outstaying outside because he’s a showman.” No, he’s not at all. He never asked for any of this stuff. I remember when I first met him, he referred to himself as a skinny kid from East Texas. And he is you never asked for any of this stuff rising in Baltimore, because a year ago, he told these lay folks that he would come and lead the rosary. Little did he realize he would not be able to vote at the USCCB. So he went anyway because he promised to lead the rosary. And that’s what he’s doing. That’s where he’s most comfortable, on his knees, calling people to Jesus Christ, calling people to a devotion to Our Lady calling people to the Eucharist. I mean, he loves to sort of take us his own.
There is a Eucharistic chapel and 24 hour adoration going on. There’s adoration in most of the parishes, particularly the young priest, because, you know, they were ordained by Bishop Strickland. And they have a deep devotion to the Holy Eucharist. I mean, all of the priests do for the most part, but yes, Eucharistic Adoration is encouraged and it’s flourishing.
I can’t give you the numbers (of vocations). I can tell you that it’s skyrocketed. I think there’s close to 25 in seminary right now. And there’s more that wanted to come. So and you see the joy in these young priests, and I would call them John Paul II, Benedict XVI priests. And they’ve had solid, they’re Orthodox, yet they’re filled with joy, and hope they’re great preachers, they’re not cranky. You know, and they don’t fit any of the stereotypes. They’re not rigid. They’re just full of the Lord. And, and people love them. Remember, I’ve only been here five years. But, you know, I hear people say, Oh, I knew Father Joe isn’t any other I never knew Father Joe. I know Bishop Strickland. And and he’ll be the first to tell you something happened when he was consecrated as a bishop, something very significant and he understands in the core of his being, what it means to be a successor of the apostles to be the first teacher here to be a father to the flock. He’s a bishop who knows how to bishop and you know, I’ve been under a number of bishops, they’ve all treated me well, but I’ve never seen the closeness between a bishop and his priests that I’ve seen here. It’s beautiful. It really is. So, yes, Eucharistic Adoration, the Rosary is continually being recited here, but also a love of the Sacred Scripture, and a faithfulness to teaching the fullness of truth without compromise. But doing so with an evangelical joy. You’ve met Bishop Strickland, I mean, it’s kind of a example or if follows his example. I always see a smile on his face is and it’s not something he puts on his face. It just flows from him because he’s a man of prayer. You know, he and I don’t want to say much more than that, but he lives so simply. You know if you’ve ever been here and seen where he lives, and he may not live there much longer but it’s a one floor first floor and middle stucco home. That’s it right next to the casing… I have had Tuesdays with Bishop Strickland and every time we’ll get together, my wife will pack on a simple little lunch. And she puts it in a paper bag. And she’s got to pull the fruit, yogurt, simple sandwich, and he’ll only have the sandwich and that he saves it for dinner… I mean… that’s part of the reason he’s so thin. I mean, he’s got a grip, but he just doesn’t eat, he does adore the Eucharist. He’s an ascetic. And he would never say that about himself. He probably owns maybe two suits. And he’s down to earth, you know, never has airs about anybody who’s around him just wants to be with him. Because he’s just a joyful guy. And he cares about you and you know it, and kids know it… And he’s just, he’s just such a good man and it breaks my heart to see people who don’t know him. They don’t know him at all. Yet they’re jumping into this kind of nonsense. Now overwhelmingly on social media, thank God, people who have come to know him say exactly what needs to be said. This is a whole new humble soul. He’s a good man and a good Bishop. But there are those few people you know, who just think they can say things that I have to watch it. I bite my tongue, because I just pray for them. I don’t want to get into it. The last thing you want to do is take that pain… This bishop does all things well…, things are flourishing. Financially they’re flourishing. Souls are flourishing, families are flourishing. So I mean, he’s a good leader.
It’s been really the honor of my life. That’s all I can say. Serving alone in one capacity or another for 50 years. 50 years. A member of the clergy Deacon for 27 of those years, and I’ve worked in leadership and I’ve been with great leaders. But I’ve never met with somebody like this, because his greatness comes from his littleness and his genuine humility, and his authentic holiness. He’s truly in love with the Lord…

Deacon Keith Fournier