“A fabricated and scurrilous message using my image & name is circulating which falsely depicts me making a statement advocating separation from the Catholic Church,” Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler (TX) tweeted after the self-described “Bishops of the Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate” announced that Bishop Strickland had gone into schism.
“I condemn this false use of my name, I am a loyal son of the Catholic Church,” added Bishop Strickland, whose diocese was recently the subject of an apostolic visitation.
Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone lent his support to Bishop Strickland, tweeting, “The devil is a liar and the father of all lies.”