Catholic universities in the United States are abandoning core church teaching on abortion and gender, and too many U.S. bishops quietly agree with them, former Tyler, Texas, Bishop Joseph Strickland told Newsmax on Saturday, faulting a hierarchy he said is “cowering to the culture” from the Vatican down.
Strickland, who was removed as bishop of Tyler by Pope Francis in November 2023, spoke on “Saturday Agenda” as parents, alumni and pro-life advocates renewed pressure on Catholic colleges over their ties to the abortion industry.
A new Students for Life report from the Demetree Institute for Pro-Life Advancement flagged more than 100 Christian colleges, including nine given an F grade for four or more ties to abortion groups.
Among the failing schools was Villanova University, the Augustinian university outside Philadelphia where Pope Leo XIV earned a degree in mathematics in 1977.
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Pressed on whether bishops will crack down, Strickland offered no comfort. “Catholic teaching is clear, and too many Catholic universities are simply not offering their students Catholic teaching,” he said. “That has to change.”
But with prelates like Cardinal Robert McElroy, installed as archbishop of Washington in March 2025, shaping the American hierarchy, Strickland said meaningful discipline “isn’t likely to happen soon.”
He laid the failure at the feet of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
“Frankly, those universities are not corrected because too many in the U.S. Bishops’ conference agree with their stand,” Strickland said. “And even if they don’t agree, they’re unwilling.” He said the pattern is “epidemic” and stretches “from the Vatican down.”
Truth, he added, “isn’t proclaimed by those who must proclaim the truth of Jesus Christ.”
Strickland argued the operative issue is not complicated. Abortion, he said, is a “black or white” question in Catholic doctrine, and universities that promote or partner with abortion groups betray their identity.
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