LifeSiteNews—The following is the official English statement from Bishop Athanasius Schneider, auxiliary of Astana, Kazakhstan, in response to the news that Pope Francis has removed Bishop Joseph Strickland from his Diocese of Tyler.
“The one charge which is now sure to secure severe punishment is the careful keeping of the traditions of the Fathers.” These words of St. Basil (Ep. 243) can most aptly illustrate the deposition of the Bishop of Tyler, Texas, U.S.A., His Excellency Joseph E. Strickland.
The deposition of Bishop Joseph E. Strickland signifies a black day for the Catholic Church of our day.
A blatant injustice toward a bishop who did his duty
We are witnessing a blatant injustice toward a bishop who did his duty in preaching and defending with parrhesia the immutable Catholic faith and morals and in promoting the 
sacredness of the liturgy, especially in the immemorial traditional rite of the Mass.
All understand, and even the declared enemies of this Confessor Bishop, that the accusations brought against him are ultimately insubstantial and disproportionate and were used as a welcome opportunity to silence an uncomfortable prophetic voice within the Church.
What happened to bishops during the 4th c. Arian crisis?
What happened to the bishops during the Arian crisis in the 4th century, who were deposed and exiled only because they intrepidly preached the traditional Catholic Faith, is again happening in our day.
At the same time several bishops, who publicly support heresy, liturgical abuses, gender ideology and openly invite their priests to “bless” same-sex couples, are not in the least importuned or sanctioned by the Holy See.
Bishop Strickland
Bishop Strickland will probably go down in history as an “Athanasius of the Church in the USA,” who however, unlike St. Athanasius, is not persecuted by the secular power, but incredibly by the Pope himself. It seems that a kind of “purge” of bishops, who are faithful to the immutable Catholic Faith and the Apostolic discipline, and which has been going on already for some time, has reached now a decisive phase.
May the sacrifice, which Our Lord asked from Bishop Strickland, bear plenty spiritual fruits for time and eternity. Bishop Strickland and other faithful bishops, who were already asked to resign, who are currently marginalized or who will be the next in the row, should say in all sincerity to Pope Francis:
Holy Father, why are you persecuting and beating us? We tried to do what all holy Popes asked us to do? With fraternal love we offer the sacrifice of this kind of persecution and exile for the salvation of your soul and for the good state of the Holy Roman Church. Indeed, we are your best friends, Most Holy Father!
+ Athanasius Schneider, Auxiliary Bishop of Saint Mary in Astana
RELATED RESOURCES:
- Dominus Est – It is the Lord! , by Bishop Athanasius Schneider, et. al.
- Bishop Strickland relieved of pastoral governance of U.S. Diocese
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Bishop Athanasius (Anton) Schneider is the author of two books: Dominus Est – It is the Lord!, and Propter Sanctam Ecclesiam Suam (not yet available in English.)
He was born of German parents on 7 April 1961 in Tokmok, Kirghiz SSR in the Soviet Union, where his family received the pastoral care of Fr. Oleksa Zaryckyj, later to become a beatified martyr for the faith. Bishop Schneider himself received his first holy communion in secret, since the practice of the faith was outlawed under the communist regime. In 1973, he left with his family for Germany.
He later joined the Canons Regular of the Holy Cross of Coimbra, a Catholic religious order, where he was given the religious name Athanasius. He was ordained a priest on 25 March 1990. In 1997, he received a doctorate in patrology at the Augustinianum in Rome; and in 1999, he became a professor of Patristics at Mary, Mother of the Church Seminary in Karaganda.
In June 2006, he was consecrated Bishop at the Altar of the Chair of Saint Peter in the Vatican. He was then assigned to the position of auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Astana. He is the General Secretary of the Bishops’ Conference of Kazakhstan and Titular Bishop of Celerina, Switzerland.
Thank you, Bishop Schneider, for your brave words and support of our beloved and persecuted Bishop Strickland.