Bishop Joseph Strickland says "I have not moved" — and on the morning Rome published a Note asking Catholics to "esteem" other religions, he joins Joe McClane to do what his new letter proposes: examine Vatican II in the light of Tradition, document by document. Nostra Aetate at 60, Archbishop Lefebvre, and the question the Vatican's new text has to answer: if Christ is the only Redeemer, what is dialogue for?

On September 12, Bishop Strickland published "Go and Repair My House, Which, as You See, Is Falling into Ruin" at Pillars of Faith — his answer to those who say he has "changed" or "crossed over." He has not, he writes: every word about the liturgical, catechetical and formational losses since the Council stands. What he proposes is the next step. Stop arguing "Vatican II caused everything" against "only the implementation went wrong," and find out where the rupture actually is — in the documents, in their ambiguities, in the reforms, or in the "spirit of Vatican II." Taking up Benedict XVI's hermeneutic of reform in continuity, he insists that "continuity cannot merely be asserted. It must be demonstrated." Of Archbishop Lefebvre he writes: "I believe it possible that the Church will one day recognize his sanctity." Lefebvre held the shore; his own call, he says, is to build a bridge across the wounds that have divided Catholics for half a century.

Four days later, three Vatican dicasteries — Doctrine of the Faith, Christian Unity and Interreligious Dialogue — released "A Journey of Hope," a roughly twenty-page Note for the 60th anniversary of Nostra Aetate, approved by Pope Leo XIV on June 22 and signed by Cardinals Fernández, Koch and Koovakad. It calls for "a new ethic of dialogue," affirms that "the Church teaches that Christ is the one and only Redeemer," rejects "one great world religion in which all beliefs are flattened" — and says that "the defensive entrenchment in one's own position and the view that proselytism is the only way to engage with the other no longer make sense" in a "global village." Joe asks the Bishop to read that text the way his letter says every conciliar text must be read: in the light of Tradition, saying plainly what stands, what is ambiguous, and what does not.

SCRIPTURE (Douay-Rheims):

• Matthew 28:19-20 — "Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."
• Acts 4:12 — "Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved."
• John 14:6 — "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by me."

SOURCES:

• Bishop Strickland, "Go and Repair My House, Which, as You See, Is Falling into Ruin" (Pillars of Faith, Sept. 12, 2026) https://pillarsoffaith.net/go-and-repair-my-house/
• Vatican News — "Nostra aetate, 60 years on: Church renews dialogue against hatred and division" (Sept. 16, 2026) https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2026-09/nostra-aetate-60th-anniversary-vatican-journey-to-hope.html
• Catholic Herald — "Vatican text praises 60 years of ecumenism and 'new ethic of dialogue'" (Michael Haynes, Sept. 16, 2026) https://thecatholicherald.com/article/vatican-text-praises-60-years-of-ecumenism-and-new-ethic-of-dialogue
  LifeSiteNews — "Pope Leo's Vatican asks Catholics to 'esteem' other faiths" (Sept. 16, 2026) https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/breaking-pope-leos-vatican-asks-catholics-to-esteem-other-faiths/
• Nostra Aetate, Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions (Oct. 28, 1965) https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vatii_decl_19651028_nostra-aetate_en.html

BISHOP STRICKLAND:

• Pillars of Faith - https://pillarsoffaith.net/
• Substack - https://bishopjosephstrickland.substack.com/

#BishopStrickland #VaticanII #NostraAetate #ACatholicTake #Catholic #TraditionalCatholic #Lefebvre #SSPX #PopeLeo #CatholicNews

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