Catholicism is supernatural, or it is nothing. Bishop Joseph Strickland delivers a sobering reflection on the crisis facing the Church: not a crisis of liturgy, not a crisis of leadership, but a crisis of faith in the supernatural itself.
Listen to the language surrounding the Church today. Listening. Dialogue. Accompaniment. Inclusion. Encounter. These words can have legitimate meanings. But Bishop Strickland asks: where is God in all of this? When we talk to one another, are we still talking to Him? When we listen, are we listening first to the voice of God—or to determine whether His revelation should be reconsidered?
The Church did not receive the Gospel from a focus group. Truth was not given by consensus. Jesus Christ told the apostles: “Going, therefore, teach all nations.” The task is not to reinvent the faith. It is to receive it, guard it, live it, and hand it on.
Bishop Strickland warns that the supernatural framework has been dismantled. Sin has become a feeling. Repentance has become optional. The cross has become unnecessary. If the Church offers the world only what the world can already provide, the world has no need of the Church. The world cannot absolve one sin. The world cannot consecrate the Eucharist. The world cannot open heaven.
The answer is not another program. The answer is Jesus Christ. Return Him to the center. Return to confession. Return to prayer. Return to the supernatural. And do not be afraid. The world needs the Church of Jesus Christ, not a church without God.
