This week, the American bishop Robert Barron, who is described as the “Bishop of the Internet,” is in Prague. Where should we place him in opinion?
Bishop Robert Barron in a video discussion where actor Shia LaBeouf talks about his conversion in August 2022.
The controversy before the World Youth Days in Lisbon, surrounding the opening ceremony at the Olympics in Paris, and the revelation of an ordinary day at the synod in Rome.
These are just some of the last few months’ events where we could meet his name. Of course, in addition to regular videos, reflections, articles, essays, and the like.
American Bishop Robert Barron leads a minor diocese in the American Midwest. Still, his media project Word on Fire and millions of social network followers have earned him the label “Internet Bishop” or “the new Fulton Sheen.”.”
In any case, the bishop of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester in Minnesota is one of the most influential representatives of the Catholic Church.
This media star of the Catholic Church is in Prague these days (October 28-30), where the Czech Bishops’ Conference invited him. On Tuesday, October 29, at 5:30 p.m., Barron will lecture on Ipsum Esse and the Social Teaching of the Church at Charles University.
The capacity of the Blue Lecture Hall of the Charles University Rectorate has long been fully occupied. However, the organizers have ensured a live broadcast, which will be available on the Facebook page cirqueb. cz
Robert Barron stopped in the capital of the Czech Republic on his way back from Rome, where the meeting of the Synod on Synodality ended over the weekend.
According to the cirque.cz website, the 64-year-old American bishop wanted to address students and the academic community, among other things, during his visit to the Czech Republic.
In this spirit, Tomáš Sixta, a doctoral student at the Catholic Theological Faculty of the UK and a member of the editorial board of the review for Theology and Spiritual Life Salva, points out the dimension of the visit. He wrote on the Christnet portal that Robert Barron will not come to Prague as a bishop – because the Prague Archdiocese has a bishop – but as a lecturer, as a theologian. “Even his popular social media posts have a concrete theological basis,“ Sixta wrote.
The new Fulton Sheen?
The Czech Bishops’ Conference website is promoting Bishop Barron’s visit with enthusiasm, hailing him as the “greatest media bishop of the United States” since Fulton Sheen. The founder of Word on Fire, an organization producing Catholic-themed audiovisual programs, Bishop Barron is also a prolific author of books, essays, and articles on theology and spirituality. His media appearances include CNN, EWTN, and NBC, and he has lectured at prestigious institutions such as Harvard and tech giants Google, Facebook, and Amazon. According to Bishop Stanislav Pribyl, secretary general of the Czech Bishops’ Conference, securing this visit was a significant accomplishment, given Bishop Barron’s reputation as a world-renowned figure with valuable insights for secularized societies.
Bishop Barron was ordained in the Archdiocese of Chicago in 1986. He also held visiting professorships at the University of Notre Dame and the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome. He earned a master’s degree in philosophy from the Catholic University of America (1982) and a doctorate in theology from the Institut Catholique de Paris (1992), where his dissertation compared the theologies of Paul Tillich and Thomas Aquinas. Barron served as rector of Mundelein Seminary in Illinois from 2012 to 2015. Pope Francis then appointed him auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, a role he held from 2015 until he was appointed the ninth bishop of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, in June 2022.
According to Word on Fire, Bishop Barron is also the creator and host of the groundbreaking and award-winning documentary series Catholicism. Following its success, Barron and Word on Fire released a follow-up documentary, Catholicism: The Pivotal Players, about mystics, scholars, artists, and saints. Bishop Barron is also a bestselling author, and his latest book, This Is My Body, sells over a million copies.
The team around Robert Barron is also behind the book New Apologetic, which is published these days by our publishing house, Postoj Media. Featuring over forty essays from many of the leading Catholic apologists, theologians, and philosophers, it charts a new direction for the future of apologetics: an intelligent, joyful, and beautiful defense of the faith that appeals to both the head and the heart.
He has critics from both camps.
Evaluating Bishop Barron from a theological perspective yields varying opinions, depending on one’s viewpoint. While some Catholics see him as too conservative, others view him as too modernist. This divergence of opinions may suggest that Barron occupies a middle ground between progressive and traditionalist camps, indicating his integrity and commitment to a balanced stance. This assessment is supported by two in-depth analyses of Barron’s work, one praising and the other criticizing him. As author Peter Laffin notes, “In the Catholic media bubble, Bishop Robert Barron is defined more often by what he is not than by what he is. He is not progressive,” highlighting how Barron’s associations, such as with Jordan Peterson, and his critiques of ‘woke’ culture have elicited criticism from the left.
Bishop Barron’s views have drawn criticism from some corners of progressive Catholicism, particularly his stance that abortion is the central moral issue of the time and his lamentation of the Protestantization of liturgy and church architecture. Laffin notes that despite these criticisms, Barron is not a traditionalist, as evidenced by his agreement with Hans Urs von Balthasar’s assertion that we can hope for a hell devoid of occupants. From the right, some have criticized Barron for emphasizing God’s mercy, which they see as coddling “petty-bourgeois Catholics.” His media organization, Word on Fire, has also been perceived as overly polished and accommodating.
Bishop Robert Barron has faced conservative backlash for endorsing a book on prayer by Jesuit James Martin, a vocal advocate for LGBT rights who was featured in The New York Times alongside a photo of a same-sex couple. Czech author Tomáš Sixta has written about Barron, describing him as a proponent of post-liberal theology, which posits that the secular world has nothing to enrich Christianity.
“The American bishop coming to Prague can charm us with the confidence with which he speaks about Christ and the Catholic identity, who this time no longer bows to the secular world, and the sovereignty with which he knows theology and postmodern philosophy. The greater this enchantment, the greater the caution of the listeners must be, whether along with this self-assurance comes an inconspicuous spirit of triumphalism, identitarianism, reluctance to listen to others, a belief in the fullness of one’s truth, which closes our eyes to the truth in others,“ writes Sixta.
According to him, Barron can be a true role model in his academic work and theological erudition, as well as in the persuasiveness of his preaching. Sixta acknowledges many inspiring thoughts of the American bishop but ends his article with provocative words – that personally, given the theology that Barron draws from, he would recommend another, “one of the most prominent and most watched personalities of the Catholic world,“ namely the current bishop of Rome.
From Lisbon to Paris
Bishop Barron’s stance is best demonstrated through his actions and public engagement. He regularly participates in pastoral and evangelistic content, addressing current events and confronting controversy head-on. A notable example is a bishop from Minnesota who drew attention to a problematic scene from the Olympic Games opening ceremony, posting a video on social media where he expressed his distaste for a “disgusting mockery” of the Last Supper, despite initially being excited to watch the ceremony which was held in Paris, a city he loves and where he completed his doctorate.
The American bishop also engages in intra-church debates. Before the World Youth Days in Lisbon last summer, he responded to comments made by Lisbon’s auxiliary bishop, América Aguiar, who was the event’s main organizer. Aguiar stated that the aim was not to convert young people to faith in Christ or the Catholic Church, but rather for young Catholics to bear witness to their faith while respecting the diversity of others. He emphasized that understanding and embracing differences as a valuable asset is key to creating a better world for all young people.
At the time, Robert Barron may even have written the following words: “The great Polish Pope was pleased that so many young people from all over the world, in all their diversity, were coming to these meetings, but if you had told him that the real purpose of the event was to celebrate diversity, to give everyone feeling that he feels good the way he is and that you are not interested in converting anyone to Christ, he would pierce you with a look that would stop a train.“
Robert Barron will give five presentations on World Youth Day, each focusing on evangelization. His views are also evident in the Synod on Synodality, where he participated as a US delegate. In discussing the church’s approach to the LGBT community, he argues that there is no inherent tension between love and truth. Love, Barron notes, is not a feeling but a selfless act that seeks the good of another; therefore, authentic love requires a genuine understanding of what is truly beneficial for the other person. Barron concedes that tension can exist between helpfulness and truth, but not between true love and truth.
A recent text by the “Bishop of the Internet” on the link between liturgy and charity offers valuable insight, particularly amidst the intensifying divide between traditionalists and liberals. Barron articulates a key principle: the more elevated the liturgy, the deeper one’s commitment to serving the poor should be. “The danger is a one-sided emphasis on liturgy or a one-sided emphasis on service, while the former leads to anxiety and the latter reduces the church to an organization of social services,“ he stated. Perhaps this is Bishop Robert Barron’s most vital point. Despite the polarization, which does not bypass the church, it can shed light on the essence of the problems. And what’s more, it doesn’t make it boring.
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