Robert Emmet Barron (born November 19, 1959) is an American

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Christian clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which means 'carry before', 'be set above or over' or 'pre ...

of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

who has served as

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester since 2022. He is the founder of the Catholic ministerial organization Word on Fire, and was the host of ''

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

'', a documentary TV series about Catholicism that aired on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

. He served as rector at

Mundelein Seminary The University of Saint Mary of the Lake (USML) is a private Roman Catholic seminary in Mundelein, Illinois. It is the principal seminary and school of theology for the formation of priests in the Archdiocese of Chicago in Illinois. It was c ...

from 2012 to 2015 and as auxiliary bishop for the

Archdiocese of Los Angeles The Archdiocese of Los Angeles ( la, Archidiœcesis Angelorum in California, es, Arquidiócesis de Los Ángeles) is an ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church (Catholic particular churches and liturgical rites, particularly ...

from 2015 to 2022. Barron has published books, essays, and articles on

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

and spirituality. He is a religion correspondent for

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

and has also appeared on

Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...

, CNN, and

EWTN The Eternal Word Television Network, more commonly known by its initials EWTN, is an American basic cable television network which presents around-the-clock Catholic-themed programming. It is not only the largest Catholic television network in ...

. He has been informally called the "bishop of social media" and the "bishop of the Internet". , Barron's regular

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

videos have been viewed over 116 million times; he has over 3 million followers on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...

, 360,000 on Instagram, and 215,000 on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

. In addition, he has been invited to speak about religion at the headquarters of

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

, Facebook, and

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

. He has keynoted several conferences and events over the world, including the 2016 World Youth Day and the 2015

World Meeting of Families The World Meeting of Families is a gathering of the Roman Catholic Church that has occurred every three years since 1994. It is organized by the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, which "promotes the pastoral care of families, protects their r ...

. Barron's 2016 film series, ''Catholicism: The Pivotal Players'', was syndicated for national television in the United States.

Early life

Robert Emmet Barron was born on November 19, 1959, in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. He is of

Irish descent The Irish ( ga, Muintir na hÉireann or ''Na hÉireannaigh'') are an ethnic group and nation native to the island of Ireland, who share a common history and culture. There have been humans in Ireland for about 33,000 years, and it has been c ...

. He spent his childhood first in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

, then in the Chicago suburb of Western Springs. His mother was a homemaker, and his father, who died in 1987, was a national sales manager for John Sexton & Company, a national food distributor. He has a sister and a brother, John Barron, who is the

Sun-Times Media Group Sun-Times Media Group (formerly Hollinger International) is a Chicago-based newspaper publisher. History Sun-Times Media Group was founded in 1986 under the name ''American Publishing Company'', as a holding company for Hollinger Inc.'s Americ ...

's publisher.

Formation

Barron started reading the works of

Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wit ...

when he was a freshman at Fenwick High School, a private Dominican high school. He transferred to

Benet Academy Benet Academy ( ) is a co-educational, college-preparatory, Benedictine high school in Lisle, Illinois, United States, overseen by the Diocese of Joliet. Founded in 1886, the school was initially established in Chicago as the all-boys St. Procopi ...

, a private Benedictine high school, where he graduated in 1977. Barron attended the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...

for a year before transferring to Mundelein Seminary in Chicago. One year later, he was accepted as a Basselin Scholar at the School of Theology of the Catholic University of America, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy in 1981 and a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Th ...

in philosophy in 1982; his master's thesis was on the political philosophy of

Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

. Barron earned a Licentiate of Sacred Theology from Mundelein Seminary in 1986 and was ordained on May 24, 1986, by Cardinal

Joseph Bernardin Joseph Louis Bernardin (April 2, 1928 – November 14, 1996) was an American Cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Cincinnati from 1972 until 1982, and as Archbishop of Chicago from 1982 until his death in 1996 from ...

. After serving as an associate pastor of St. Paul of the Cross Catholic Parish in Park Ridge from 1986 to 1989, he was sent to France and earned a

Doctor of Sacred Theology The Doctor of Sacred Theology ( la, Sacrae Theologiae Doctor, abbreviated STD), also sometimes known as Professor of Sacred Theology (, abbreviated STP), is the final theological degree in the pontifical university system of the Roman Catholic C ...

at the

Institut Catholique de Paris The Institut Catholique de Paris (ICP), known in English as the Catholic University of Paris (and in Latin as ''Universitas catholica Parisiensis''), is a private university located in Paris, France. History: 1875–present The Institut Catholiq ...

in 1992. His dissertation was titled "Creation as Discipleship: A Study of the De potentia of Thomas Aquinas in Light of the Dogmatik of Paul Tillich". In addition to his native English, Barron is fluent in French,

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

, and

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

. Barron is a proponent of

Hans Urs von Balthasar Hans Urs von Balthasar (12 August 1905 – 26 June 1988) was a Swiss theologian and Catholic priest who is considered an important Catholic theologian of the 20th century. He was announced as his choice to become a cardinal by Pope John Paul II, b ...

's “dare we hope” theology, declaring there is "objective ground" for a "hope that all men may be saved".

Priestly ministry

From 1992 until 2015, Barron was a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

systematic theology Systematic theology, or systematics, is a discipline of Christian theology that formulates an orderly, rational, and coherent account of the doctrines of the Christian faith. It addresses issues such as what the Bible teaches about certain topic ...

University of St. Mary of the Lake The University of Saint Mary of the Lake (USML) is a Private university, private Roman Catholic seminary in Mundelein, Illinois. It is the principal seminary and theology, school of theology for the formation of priests in the Roman Catholic ...

, where he was also named the inaugural Francis Cardinal George Professor of Faith and Culture in 2008. He also served as president-rector from 2012 to 2015. Barron lectured extensively in the United States and internationally, including the Pontifical North American College and the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome. He started his Word On Fire platform in the year 2000. In 2002 Barron was a visiting professor at the

and at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in 2007. He was also twice scholar-in-residence at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, in 2007 and 2010.

Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles

On July 21, 2015,

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

appointed Barron an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and

titular bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox ...

of Macriana in Mauritania. Archbishop José Horacio Gomez noted that Barron's media talent and rapport with young people, as well as his outreach to other faiths would be good for the archdiocese. Archbishop Cupich said he would be of great benefit to the archdiocese. On September 8, 2015, Barron received his episcopal consecration at the

Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels ( es, Catedral de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles), informally known as COLA or the Los Angeles Cathedral, is a cathedral of the Roman Catholic Church in Los Angeles, California, United States. It opened in 2 ...

from Archbishop José H. Gomez.

Bishop of Winona-Rochester

On June 2, 2022, Pope Francis appointed Barron as the ninth bishop of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, in southern

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

. His installation there took place on July 29, 2022, at the Co-Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Rochester, Minnesota.

Media works

In 2000, Barron launched Word on Fire Catholic Ministries, a non-profit organization, that supports his evangelistic endeavors. ''Word on Fire'' programs, featuring Barron, have been broadcast regularly on WGN America,

Telecare Telecare is technology-based healthcare such as the monitoring of patient vital organs so that they may remain safe and independent in their own homes. Devices may include health and fitness apps, such as exercise tracking tools and digital medica ...

, Relevant Radio and the Word on Fire YouTube Channel. Barron's Word on Fire website offers daily blogs, articles, commentaries and over ten years of weekly sermon podcasts. In September 2015, Barron and Word on Fire content director Brandon Vogt started a weekly podcast called ''The Word on Fire Show''. Barron lectures extensively in the United States and internationally and he has published numerous books, essays and DVD programs. He is a frequent commentator on faith and culture for ''

The Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'', ''NBC Nightly News'', Fox News Channel, ''Our Sunday Visitor'', the ''

Catholic Herald The ''Catholic Herald'' is a London-based Roman Catholic monthly newspaper and starting December 2014 a magazine, published in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and, formerly, the United States. It reports a total circulation of abo ...

'' (London, UK) and ''

The Catholic New World ''Chicago Catholic'' is the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Chicago. The publication was known as ''Chicago New World'' prior to a name change in January 2017. Its mission is to be the key source of information about the church in Chica ...

''.

Internet

Barron's website hosts daily blog posts, weekly articles and video commentaries, and an audio archive of over 500 homilies. Barron has the following social media figures: * 3.1 million+ Facebook followers * 555,000+ YouTube subscribers * 351,000+ Instagram followers * 205,000+ Twitter followers

Videos

Barron has produced over 1,000 online video commentaries, which have attracted over 84 million views. His weekly productions include brief theological reviews of contemporary culture, including movies, books, music, and current events.

Television

Barron's videos are aired on

CatholicTV The CatholicTV Network, commonly known as CatholicTV, is a Catholic television network based in Watertown, Massachusetts. CatholicTV first launched locally in Boston in 1955, making it the oldest Catholic television network in the United States ...

, EWTN,

, NET TV, and

Salt + Light Television Salt + Light Television is a Canadian multi-lingual Category B television channel owned by the not-for-profit Salt and Light Catholic Media Foundation and based in Toronto, Ontario. The channel broadcasts faith-based programming for Roman Cath ...

. He created a 10-part documentary, ''Catholicism'', filmed in 16 countries, which aired on public television in the United States in beginning in 2011. A sequel was released in September 2013, titled ''Catholicism: The New Evangelization''. In October 2010, Barron premiered a half-hour television show, ''Word on Fire with Father Barron'', on

WGN America WGN America was an American subscription television network that was owned by the Nexstar Media Group, and was the company's only wholly owned, national cable-originated television channel. The channel in its final form under the WGN branding ra ...

on Sundays. Barron is the first priest since Archbishop

Fulton Sheen Fulton John Sheen (born Peter John Sheen, May 8, 1895 – December 9, 1979) was an American bishop of the Catholic Church known for his preaching and especially his work on television and radio. Ordained a priest of the Diocese of Peoria in ...

in the 1950s to have a regular national program on a commercial television network.

Radio/podcast

Barron produces a weekly

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosin ...

on faith and culture titled ''The Word on Fire Show'', which has been downloaded over ten million times. His weekly homilies and podcasts air on radio stations around the United States. Barron has appeared on other podcasts, including the podcasts of

Jordan Peterson Jordan Bernt Peterson (born 12 June 1962) is a Canadian media personality, clinical psychologist, author, and professor emeritus at the University of Toronto. He began to receive widespread attention as a public intellectual in the late 2010s ...

Lex Fridman Lex Fridman ( /'lɛks 'friːdmæn/; , Russian: ) is a Russian-American computer scientist, podcaster, and an artificial intelligence researcher. He is a research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and he hosts the ''Lex Fr ...

, and

Ben Shapiro Benjamin Aaron Shapiro (born January 15, 1984) is an American attorney, businessman, columnist, conservative political commentator, and media personality. At age 17, he became the youngest nationally syndicated columnist in the United States. ...

Books

* ''A Study of the De potentia of Thomas Aquinas in Light of the Dogmatik of Paul Tillich'' (1993) * ''Thomas Aquinas: Spiritual Master'' (1996) * ''And Now I See: A Theology of Transformation'' (1998) * ''Heaven in Stone and Glass'' (2000) * ''The Strangest Way: Walking the Christian Path'' (2002) * ''Bridging the Great Divide: Musings of a Post-Liberal, Post-Conservative, Evangelical Catholic'' (2004) * ''The Priority of Christ: Toward a Post-Liberal Catholicism'' (2007) * ''Word on Fire: Proclaiming the Power of Christ'' (2008) * ''Eucharist'' (2008) * ''Catholicism'' (2011) * ''Seeds of the Word: Finding God in the Culture'' (2015) * ''2 Samuel'' (2015) * ''Exploring Catholic Theology'' (2015) * ''Vibrant Paradoxes: The Both/And of Catholicism'' (2016) * ''To Light a Fire on the Earth: Proclaiming the Gospel in a Secular Age'' (2017) * ''Arguing Religion'' (2018) * ''Letter to a Suffering Church: A Bishop Speaks on the Sexual Abuse Crisis'' (2019) * ''Centered: The Spirituality of Word on Fire'' (2020) * ''The Pivotal Players: 12 Heroes Who Shaped the Church and Changed the World'' (2020) * ''Renewing Our Hope: Essays for the New Evangelization'' (2020) * ''The Rosary with Bishop Robert Barron'' (2021) * ''Light from Light: A Theological Reflection on the Nicene Creed'' (2021)

DVDs

*''Untold Blessings The Three Paths of Holiness'' (2005) *''Conversion'' (2006) *''Faith Clips'' (2007) *''Seven Deadly Sins, Seven Lively Virtues'' (2007) *''Eucharist'' (2009) *''Catholicism'' (2011) *''Catholicism: The New Evangelization'' (2013) *''Priest, Prophet, King'' (2014) *''The Mystery of God'' (2015) *''Catholicism: The Pivotal Players Volume I'' (2016) *''David the King'' (2017) *''The Mass'' (2018) *''Catholicism: The Pivotal Players St. Augustine & St. Benedict'' (2018) *''Catholicism: The Pivotal Players Fulton Sheen & Flannery O'Connor'' (2019) *''The Sacraments'' (2020) *''The Creed'' (2021)

Distinctions

Orders

* : **

Order of the Holy Sepulchre The Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Equestris Sancti Sepulcri Hierosolymitani, links=yes, OESSH), also called Order of the Holy Sepulchre or Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, is a Catholic order of knighthood under ...

Academic

* 2022:

Doctor Doctor or The Doctor may refer to: Personal titles * Doctor (title), the holder of an accredited academic degree * A medical practitioner, including: ** Physician ** Surgeon ** Dentist ** Veterinary physician ** Optometrist *Other roles ** ...

of Humane Letters,

Benedictine College Benedictine College is a private Benedictine liberal arts college in Atchison, Kansas, United States. It was established in 1971 by the merger of St. Benedict's College (founded 1858) for men and Mount St. Scholastica College (founded 1923) for ...

* 2019: Doctor of Theology, Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas * 2018: Doctor of Humane Letters, Assumption College * 2017: Doctor of Divinity, Saint Anselm College * 2016: Doctor of Sacred Theology,

Dominican House of Studies The Dominican House of Studies is a Catholic institution in Washington, DC, housing both the Priory of the Immaculate Conception, a community of the Province of St. Joseph of the Order of Preachers (Dominicans), and the Pontifical Faculty of the I ...

* 2013: Doctor of Religious Education, Providence College * 2012: Doctor of Humanities,

Lewis University Lewis University is a private Roman Catholic and Lasallian university in Romeoville, Illinois, United States. The enrollment is currently around 6,800 students. Lewis offers more than 80 undergraduate majors and programs of study, 22 graduate pr ...

Awards

* 2015: Fisher's Net Award for Best Overall and for Best Social Media Presence * 2012:

Relevant Radio Relevant Radio (corporate name Relevant Radio, Inc.) is a radio network in the United States, mainly broadcasting talk radio and religious programming involving the Catholic Church. It is the largest Catholic radio network by owned station base. R ...

Christ Brings Hope Award * 2003:

Catholic Press Association The Catholic Media Association, formerly the Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada, is an association of American and Canadian newspaper and media specialists specialized on reporting on the Catholic Church. Founded in 1911, it ...

Book Award: ''The Strangest Way: Walking the Christian Path'' * 1998: Catholic Press Association Journalism Award: Best Article - Clergy, Religious, "The Uncanny God" * 1997: Catholic Press Association Book Award: ''Thomas Aquinas: Spiritual Master'' * 1995: Catholic Press Association Journalism Award: Best Article - Professional and Special Interest, "Priest as Bearer of the Mystery"

References

External links

Roman Catholic Diocese of Winona–Rochester Official SiteRoman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles Official Site
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Barron, Robert 1959 births Living people 20th-century American Roman Catholic priests 21st-century American Roman Catholic titular bishops American evangelists 20th-century American Roman Catholic theologians 21st-century American Roman Catholic theologians Benet Academy alumni Institut Catholique de Paris alumni Catholic University of America alumni Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas faculty Systematic theologians Thomists University of Notre Dame faculty University of Saint Mary of the Lake alumni Members of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre Bishops appointed by Pope Francis American Roman Catholic clergy of Irish descent Roman Catholic bishops of Winona-Rochester