(A Shepherd’s Voice in a Time of Confusion)
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
There is a question in the Gospel that is not asked gently. It is not asked in safety. It is asked when truth demands a decision.
Our Lord has just taught the truth about His Body and His Blood. He has spoken plainly. He has not softened His words. He has not explained them away. And many who had followed Him decide they can no longer stay. They walk away.
And then Jesus turns to the Twelve – not to rebuke them, not to reassure them – but to ask a question that every generation of the Church must answer again for itself. “Will you also go away?” And Peter responds with words that are a confession of absolute necessity: “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.”
This question is not symbolic. It is not rhetorical. It assumes something that our age finds deeply uncomfortable. It assumes that there is only one place to go.
And that is precisely why this question must be asked again today – because we are living in a time when that assumption is being quietly, and sometimes openly, undermined.
We live in a moment when Catholics hear, over and over again, language that suggests that all religions are fundamentally the same, that all paths are valid, that differences do not really matter, and that unity is the highest good – even if truth must be blurred to achieve it.
This language is often presented as mercy. It is presented as openness. It is presented as pastoral sensitivity. But I want to say this clearly, as a bishop charged with the care of souls: Unity detached from truth is not unity. It is a fragile illusion – and it cannot save anyone.
Our Lord did not gather disciples by hiding hard truths. He did not preserve unity by silence. He did not build His Church on ambiguity. He said, plainly and without qualification: I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by me.”
Not one way among many. Not one expression of the divine alongside others. THE WAY. THE TRUTH. THE LIFE.
When this clarity is lost, confusion follows – and confusion costs souls.
And this brings me to something that must be said honestly, even if it causes discomfort. Many of the faithful today are confused not because they have rejected the faith, but because the voice they expect to speak with clarity has often spoken ambiguously.
In recent years, statements and gestures coming from Rome have suggested, or outright said, that all religions are equally willed by God, that they are parallel paths toward Him, and that conversion is no longer essential. That message has been heard. And it has done real harm.
When Catholics hear language that appears to place the unique saving mission of Jesus Christ on the same level as other religions, they naturally begin to ask painful questions. Questions such as – Why remain Catholic? Why struggle to believe difficult teachings? Why cling to the Sacraments, to the moral law, to the Cross, if none of it is uniquely necessary?
These are not questions asked by rebels. They are asked by ordinary faithful people trying to be honest. And I must say this plainly, with sorrow and with gravity: That way of speaking is not the perennial teaching of the Catholic Church.
The Church has never taught that all religions are equal paths to salvation. She has never taught that error and truth are interchangeable. She has never taught that Christ’s Church is merely one spiritual option among many.
When such ideas are voiced – even indirectly, even carelessly – they MUST be corrected, not absorbed. This is not disloyalty. It is fidelity.
The Church has always known that fraternal correction even at high levels can be an act of love. Silence in the face of confusion is not humility. It is negligence.
And now we find ourselves at a moment when many Catholics are asking, sometimes with anguish: If even Rome seems unclear, to whom shall we go?
That question explains why certain traditional communities continue to exist, despite decades of tension. It helps explain why families drive long distances for reverent liturgy. It helps explain why young people, especially, are drawn to places where the faith is taught without apology.
There have always been moments in the Church when there were those who refused to move the plumb line of doctrine, even when pressure came from every direction. They were not trying to start movements. They were trying to hand on what they themselves received. And history shows us this: when clarity fades at the center, the faithful instinctively cling to whatever still speaks clearly of Christ. They cling to the plumb line – the unbroken line of doctrine, worship, and moral teaching passed down through centuries.
And we find ourselves now in a situation where many Catholics are desperately clinging to that same plumb line – not because they desire division, but because they are desperate for certainty. They are told to embrace unity, but unity is defined as silence about error. They are told to obey, but obedience is interpreted as agreement. They are told to trust, but trust is demanded without clarity.
And Rome, instead of asking why so many feel compelled to hold fast to tradition, often appears more focused on making sure they loosen their grip. That should trouble every shepherd. Because people do not cling to tradition out of nostalgia. They cling to it because it gives them Christ without ambiguity – and there they know what is being taught, they know who is being worshiped, and they know what is being asked of them.
And here is the painful truth we must face:
The more the unique claims of Christ and His Church are blurred at the center, the more people will seek clarity at the margins. This is not solved by suppression. It is not solved by sanctions. It is not solved by pretending the crisis does not exist. It is solved only by returning – humbly but firmly – to Peter’s confession. “Lord, to whom shall we go?”
Not to movements that replace the Church. Not to personalities, ideologies, or factions. We go to Christ – whole, undiminished, uncompromised.
Christ as He is, not as the world wishes Him to be.
Brothers and sisters, I want to say this plainly: Jesus Christ is the sole Savior of the world. Those are not just my words – they are the words of the Church’s highest doctrinal authority. And the same Church teaches, without hesitation, that the Church is necessary for salvation.
And as St. Cyprian said, with clarity that still pierces the heart, “He cannot have God for his Father who has not the Church for his mother.”
If this is not true, then nothing we believe makes sense. And if it is true – then we have NO right to remain silent while souls are led to believe otherwise.
Jesus Christ is the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE, and His Church is necessary for salvation. The Sacraments are not symbols, but realities. We MUST not sacrifice truth for unity.
Unity flows from truth – or it is not unity at all.
Our Lord Himself showed us this. When many walked away, He did not chase them. He did not revise His teaching. He let them go. And then He returned to the Twelve.
That moment is happening again. The Church is being tested – not from outside alone, but from within. She is being asked to choose between clarity and comfort. Between fidelity and approval. Between the Cross and popularity. And every Catholic must answer the same question.
Will you also go away?
And we must answer – NO!
Not to a religion without Sacraments!
Not to a unity that costs nothing!
Not to a faith that bends every time the world applies pressure!
We go to Christ! We remain with His Church. We cling to the Sacraments. And we accept the cost of fidelity.
St. Athanasius stood nearly alone against the world, and the world mocked him. But history remembers him not as divisive, but as faithful.
Brothers and sisters, many will walk away. Some already have. Some will say the Church must change or disappear. But the Church does not belong to us. She belongs to Christ.
And so we answer Peter’s question again – not with fear, not with bitterness, not with rebellion – but with conviction born of love – “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou alone hast the words of eternal life.”
And we will not go anywhere else!
Bishop Joseph E. Strickland
