Category: Word on Fire

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Bishop Robert Barron

A talk on the Hill: When were you called?

This article is the first in a two-part series.

A couple of weeks ago, I had the distinct privilege of addressing an audience of senators, representatives, and Capitol Hill staffers in a beautiful room at the Library of Congress.

This event was made possible by two Congressmen, Rep. Tom Suozzi of New York, a Democrat, and Rep. John Moolenaar of Michigan, a Republican. Both had seen videos of the speeches I had given at Facebook and Google Headquarters and wanted something similar for those who work in government.

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Bishop Robert Barron

More from Reddit friends, scoffers, and skeptics

This article is the second in a two-part series.

The second major theme was the problem of evil. Now, it has been said that all of theology commences with and ultimately centers around the issue of justifying the ways of God in the presence of great suffering; so in a way, the intense interest of young people in this question is another encouraging sign that they are eager to think theologically.

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Bishop Robert Barron

The voices of thousands of skeptics on Reddit

This article is the first in a two-part series.

I just finished my second dive into the Reddit AMA world. One of the most popular websites in the world, Reddit is a forum for all sorts of online conversations and presentations.

The AMA (Ask Me Anything) is a 21st century version of the medieval quodlibetal questions, during which a game theology professor would entertain any inquiry that came from the floor.

Now, things are a bit cruder and more rough and ready on Reddit than they were in the universities of the Middle Ages, but you get the idea.

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Bishop Robert Barron

Cardinal Etchegaray, Fr. de Lubac, and Vatican II

On September 4, Cardinal Roger Etchegaray passed away. Perhaps his was not a household name, but this very decent man made a substantive contribution to the life of the Church, serving in a number of different capacities over the years and collaborating closely with Pope John Paul II.

I had the privilege of meeting him in the mid 1990s when he visited Mundelein Seminary, where I was serving as professor of theology. The Cardinal wanted to address the community, but his English was a bit shaky, so I translated for him. But I recall that his smile and evident joy in the Lord needed no translation whatsoever.

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Bishop Robert Barron

Finding God everywhere and everyday

There is, to be sure, a stress within the biblical tradition that God is radically other: “Truly, you are a God who hides himself, O God of Israel, the Savior.” (Isaiah 45:15) and “No one shall see [God] and live” (Exodus 33:20).

This speaks to the fact that the one who creates the entire universe from nothing cannot be, himself, an item within the universe, one being alongside of others.

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Bishop Robert Barron

St. Paul’s master class in evangelization

The account of St. Paul’s address on the Areopagus in Athens, found in the 17th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, is a sort of master class in the evangelization of the culture, and anyone engaged today in that essential task should read it with care.

The context for Paul’s speech is his mission to Greece, which commenced when he crossed over from Asia Minor to the mainland of Europe. As the great Catholic historian Christopher Dawson indicated, this transition of an itinerant Jewish preacher from one side of the Aegean to the other would have excited the interest of no conventional historian or commentator of the time, but constituted, nevertheless, one of the most decisive events in history.

It signaled the introduction of Christianity to Europe and, through Europe, to the rest of the world. A first lesson for us: the evangelist never rests, for the call of the Lord is to announce the Good News to the ends of earth.

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Bishop Robert Barron

Millennials, Jordan Peterson, and what matters

Recently, I gave a presentation at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Spring Meeting in Baltimore. My topic was what I identified as the second greatest crisis facing the Church today — namely, the massive attrition of our own people, especially the young. I trust that the first — around which most of our discussions that week revolved — is obvious to everyone.

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Bishop Robert Barron

Human suffering and the experiences of God

I write these words on Holy Thursday, as the Christian world enters into the holiest and most spiritually intense time of the year. The long season of Lent has prepared us to delve once more into the mystery of the dying and rising of the Lord Jesus.

As I have been contemplating the events of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday, my mind has turned, again and again, to the brute fact of pain.

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