Posts Tagged ‘Bishop Robert Barron’

Media dispute: When a bishop threatens legal action

Thursday, June 13th, 2024
bishop

Since the beginning of May, a dispute has flared up in the USA between the Catholic magazine “Commonweal”, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary, and the media organisation “Word on Fire”, founded by the prominent US bishop Robert Barron. The cause was a column by the Italian theologian and church historian Massimo Faggioli (pictured), who Read more

The rise of the Catholic bully

Monday, May 27th, 2024
diaconate

Catholic bullying is spreading. In the latest example of a bully is Minnesota Bishop Robert Barron’s Word on Fire organisation threatened Commonweal magazine and theologian Massimo Faggioli over Faggioli’s April 22 essay, “Will Trumpism Spare Catholicism?” The commotion is too weird to behold. Sticks and stones It began like all schoolyard fights. Barron, or someone Read more

Why does Bishop Barron keep attacking Pope Francis allies?

Monday, September 4th, 2023
Bishop Robert Barron

Recently, I criticised comments made by Bishop Robert Barron, known for his “Word on Fire” ministry and the bishop of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, in which he complained about the Catholic faith being “dumbed down. I found his comments a-historical and thought they suggested that only very smart, well-informed and well-read Catholics could qualify as good Catholics. Read more

Controversy enflames WYD buildup

Monday, July 17th, 2023
WYD Controversy

Controversy has enflamed WYD preparations as conservative Catholics get the wrong end of the evangelisation story. Regardless of his impending cardinal appointment, Bishop Robert Barron has made it clear to Américo Aguiar that he intends to evangelise during his visit to Lisbon. Aguiar, a youthful 49-year-old auxiliary bishop of the Patriarchate of Lisbon, is the Read more

Bishop Robert Barron – no doctrinal changes at Synod

Monday, July 17th, 2023
Robert Barron

Robert Barron, the conservative bishop and founder of Word on Fire Institute, has reassured US Catholics that the forthcoming synod on synodality will not bring about significant doctrinal changes. Despite concerns about the potential outcomes of the synod, where a diverse group of bishops, priests and laity will convene to discuss the Church’s future, Barron Read more

Dumbing down Catholicism has been disastrous

Thursday, August 25th, 2022
Dumbing down disastrous

According to a well-known US bishop, dumbing down the Catholic Church by making it more simple and appealing to the mainstream culture has proved disastrous. In his Sunday sermon, Bishop Robert Barron said, “Dumbed down Catholicism has not helped evangelisation. Quite the contrary, we did this to ourselves”. The bishop is a controversial figure on Read more

Bishop Barron not impressed with Harvard’s atheist ‘chief chaplain’

Monday, September 6th, 2021
Harvard University atheist chaplain

As nonreligious celebrate the election of an atheist as chaplain head at Harvard University, the university said the position will not affect the centre’s Catholic mission. However, Bishop Robert Barron, the auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, is not impressed by the election outcome. In the New York Post, Barron said, “What does Read more

Bishop Barron: True dialogue impossible if Catholic Dems won’t protect babies who survive abortion

Thursday, July 1st, 2021

Bishop Robert Barron, auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles and head of Word on Fire ministries, called out Catholic Democratic lawmakers for claiming dialogue with the US bishops over abortion and the reception of Communion is the best way forward in the Eucharist controversy. Barron cited a reticence on the part of Democrats to modify even Read more

New Vatican laws on clergy abuse not enough

Monday, June 21st, 2021
clergy sexual abuse

A former member of Pope Francis’ commission on clergy sexual abuse said the recent revision of the criminal section of the Catholic Church’s canon law do not go far enough to protect children and vulnerable adults from possible predators. Marie Collins pointed out that the new provisions do not mandate that a priest found guilty Read more

Barron’s ‘beige Catholicism’ erases years of racial, social justice activism

Thursday, March 18th, 2021

Bishop Robert Barron’s recent piece detailing the “evangelical path” of his organization Word on Fire has provoked heated debate over his use of the term “beige Catholicism” to refer to the faith of liberal or progressive Catholics. It’s not the first time he’s used the term. He coined the phrase 25 years ago, to critique Read more