Auxiliary Bishop Robert E. Barron of Los Angeles and bishops from California, Hawaii and Nevada process to Mass in the crypt of St. Peter's Basilica during their "ad limina" visits to the Vatican Jan. 27, 2020. (CNS photo/Stefano Dal Pozzolo)
Vatican City, Jun 2, 2022 / 04:05 am (CNA).
The Vatican announced Thursday that Pope Francis has appointed Bishop Robert Barron to lead the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota.
Barron, who runs the popular Catholic media apostolate Word on Fire, has served as an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles since 2015.
He will succeed Bishop John Quinn, who submitted his resignation to the pope after reaching the retirement age of 75 in 2020.
“Friends, I am overjoyed and humbled to learn that Pope Francis has appointed me the ninth bishop of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester,” Barron wrote in a statement after his appointment was announced on June 2.
“The bishop of a diocese is, first and foremost, a spiritual father to the priests and people who have been entrusted to his care. My prayer this morning is that the Lord will give me the grace always to be a good father.”
One of the most well-known bishops in the United States, Barron has over 500,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel where he teaches about the faith through talks, interviews, and prayer.
At the last U.S. bishops’ meeting in November, Barron was voted to lead the U.S. bishop’s Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth.
Barron, 62, was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Chicago in 1986. Four years later, he began teaching at the archdiocese’s Mundelein Seminary, where he served as the rector from 2012 to 2015.
He holds a Doctor of Sacred Theology degree from the Institut Catholique de Paris and a master’s degree in Philosophy from the Catholic University of America.
While teaching at Mundelein, he created the Catholicism documentary series, which aired on public television in 2011.
In 2015, Pope Francis appointed Barron as an auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles, where Barron continued his work with the Word on Fire apostolate.
In recent weeks, Word on Fire has faced claims that the Catholic organization mishandled charges of sexual impropriety by a Word on Fire staffer. Several staff members, including Catholic speakers Jackie and Bobby Angel, announced their departure from Word on Fire amid the controversy in May.
The Catholic Diocese of Winona-Rochester filed for bankruptcy in 2018 while facing more than 100 claims of clerical sex abuse. Quinn said in 2018 that a total of 17 priests in the diocese had been accused of abuse.
Quinn served as the bishop of Winona since 2008 and continued to lead the diocese after the Vatican’s Congregation of Bishops announced that it would become the Diocese of Winona-Rochester in 2018.
The diocese covers more than 12,000 square miles of southern Minnesota and includes 107 Catholic parishes and over 130,000 Catholics.
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Pope Francis interacted with an energetic crowd of 65,000 young adults and catechists at Martyrs’ Stadium in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, on Feb. 2, 2023. / Vatican Media
Rome Newsroom, Feb 2, 2023 / 05:45 am (CNA).
To bring about peace, “prayer is the most powerful weapon there is,” Pope Francis told thousands of young adults and catechism teachers in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday.
The meeting in Martyrs’ Stadium in Kinshasa, the capital city of the DRC, took place on Feb. 2, the third day of the pope’s visit to the central African country. On Feb. 3, Francis will fly to Juba, South Sudan, for the second leg of his peace pilgrimage.
Pope Francis on Thursday interacted with an enthusiastic crowd of about 65,000 young people and adults, some of whom traveled days to be present for the papal visit.
Pope Francis interacted with an energetic crowd of 65,000 young adults and catechists at Martyrs’ Stadium in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, on Feb. 2, 2023. Vatican Media
“Yes, prayer conquers fear and enables us to take our future into our hands. Do you believe this?” the pope said. “Do you want to make prayer your secret, as refreshing water for the soul, as the one weapon you carry, as a traveling companion on each day’s journey?”
During the second half of his speech, the pope was repeatedly drowned out by the energetic audience, which broke out in cheering, singing, and dancing despite the hot weather.
Pope Francis interacted with an energetic crowd of 65,000 young adults and catechists at Martyrs’ Stadium in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, on Feb. 2, 2023. Vatican Media
In his talk, Francis used the imagery of the hand to speak about the future of the DRC.
“God has placed the gift of life, the future of society and the future of this great country in those hands of yours,” he said.
“Dear brother, dear sister, do your hands not seem small and frail, empty and unsuited to so great a task? It’s true,” he said. “Let me tell you something: your hands all look alike, they all look alike, but none of them is exactly the same. No one has hands just like yours, and that is a sign that you are a unique treasure, an unrepeatable and incomparable treasure.”
He invited those present in the stadium to open and close their hands while meditating on whether they wanted to choose peace or violence.
Pope Francis interacted with an energetic crowd of 65,000 young adults and catechists at Martyrs’ Stadium in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, on Feb. 2, 2023. Vatican Media
“Notice how you can squeeze your hand, closing it to make a fist. Or you can open it, to offer it to God and to others,” he said.
“You who dream of a different future: from your hands, tomorrow can be born, tomorrow can be born from your hands, from your hands peace so lacking in this country can at last come about.”
Bishop Donatien Bafuidinsoni Maloko-Mana from the Diocese of Inongo, in western DRC, was at the meeting.
He told EWTN News that people from his diocese traveled in boats on the Congo River for two to four days to arrive in Kinshasa.
Bafuidinsoni said the Congolese people were disappointed last year when the pope’s visit was canceled, but “now that the pope is here it’s a big joy for us all.”
Even those who are following the trip from home “are really happy,” he added. “It’s a message of joy, of peace, and of hope for all.”
Sister Asterie Neema, 29, is from Rutshuru in eastern DRC, where her brother was brutally killed last year. Elias Turk/CNA
Sister Asterie Neema, 29, is from Rutshuru in eastern Congo, where, she told EWTN News, they are under the control of an armed group called M23.
Neema said her older brother was killed in 2022 by unidentified rebels in front of his 12- and 7-year-old children.
In her 29 years of life, she said, her region of the DRC has never seen peace. Neema added that she has forgiven her brother’s killers, but she hopes for peace in her country.
Not everyone in the audience was Catholic. Two young Muslim men also attended the youth gathering with Pope Francis.
Yassine Mumbere, from Butembo in eastern DRC, told EWTN News that he came to the event because all young people were invited. He also studied at a Catholic school.
Muslim Yassine Mumbere, 35, from Butembo in eastern Congo, (R) with his friend (L) at the youth gathering with Pope Francis in Kinshasa, DRC on Feb. 2, 2023. Elias Turk/CNA
The 35-year-old Muslim Scout leader said he hopes the pope’s trip will help bring peace to the DRC’s eastern region.
In his speech, Pope Francis encouraged those present to be careful of the temptation to point fingers at people, or to exclude others because of “regionalism, tribalism, or anything that makes you feel secure in your own group, but at the same time is unconcerned with the life of the community.”
“You know what happens: first, you believe in prejudices about others, then you justify hatred, then violence, and in the end, you find yourself in the middle of a war,” he said.
To create a concrete sign of community, Francis invited the crowd to hold hands with those beside them and to sing a song together: “Imagine yourselves as one Church, a single people, holding hands.”
Pope Francis interacted with an energetic crowd of 65,000 young adults and catechists at Martyrs’ Stadium in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, on Feb. 2, 2023. Vatican Media
“Yes, brother and sister, you are indispensable and you are responsible for your Church and for your country,” he said after the song. “You are part of a greater history, one that calls you to take an active role as a builder of communion, a champion of fraternity, an indomitable dreamer of a more united world.”
After Pope Francis spoke against corruption — inviting everyone to shout together, “Go away, corruption!” — the stadium broke out in loud singing and cheering.
The event’s emcee had to invite the crowd to quiet down before the pope could continue speaking.
Francis also drew attention to two Congolese martyrs and their examples of faith: Blessed Isidore Bakanja and Blessed Marie-Clémentine Anuarite.
Statues of Blessed Isidore Bakanja and Blessed Marie-Clémentine Anuarite, young Congolese martyrs beatified by Pope John Paul II, in Martyrs’ Stadium in Kinshasa, DRC, on Feb. 2, 2023. Elias Turk/CNA
Blessed Marie-Clémentine Anuarite, a member of the Sisters of the Holy Family, was killed during the civil war in 1964 at the age of 24. Anuarite was beatified by Pope John Paul II during his visit to the DRC, then known as the Republic of Zaire, in 1985.
Blessed Isidore Bakanja was a Catholic convert at the age of 18. He became a catechist and was devoted to Our Lady of Mount Carmel. He died in 1909, around the age of 21 or 22, after succumbing to an infection caused by a beating and other torture he received at the hands of a European manager for refusing to remove his brown scapular at work. Bakanja was beatified in 1994 by Pope John Paul II.
Statues of the two blesseds were present at the youth meeting, where people in the crowd shouted and held signs asking the pope to make them “santi subito!”
The pope pointed to another example of virtue from the DRC, Floribert Bwana Chui, who was killed in 2007 in Goma.
The 26-year-old man, who worked as a customs manager, was killed for refusing to cooperate with corruption; specifically, he did not allow the passage of expired food products.
A spectator at Martyrs’ Stadium in Kinshasa, DRC, on Feb. 2, 2023, holds a sign with the phrase “santi subito” in reference to two Congolese blesseds. Elias Turk/CNA
“He could easily have turned a blind eye; nobody would have found out, and he might even have gotten ahead as a result,” Francis said. “But, since he was a Christian, he prayed. He thought of others and he chose to be honest, saying no to the filth of corruption.”
“Now I want to tell you something important,” he added. “Listen closely: If someone offers you a bribe, or promises you favors and lots of money, do not fall into the trap. Do not be deceived; do not be sucked into the swamp of evil. Do not be overcome by evil!”
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Vatican City, Dec 9, 2023 / 18:00 pm (CNA).
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Pope Francis addresses the Italian bishops’ conference in Rome, Nov. 22, 2021. / Vatican Media.
Vatican City, Nov 26, 2021 / 06:30 am (CNA).
Pope Francis created a commission on Friday to assess how the Catholic Church in Italy is implementing … […]
18 Comments
The Diocese of Winona-Rochester serves 130,000 Catholics. The Santa Barbara Pastoral Region serves over 1,000,000. Where else might Bishop Barron have been assigned?
Well, given the long-time scandal of careerism, but now the importance given to the peripheries, perhaps we can look forward to Cinderella-Cardinal Cupich someday being re-assigned to, say, the Diocese of Fairbanks, Alaska, where there are about 12,000 Catholics, and no Latin Masses.
As loyal as Bishop Barron is to the pontiff his assignment might be due to attachment to deceased traditions. Actually, the area is beautiful, Minnesota U has a campus in Winona [where my brother lectured], the original Mayo Clinic is in Rochester.
With all due respect, Fr. Morello I am so disappointed that Bishop Baron forgot his fellow priests. There are wonderful hard working priests that should have been referred to become Monsignors. I think he is too self serving. It’s very easy to get puffed up!
What are the real reasons behind this appointment? Why Bishop Barron? Is this a promotion, a gesture of confidence in the faithful and evangelically articulate Bishop? Or is this a type of demotion, a sign that the present Vatican administration is not satisfied with his theological message?
Los Angeles seemed to be the place for a cleric like Bishop Barron, the city being the heart of cinematic and modern communication technological talent, where the Bishop could draw on the latest advances of know-how in this field for his worthy Word on Fire project. But the good Bishop has been maligned by both right and left. Since the present Vatican administration seems to be controlled by those more sympathetic to woke leftism, my suspicion is that these Vatican bureaucrats do not favor Bishop Barron’s center/right theology. Hence he was sidelined to a smaller diocese with less ecclesial influence…
I can’t help but see parallels to Venerable Fulton Sheen. A popular televangelist and auxiliary bishop of a major see is suddenly shipped off to a previously obscure diocese named Rochester to be the ordinary. I’ll be curious to see how this turns out in three years.
Bishop Sheen’s appointment to my home diocese (hardly obscure) was notable for his advocacy in race relations and his opposition to the war in Vietnam. Bishop Barron is about a decade younger than his predecessor was.
Look at it this way: Bishop Barron is a gifted writer and filmmaker. He’s been a professor most of his career. He only moved into leadership in 2012 as a seminary rector. He’s been #2/3 in a large diocese, but that’s not the same as being captain of his own ship. Maybe his gifts are better suited to his diocese in Minnesota, which is hardly a backwater.
Does everything have to have a political undercurrent?
In reading Bishop Barron’s daily Gospel reflection, I note how often he states, “Your life is not about you.” Yet, The Word on Fire ministry sure seems to be all about Bishop Barron. All the videos of important people in Church history feature Bishop Barron prominently. Perhaps, if he had invited other prelates to be part of this series, I might be more inclined to believe him when he says, “Your life is not about you.”
Have you ever actually watched any of Bishop Barron’s conversations with prominent thinkers/rationalists/evolutionary professors…etc? His videos are the opposite of self-centered. God bless you and I hope you find it in your heart to see all life as a gift. Bishop Barron’s gifts are helping a great many people in a time when the world is very self-centered and prideful.
There are indeed striking parallels with Bishop Sheen. I recall his publicly welcoming his appointment (as Bishop Barron has) to Rochester N.Y. in the 1960s. The care of souls, he said, was his great concern. Rochester N.Y. was a far cry from New York City. It clearly did not require a man of Sheen’s great gifts. Likewise, Winona-Rochester is a world away from Los Angeles, and does not require an immensely gifted bishop. Now, as in Bishop Sheen’s day, high church appointments are politically charged. Let us hope and pray Bishop Barron’s tenure will not end as Bishop Sheen’s did.
Godly men appointed to high office are well received by the faithful. Yet, others have responsibility but lack fidelity to scripture and church tradition. Each must decide whom he will serve.
James 1:6-8 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
James 1:22-25 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
Blessings to Bishop Barron and appreciation to he who appointed him.
I suspect the appointment, like many others, is a ‘test’ or stepping stone that others who have eventually became archbishops or cardinals went through: first as an auxiliary, then as the bishop of a smaller diocese to see if they can handle being in charge of a small place. Hopefully Bishop Barron can do good work both as bishop and overseeing Word On Fire – maybe a smaller diocese gives him leeway to continue to work on his media projects. But that’s just speculation.
I’ve always enjoyed my time with Barron when in Chicago and wish him the best in Minnesota.
The Diocese of Winona-Rochester serves 130,000 Catholics. The Santa Barbara Pastoral Region serves over 1,000,000. Where else might Bishop Barron have been assigned?
Well, given the long-time scandal of careerism, but now the importance given to the peripheries, perhaps we can look forward to Cinderella-Cardinal Cupich someday being re-assigned to, say, the Diocese of Fairbanks, Alaska, where there are about 12,000 Catholics, and no Latin Masses.
Good idea!
As loyal as Bishop Barron is to the pontiff his assignment might be due to attachment to deceased traditions. Actually, the area is beautiful, Minnesota U has a campus in Winona [where my brother lectured], the original Mayo Clinic is in Rochester.
With all due respect, Fr. Morello I am so disappointed that Bishop Baron forgot his fellow priests. There are wonderful hard working priests that should have been referred to become Monsignors. I think he is too self serving. It’s very easy to get puffed up!
What are the real reasons behind this appointment? Why Bishop Barron? Is this a promotion, a gesture of confidence in the faithful and evangelically articulate Bishop? Or is this a type of demotion, a sign that the present Vatican administration is not satisfied with his theological message?
My guess, and that’s all it is, is that it’s getting a midwesterner like Barron back to the midwest.
Los Angeles seemed to be the place for a cleric like Bishop Barron, the city being the heart of cinematic and modern communication technological talent, where the Bishop could draw on the latest advances of know-how in this field for his worthy Word on Fire project. But the good Bishop has been maligned by both right and left. Since the present Vatican administration seems to be controlled by those more sympathetic to woke leftism, my suspicion is that these Vatican bureaucrats do not favor Bishop Barron’s center/right theology. Hence he was sidelined to a smaller diocese with less ecclesial influence…
I can’t help but see parallels to Venerable Fulton Sheen. A popular televangelist and auxiliary bishop of a major see is suddenly shipped off to a previously obscure diocese named Rochester to be the ordinary. I’ll be curious to see how this turns out in three years.
Bishop Sheen’s appointment to my home diocese (hardly obscure) was notable for his advocacy in race relations and his opposition to the war in Vietnam. Bishop Barron is about a decade younger than his predecessor was.
Look at it this way: Bishop Barron is a gifted writer and filmmaker. He’s been a professor most of his career. He only moved into leadership in 2012 as a seminary rector. He’s been #2/3 in a large diocese, but that’s not the same as being captain of his own ship. Maybe his gifts are better suited to his diocese in Minnesota, which is hardly a backwater.
Does everything have to have a political undercurrent?
No comparison!
Bishop Barron seems to be pleased with the appointment. So, it is best to leave it at that.
In reading Bishop Barron’s daily Gospel reflection, I note how often he states, “Your life is not about you.” Yet, The Word on Fire ministry sure seems to be all about Bishop Barron. All the videos of important people in Church history feature Bishop Barron prominently. Perhaps, if he had invited other prelates to be part of this series, I might be more inclined to believe him when he says, “Your life is not about you.”
Have you ever actually watched any of Bishop Barron’s conversations with prominent thinkers/rationalists/evolutionary professors…etc? His videos are the opposite of self-centered. God bless you and I hope you find it in your heart to see all life as a gift. Bishop Barron’s gifts are helping a great many people in a time when the world is very self-centered and prideful.
Thank you I agree and say AMEN
There are indeed striking parallels with Bishop Sheen. I recall his publicly welcoming his appointment (as Bishop Barron has) to Rochester N.Y. in the 1960s. The care of souls, he said, was his great concern. Rochester N.Y. was a far cry from New York City. It clearly did not require a man of Sheen’s great gifts. Likewise, Winona-Rochester is a world away from Los Angeles, and does not require an immensely gifted bishop. Now, as in Bishop Sheen’s day, high church appointments are politically charged. Let us hope and pray Bishop Barron’s tenure will not end as Bishop Sheen’s did.
Godly men appointed to high office are well received by the faithful. Yet, others have responsibility but lack fidelity to scripture and church tradition. Each must decide whom he will serve.
James 1:6-8 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
James 1:22-25 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
Blessings to Bishop Barron and appreciation to he who appointed him.
I suspect the appointment, like many others, is a ‘test’ or stepping stone that others who have eventually became archbishops or cardinals went through: first as an auxiliary, then as the bishop of a smaller diocese to see if they can handle being in charge of a small place. Hopefully Bishop Barron can do good work both as bishop and overseeing Word On Fire – maybe a smaller diocese gives him leeway to continue to work on his media projects. But that’s just speculation.
I’ve always enjoyed my time with Barron when in Chicago and wish him the best in Minnesota.
AMEN i AGREE i AM A MEMBER OF WORD ON FIRE AND FOLLOW HIM FAITHFULLY AND I LIKE HIS WAY FO REACHING OUT ( NOT OLD FASHIONED)….MODERN……