Bishop Robert Barron – Madison Catholic Herald

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.

On May 30, 2019July 11, 2023

Bishop Robert Barron

SB 360: Why it endangers all religious freedom

SB 360, a piece of proposed legislation currently making its way through the California state senate, should alarm not only every Catholic in the country, but indeed the adepts of any religion.

On February 6, 2019March 17, 2023

Bishop Robert Barron

New York, abortion, and a short route to chaos

It was the celebration that was particularly galling. On the 46th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, the governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, signed into law a protocol that gives practically unrestricted access to abortion, permitting the killing of an unborn child up until the moment of delivery.

On January 16, 2019

Bishop Robert Barron

Foiling Spinoza as path to evangelization

During this Christmas holiday, I’ve been reading Anthony Gottlieb’s breezy and enjoyable history of modern philosophy, entitled The Dream of Enlightenment.

Throughout his treatment of such figures as Descartes, Hobbes, Locke, and Voltaire, Gottlieb reveals his own rather strong bias in favor of the rationalism and anti-supernaturalism advocated by these avatars of modern thought.

On December 26, 2018April 19, 2023

Bishop Robert Barron

Being ‘nice’ is not the point of Christianity

Many atheists and agnostics today insistently argue that it is altogether possible for non-believers in God to be morally upright. They resent the implication that the denial of God will lead inevitably to complete ethical relativism or nihilism.

On September 13, 2018

Bishop Robert Barron

Why remain Catholic (with so much scandal)?

Note: The text below has been transcribed from a YouTube Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ani_hnN8Fs&feature=youtu.be

This is the first article of a two article series.

Hey everybody, this is Bishop Barron. I wanted to speak to you again about this terrible crisis we’re passing through in the Church, this crisis of sexual abuse and the countenancing of it by some bishops.

I know I spoke to you a couple of days ago. But what’s been striking me recently is the number of people who seem to be calling for the abandonment of the Church: “Because of this crisis, it’s time for us to leave the Church. We’ve simply had enough.”

On September 13, 2018

Bishop Robert Barron

Why remain Catholic (with so much scandal)?

Note: The text below has been transcribed from a YouTube Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ani_hnN8Fs&feature=youtu.be

This is the first article of a two article series.

Hey everybody, this is Bishop Barron. I wanted to speak to you again about this terrible crisis we’re passing through in the Church, this crisis of sexual abuse and the countenancing of it by some bishops.

I know I spoke to you a couple of days ago. But what’s been striking me recently is the number of people who seem to be calling for the abandonment of the Church: “Because of this crisis, it’s time for us to leave the Church. We’ve simply had enough.”

On September 13, 2018

Bishop Robert Barron

Why remain Catholic (with so much scandal)?

Note: The text below has been transcribed from a YouTube Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ani_hnN8Fs&feature=youtu.be

This is the first article of a two article series.

Hey everybody, this is Bishop Barron. I wanted to speak to you again about this terrible crisis we’re passing through in the Church, this crisis of sexual abuse and the countenancing of it by some bishops.

I know I spoke to you a couple of days ago. But what’s been striking me recently is the number of people who seem to be calling for the abandonment of the Church: “Because of this crisis, it’s time for us to leave the Church. We’ve simply had enough.”

On August 30, 2018

Bishop Robert Barron

The McCarrick mess and what to do next

When I was going through school, the devil was presented to us as a myth, a literary device, a symbolic manner of signaling the presence of evil in the world. I will admit to internalizing this view and largely losing my sense of the devil as a real spiritual person.

On July 26, 2018

Bishop Robert Barron

Jurassic World: Gets it right, and gets it wrong

Spoiler Alert! This column reveals details of a newly released film.

The original Jurassic Park film from 25 years ago rather inventively explored a theme that has been prominent in Western culture from the time of the Romantic reaction to the Enlightenment — namely, the dangers of an aggressive and arrogant rationalism.

Beginning in the late 18th century, poets and philosophers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Wolfgang von Goethe, Johann Herder, William Blake, and John Keats warned that the lust to understand and control nature would result in disaster for both the human soul and for the physical world.