PRESSROOM
February 2, 2012:
"Gifted US Preacher bound for Brisbane": The Archdiocese of Brisbane's Catholic publication, The Catholic Leader, featured and article on the Word on Fire apostolate, the CATHOLICISM series, and Father Barron's upcoming trip to Brisbane.
Read the article here.
January 30, 2012:
Following Pope Benedict XVI's "World Communications Day" message regarding silence and evangelization, Liz Faublas of New York's NETtv interviewed Father Barron on the program, Currents.
Watch the interview here.
January 27, 2012: Father Barron's series CATHOLICISM will be shown Wednesday nights through April 11 starting next week at the Bishop Baker Parish Center at the Cathedral Parish of St. Augustine, Fla. For more information on the ongoing event, click here.
January 24, 2012: "Servant of the Word banquet, workshop to honor Father Robert Barron"
Father Robert Barron will be in Denver next month to receive this year’s Servant of the Word Award from the Catholic Biblical School.
He considers it a great honor to serve the word of God.
“I’m not here to preach a word of mine, my own philosophical musings, or my own perspective,” he said by telephone from his office at the Mundelein Seminary near Chicago. “When you’re a servant of the word, it’s the word of God that’s given to you—and you have the privilege of searching out its meaning, then searching out its relevance for our time.”
On Feb. 17-18, the Biblical School will host the Servant of the Word banquet Friday night, followed by a workshop on Saturday with presentations from Father Barron; Jonathan Reyes, president and CEO of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Denver; and Father John Riley, faculty member at Denver’s Augustine Institute and St. John Vianney Theological Seminary....
Read the article in the Denver Catholic Registry.
January 23, 2012: RealClearReligion.com featured Father Barron's response to Jefferson Bethke's viral YouTube video, "Why I hate religion but Love Jesus" in an article entitled, "YouTube's Modern Day Martin Luther."
Read the article here.
January 11, 2012: Providence, R.I.-- Rev. Robert Barron, creator and host of the new documentary series Catholicism, and Mike Leonard ’70, the show’s executive producer, will be the keynote speakers on February 11 during Alumni & Family Weekend at Providence College.
Father Barron, a Chicago-area priest, and Leonard, a correspondent for NBC-TV’s Today show, will discuss their two-year collaboration on Catholicism and answer questions from the audience. Their talk, “Journey to the Heart of the Faith,” will be given at 10:00 a.m. in the Peterson Recreation Center. It is open to the public.
Since the release of Catholicism in September, Father Barron and Leonard have spoken together around the country, but Leonard said the address at PC will mark their first appearance at a college.
Read the entire article here.
January 10, 2012:
The Catholic News Agency featured Fr. Barron's article entitled, "A Persecuted Church and It's Heroes."
Read the article here.
January 6, 2012: The New York Times covered the story of Pope Benedict XVI's elevation of 22 priests to the College of Cardinals on the Church's Feast of the Epiphany. Among the 22 was New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan. In the article, Father Barron was quoted regarding this magnanimous figure.
Congratulations to Cardinal Dolan and the rest of the newly-appointed Cardinals.
Read the New York Times article here.
January 2, 2012: CatholicNewsAgency.com featured Fr. Barron's article entitled, "Why I Loved to Listen to Christopher Hitchens."
Read the article here.
December 29, 2011:
CatholicVote.org just released a list of "Seven 2011 Events that will Change the Church's Story in America," and the CATHOLICISM series was mentioned as number three.
Read the entire list here.
Chicago, Illinois (PRWEB) December 20, 2011:
Over 1000 episodes of Catholicism, a ground-breaking, multi-part documentary series, have aired on public broadcasting stations across the nation in less three months since its September 22 premiere. This fall, over 65% of public television stations have broadcast the mini-series, including New York's WNET, and Chicago's WTTW. Eighteen of the top 20 markets are carrying Catholicism, and it will continue to air in 2012 and also weekly on EWTN as more stations pick up the programs.
This week in New York, the documentary was featured on NBC's Today Show with Father Robert Barron, the host and writer of the series, and Executive Producer Mike Leonard. The New York premiere screening of Catholicism was also held at the Times Center, with an introduction by Archbishop Timothy Dolan, for over 400 people.
This epic 10 episode television production illustrates the history and treasures of a global religion shared by more than one billion people around the world. The series is filmed in stunning high-definition and spans more than 50 locations in 15 countries.
“Catholicism is fascinating television. This series is of great interest to viewers who want a better understanding of the impact and meaning this faith continues to have throughout the World,” said Dan Soles, WTTW's Senior Vice President and Chief Television Content Officer. “I am pleased and honored that this production has a home with WTTW and that public television stations around the country have an opportunity to broadcast this important work,” he added...
The CATHOLICISM series was recently featured on NBC's Today Show with Father Robert Barron, the host and writer of the series, and Executive Producer Mike Leonard.
Watch the re-cap of their interview with Ann Curry here.
December 7, 2011: The author of the theology blog "Quiet, Dignity, and Grace" recently reviewed Father Barron's book CATHOLICISM, saying, "If you give someone a single book this year on the Catholic faith, it should be Fr. Barron's Catholicism. His book is one that will become a classic." To read the full review, click here.
November 28, 2011: The National Catholic Register reports that CATHOLICISM will be translated, dubbed and broadcast in Germany. See the article
here.
November 23, 2011: The Catholic News Agency ran Father Barron's piece titled "Why We Should Welcome the New Mass" in anticipation of the change on the first Sunday of Advent. Read the column
here.
November 19, 2011: Canada's Salt + Light Television will premiere CATHOLICISM on Sunday, November 20, at 8:30pm ET/ 5:30pm PT. The series will continue on Salt + Light every Sunday until the finale on Saturday, December 24.
Additionally, the Salt + Light blog offered a review of the series by contributor Cheridan Eygelaar. Read the review here.
November 19, 2011: Alabama online news source, AL.com, featured an article on Father Barron and CATHOLICISM.
Read the article here.
November 18, 2011: Patheos.com's Matt Emerson defends CATHOLCISM in the wake of some critiques made in a recent review. See his column
here.
November 17, 2011: The Catholic News Agency published a piece about EWTN running unaired CATHOLICISM episodes. See the article
here.
November 21, 2011: The Catholic weekly publication "America" reviewed CATHOLICISM in its latest issue. See the review on its web page here.
November 4, 2011: The University of Notre Dame announced plans to host a screening of CATHOLICISM on Thursday, November 10 at 3:30 p.m. The screening will be sponsored by the Colleges of Engineering and Science and will include clips from all 10 episodes as well as a discussion facilitated by Father Barron and the colleges' deans. Fore more details about the event, see the University's
news page.
November 1, 2011: The Washington Post's religion blog, "On Faith," featured Father Barron's review of the movie "Ides of March."
Read the review here.
November 1, 2011: IRONDALE, AL - Now, get the rest of story as EWTN premieres the six episodes of this lavishly-produced series that public television didn’t! See “Catholicism” Wednesday, Nov. 16 through Saturday, Nov. 19. These six episodes have never before been seen on national television and will air exclusively on EWTN!
Fr. Robert Barron and his film crew visited more than 50 locations in 16 different countries during the two years it took to produce this multimillion dollar documentary of faith and history. Catholic Commentator George Weigel calls this “the most important media project in the history of the Catholic Church in America.” (See the “Catholicism” trailer at www.CatholicismSeries.com.)
Read the press release here.
October 31, 2011: Prominent blogger Andrew Sullivan posted Father Barron's commentary on Terrence Malick's "Tree of Life," calling it a "wonderfully sensitive and eloquent Catholic interpretation" of the film. See the video on Sullivan's blog, The Daily Beast,
here.
Father Barron and CATHOLICISM Executive Producer Mike Leonard joined the
Chicago Tribune's Manya Brachear for a brief interview about the 10-part series and its production on the paper's stage and radio show, "Chicago Live!." Watch the interview, which took place Oct. 20,
here.
October 26, 2011: The Midland Daily News online journal published the article "Delta to air 'Catholicism' documentary series" in their publication, reviewing both the content of Fr. Barron's CATHOLICISM and reporting on upcoming airing dates and times for regions of Michigan.
Read the article here.
October 26, 2011: The National Catholic Reporter ran an article about CATHOLICISM's run on PBS stations nationwide. Read the story here.
October 24, 2011: Catholic News Agency featured Father Barron's article "What Faith Is and What It Isn't" today on its web site. Father Barron is a guest columnist for the CNA. Read the article here.
"The Protestant theologian Paul Tillich once commented that “faith” is the most misunderstood word in the religious vocabulary. I’m increasingly convinced that he was right about this. The ground for my conviction is the absolutely steady reiteration on my Internet forums of gross caricatures of what serious believers mean by faith. Again and again, my agnostic, atheist, and secularist interlocutors tell me that faith is credulity, naïvete, superstition, assent to irrational nonsense, acceptance of claims for which there is no evidence, etc., etc. They gladly draw a sharp distinction between faith so construed and modern science, which, they argue, is marked by healthy skepticism, empirical verification, a reliable and repeatable method, and the capacity for self-correction. How fortunate, they conclude, that the western mind was able finally to wriggle free from the constraints of faith and move into the open and well-lighted space of scientific reason. And how sad that, like a ghost from another time and place, faith continues, even in the early twentieth century to haunt the modern mind and to hinder its progress..."
Read the rest of the article here.
October 21, 2011: The Catholic News Agency ran Father Barron's review of Stephen Greenblatt's "The Swerve." You can see the review on CNA's web page here.
"In 2005, Harvard scholar Stephen Greenblatt published a wonderful book on Shakespeare called 'Will in the World.' Witty, insightful and surprising, it caused thousands of people, including your humble scribe, to look at the Bard with new eyes. Thus it was with great anticipation that I opened my copy of Greenblatt’s latest 'The Swerve: How the World Became Modern.' Like its forebear, this new book is indeed lively, intelligent and fun to read, but as I moved through it I grew increasingly irritated and finally exasperated by its steady insistence upon one of the most tired myths of the contemporary academy, namely, that the modern world, in all of its wonder and promise, emerged out of a long and desperate struggle with (wait for it) Roman Catholicism.
The unlikely hero of Greenblatt’s story is one Poggio Bracciolini, a humanist of the early 15th century who labored as a scribe at the papal court and who, in his spare time, searched for ancient texts, neglected and moldering in monastic libraries across Europe. On a hunting expedition, most likely to the great monastery at Fulda, Poggio liberated a text that, Greenblatt holds, decisively shaped the evolution of the modern mind: the “De rerum natura” (On the Nature of Things), composed by the first century B.C. Roman writer Lucretius. In this philosophical poem Lucretius argued that the universe is made up exclusively of atoms—tiny, invisible particles—that, across infinite time and through infinite space, randomly arrange themselves into patterns and then fall apart. Furthermore, he taught that there is no divine mind governing the process; the soul is as mortal and dissoluble as the body; there is no afterlife; humans are not unique in the cosmos but rather are animals somewhat more evolved than others; religion is fear-based and cruel; and the whole point of life is to maximize pleasure and avoid pain. The rather cold and grim vision of the universe laid out in the “De rerum natura” Greenblatt takes as a harbinger of “modern” view that happily holds sway today—at least in Ivy League faculty lounges..."
Read the rest of the review on CNA's web page here.
October 18, 2011: Steven D. Greydanus, popular Christian film critic and moderator of DecentFilms.com, reviews CATHOLICISM for the Christianity Today Entertainment blog. Read his review below.
Half a century ago, Archbishop Fulton Sheen’s weekly television series Life Is Worth Living (and later The Fulton Sheen Program) was watched by millions of Americans of all stripes. Sheen was “America’s Priest,” and since then there has been no comparable figure in American culture—and there may never be.
That said, Father Robert Barron, a priest of the Chicago archdiocese and the Francis Cardinal George Professor of Faith and Culture at Mundelein Seminary, is making inroads into mainstream media in a way not seen since Sheen. On Sunday, October 3, Chicago-based superstation WGN America launched a weekly half-hour television series, Word on Fire with Father Robert Barron—the first regular commercial television show hosted by a priest since Sheen. Then there’s Catholicism, an ambitious ten-episode series, episodes of which are now airing on PBS affiliate in over 85 markets across the country....
Click here and/or check local PBS listings for Catholicism. The series is also available as a five-disc DVD set at catholicismseries.com.
Visit the CT Entertainment blog here.
October 16, 2011: Catherine O'Connell-Cahill recently reviewed CATHOLICISM for the online publication of U.S. Catholic:
Father Robert Barron, a Chicago priest who has appeared often in the pages of U.S. Catholic since his interview with the editors in 1997, has brought his years-in-the-making Catholicism series to public TV this fall. Up to 70 percent of PBS stations will air four episodes (screenings listed here); the series of ten DVDs are for sale here, with a companion book and a study guide.
Catholicism is nothing if not ambitious, and the product is stunning--visually beautiful, stirring, filmed at sites in Europe, North and South America, Africa, the Philippines, Turkey, India, and the Holy Land. Barron sets out to be far more than just a Ken Burns-type historian of the Catholic Church, though his series easily equals Burns’ productions in quality. Instead he seeks to tell the Catholic story for listeners in the 21st century, speaking to the head, the heart, and the soul...
Read the article here.
October 15, 2011: The Catholic News Service featured a review of CATHOLICISM on their website, calling the series "a visually splendid and intellectually satisfying introduction to Catholic Christianity."
Read the review here.
October 12, 2011: The Chicago Tribune's Manya Brachear reports on Father Barron's epic documentary project about the Catholic Church, CATHOLICISM.
The Rev. Robert Barron opens his documentary "Catholicism" with words one might expect to hear from a skeptic or scholar, not from a Roman Catholic priest. He calls Jesus a strange and dangerous historical figure and alludes to his potentially divisive nature.
After all, you're either with him or against him, right?
"I wanted to get people's attention and draw their attention to the fact that Jesus is a very distinctive and disturbing figure because of the claims he makes about himself and the claims the church makes about him," said Barron, 51. "He's not just another bland spiritual teacher among many"...
Read the Chicago Tribune article here.
October 11, 2011: The Catholic News Agency (CNA) featured Fr. Barron's review of the recently released blockbuster hit, "Moneyball."
Read the article on CatholicNewsAgency.com
October 11, 2011: James Davis of Newsvine.com offered his review of the CATHOLICISM series.
Read it here.
October 6, 2011: Father Barron's book "Catholicism: A Journey to the Heart of the Faith" is featured in the Patheos Book Club. Included are links to interviews, excerpts, overviews and reviews of the book and the 10-part series. See the feature here.
"Clarity, intelligence, passion and elegance—these are the marks of a writer in top for, and Father Barron brings all these gifts to bear in this extraordinary reflection on the Catholic faith. If you read one book this year on what Catholics believe and why, this is the book to read—and to share with others."
—Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap, Archbishop of Denver
See the Patheos Book Club feature here.
Father Barron and his CATHOLICISM series were featured in an article by the Chicago Sun-Times' Maudlyne Ihejirika. Read the full article here. Below, an excerpt.
"Seeing is Believing on 'Catholicism'"
Catholicism. A religion full of history and tradition, so complex; at times confusing for those who practice it, much less those looking in; sparking anger and, alternately, intense devotion.
A new 10-part documentary with its roots in Chicago — filmed in 15 different locales ranging from Athens, Jerusalem and Mexico City to Germany, Istanbul and Uganda — is shining a unique spotlight on the history and tenets of the religion shared by a billion people worldwide.
One-hour episodes of “Catholicism” will air the next four Thursdays at 8 p.m. on WTTW-Channel 11.
“I believe that beauty is a route of access to truth,” says the Rev. Robert Barron, an Archdiocese of Chicago priest and creator of the series...
Read the entire article here.
October 6, 2011: The Cardinal Newman Society, a Virginia-based organization seeking to strengthen Catholic high education, praised CATHOLICISM on its blog. View the write-up here. The following is an excerpt of the blog post.
Fr. Robert Barron’s new CATHOLICISM series is currently continuing its world premiere on stations throughout the United States. The Cardinal Newman Society (CNS) recommends the series as a tool unsurpassable in quality for promoting Catholic identity and spurring on the New Evangelization.
“We eagerly recommend Fr. Barron’s CATHOLICISM series,” said Patrick J. Reilly, president of CNS.
“Father Barron lets the Catholic faith be itself,” continued Reilly, “and the result is a beautiful and irresistible account of our Catholic identity. Never before has there been such an effective vehicle for spreading the light of Christ through the media.”...
See the full blog post here.
October 4, 2011: Father Barron, writing as a guest columnist for the Catholic News Agency, examines the importance of Pope Benedict XVI's recent trip to his homeland in "Pope Benedict XVI Among the Germans." Read the column here.
It is with a particular fascination that I’ve been following the speeches that Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger) has been delivering in his native Germany. We can certainly hear Herr Doktor Professor Ratzinger in the distinctively academic rhetoric of the addresses, but we also hear the voice of a pastor, uttering a cri de coeur to his wandering flock. In his first speech on the tarmac in Berlin, upon being welcomed by the officials of the German government, Benedict XVI specified that his main purpose was not to foster diplomatic relations between the German nation and the Vatican City State—as welcome as that would be—but rather to speak of God...
Read the rest of Father Barron's column here.
October 3, 2011: The National Catholic Register's Tim Drake talked to Father Barron recently about CATHOLICISM, how the series came to be, and where its headed. Read the full interview here.
Evangelizing the culture is Father Robert Barron’s goal. A television series on the Catholic faith might just go a long way in helping to achieve that goal.
Father Barron is a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago and the founder of Word on Fire Ministry, a media apostolate. He has authored 10 books and also serves as the Francis Cardinal George Professor of Faith and Culture at Mundelein Seminary in Illinois.
He recently produced the 10-part PBS series CATHOLICISM, which is debuting this fall on EWTN and PBS in some parts of the country. (Check your local listings for more information.)
He hopes the series will reach both fallen-away Catholics, to remind them of the beauty and the truth of Catholicism, and restore respect for a Church that is still recovering from the sexual-abuse scandal and battling secularism.
“A handful of people did terrible things,” he admitted in a recent interview with Tim Drake, Register senior writer and host of Register Radio, “but we have 2,000 years of beauty, art, architecture, liturgy and the saints.”...
Read the rest of Drake's interview with Father Barron here.
October 2, 2011: Father Barron was interviewed by Doug Keck on his show "Bookmark" on EWTN. They discussed Father Barron's book "Word on Fire: Proclaiming the Power of Christ." To view the interview, please visit EWTN's YouTube channel.
October 1, 2011: LibraryJournal.com, a media resource for the library industry, reviewed Father Barron's CATHOLICISM companion book. See the review here.
"Barron (Francis Cardinal George Chair of Faith & Culture, Mundelein Seminary) has written a companion book to his ten-part documentary, Catholicism. As such, his book is not a systematic catechism or an official statement of doctrine but a more organically organized tour by a man of great personal faith. Addressing such topics as Jesus’s teachings, the Virgin Mary, the sacraments, the communion of saints, and prayer, Barron’s book is richly and aptly illustrated and learned without being oppressive. VERDICT Integrating personal story and insight with a lifetime’s experience and knowledge, this is an excellent and personal introduction to Catholicism for readers new to the faith as well as lifetime Catholics."
See the review here.
September 30, 2011: The Catholic World Report, an international monthly orthodox Catholic news journal, ran a "web exclusive" interview with Father Barron today. Read the rest of Father Matthew Gamber's story, "The Integrating Heart of the Culture," here.
Father Robert Barron recently sat down in his Chicago-area offices with Father Matthew Gamber, SJ for a discussion about Barron’s newly released 10-part DVD series, Catholicism. Produced at a cost of three million dollars, all of which was raised through private donations, the series will be shown on nearly 90 public television stations around the US this fall. It will be broadcast on EWTN, as well.
The series covers the major themes of the Catholic faith—taking viewers on a world-wide tour of its doctrines, its past and present, its sights, sounds, and especially its people. Highly experienced professionals from the world of network television helped to produce the series, in which Father Barron serves as the narrator and master teacher.
Father Barron holds the Francis Cardinal George Chair of Faith and Culture at St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary near Chicago, and has been a guest professor at many of the pontifical universities in Rome. He heads the organization Word on Fire, which produced the series and which is dedicated to proclaiming the Gospel through the use of modern media...
Read the rest of the interview here.
September 29, 2011: Commonweal's Thomas Baker reviews Catholicism: A Journey to the Heart of the Faith.
"The War on Beige"
The search for good resources for adult religious formation is not an easy one. There is the Catechism of the Catholic Church itself, of course, authoritative and imposing, but using it as a text in a parish setting is too much like trying to teach people about baseball with the Baseball Encyclopedia instead of taking them to a game. At another extreme, there are colorful four-page lesson handouts from many publishers, with quick, middle-school-level treatments of many Catholic topics, but studiously avoiding anything that might look too much like doctrine or history. For years, the field has been wide open for someone who could combine actual substantive content with an engaging yet adult-worthy teaching style.
Into this breach comes Catholicism, not just a book but a multimedia extravaganza with ten lavishly produced fifty-minute video programs along with teaching and discussion guides. It is not strictly speaking a catechism: there’s no systematic presentation of the sacraments, morality, Catholic social teaching, or many other staple topics. Instead, it’s a meta-introduction to all that, an attempt to ground us in some creatively presented fundamentals of Scripture and tradition supported by a huge dose of Catholic history and art. Catholicism is apologetics in the grand tradition: triumphant, literate, unashamedly partisan...
Read the rest of the review on Commonwealmagazine.org.
September 26, 2011: The National Review Online featured Kathryn Jean Lopez's piece "Catholicism, No Joke," a review of Father Barron's CATHOLICISM Series.
Read the review on www.nationalreview.com.
September 26, 2011:
Tim Muldoon, scholar, author, and writer for the Catholic portal on Patheos.com, reviewed Fr. Barron's book, Catholicism: A Journey to the Heart of the Faith. Read his review here:
First, and to the point: this is an excellent book, the new standard to give to the seeker, the RCIA participant, the college student, the non-Catholic spouse, the skeptical friend. It is slender and readable, accessible, creative, and thorough. It is artful. It is the fruit of both an accomplished scholar and a popular writer. I highly recommend it.
As I was reading it an image came to mind. In 1895 the French artist Paul Cézanne produced a still life painting entitled The Basket of Apples. Like any still life, it appears to the viewer first as a picture of something: apples spilled out of a basket onto a table. One is immediately drawn to what the painting is about, its subject. At face value, Barron’s book does something that any number of other books do: present the subject of Catholicism by walking the reader through many of its key elements. There are ten chapters (a good Biblical number) on revelation; the person and teachings of Jesus; God; Mary; Peter and Paul; the Church; the liturgy; saints; prayer; and last things. So at this face value, Barron gives us a very pithy presentation of the Catholic Church’s major doctrines.
But there is something remarkable about Cézanne’s painting, and something remarkable about Barron’s book. Just about any new art student can paint apples on a table, and any blogger can write some ideas he gained by flipping through the Catechism. Cézanne’s painting demands a careful look: the table seems oddly disjointed, as if it were painted from different perspectives. The flashes of light that are the apples resist the structure of photographic realism. Cézanne started with a blank canvas and made very specific choices to paint the way he did; why did he do things this way? Analogously, I asked myself, why did Barron do things this way, rather than (say) just expounding on the Catechism of the Catholic Church? What were these men trying to say, and what were they trying to elicit from us?...
Visit patheos.com for the rest of Mr. Muldoon's comments on the book.
September 25, 2011: Father Barron's commentary on the New York Times Magazine article "The Two-Minus-One Pregnancy" was featured in Catholic New World, the online publication of the Archdiocese of Chicago.
Read the commentary here.
September 24, 2011: Kathryn Lopez, coumnist for Townhall.com, reviews Father Barron's CATHOLICISM Series:
"I'd like you to convert Chicago," Father Robert Barron remembers his boss, Francis Cardinal George, archbishop of the Windy City, telling him about six years ago.
The result of that charge will be airing on many PBS stations, starting this week.
Barron, a Chicago priest and professor, has created a remarkable book and TV series called "Catholicism" -- which, in reintroducing a 2,000-year-old tradition, manages to be both elaborate and humble. It's self-conscious as a work of evangelization (complete with available study guides and a prayer card for those who care for such things), yet welcoming to a wide potential audience.
Barron characterizes his effort as a "guided exploration of the Catholic world ... conducting you ever deeper into the mystery of the Incarnation in the hopes that you might be transformed by its power." He makes excellent use of the vibrancy of technology to reintroduce a vocabulary and tradition that has, of late, been too much hindered by a lack of confidence.
And while there is no mistaking Barron's presence as the main instigator, he loves to talk about his show as a team effort, the fruits of the talent and generosity of many. It's a truly pastoral approach, a good reminder to people of faith who feel exiled by the culture: Don't be in exile, engage; don't play the victim, be a brother. This, too, is Catholicism: a manifestation of God's glory here on earth, but also a human attempt to seek that which is greater, making use of the creative means we have access to in the here and now.
"I wanted something that was elevated. Something that was intellectual. But also something that was lyrical. Something that would draw people into the texture and the feel of Catholicism," Barron tells me. And so he shows us everything from Aristotle to St. John of the Cross to baseball and John Henry Newman...
Read the entire Townhall.com article here.
September 22, 2011: Senior writer, Tim Drake, of the National Catholic Register interviewed Fr. Robert Barron about the filming of CATHOLICISM. Read his interview below.
Why Father Robert Barron Filmed 'Catholicism'
The Chicago priest’s ambitious series makes its debut on PBS.
Evangelizing the culture is Father Robert Barron’s goal. A television series on the Catholic faith, which debuts tonight on PBS, might just go a long way in helping to achieve that goal.
Father Barron is a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago and the founder of Word on Fire Ministry, a media apostolate. He has authored 10 books and also serves as the Francis Cardinal George Professor of Faith and Culture at Mundelein Seminary in Illinois.
He recently produced the 10-part PBS series Catholicism, which will make its debut tonight in some parts of the country. (Check your local listings for more information.)
He hopes the series will reach both fallen-away Catholics, to remind them of the beauty and the truth of Catholicism, and restoring respect for a Church that is still recovering from the sexual abuse scandal and battling secularism...
Read the entire interview here.
September 22, 2011: Elizabeth Scalia, moderator of The Anchoress blog, managing editor of the Catholic portal on Patheos.com, and columnist for First Things, reviews Fr. Robert Barron's CATHOLICISM.
My husband and I are giving it to our priests and the parish DRE, and we’re not waiting for Christmas!
And I haven’t actually even written my rave review, yet. But while I figure out how to do that, George Weigel has written a rave of his own, this time for the DVD Series!
[PBS'] “Civilization” was the perfect way to finish a serious undergraduate liberal arts education; it brought together ideas, art, architecture and history in a visually compelling synthesis of the history of western culture that respected Catholicism’s role in shaping the West.
Over the next four decades, I wondered whether someone, somewhere, at some point, would do a “Civilization”-like series on Catholicism itself: a Grand Tour of the Catholic world that explored the Church as a culture through its teaching, its art, its music, its architecture—and above all, through the lives it shaped. That has now happened. The result is the most important media initiative in the history of the Catholic Church in the United States.
I have been lucky enough to see the first episode (I am heading into retreat in a few hours and am bringing additional episodes with me, to watch) and I concur. The book is stand-alone splendid, but together with the series (and the study program) we’re talking about a a flint-strike that could spark a conflagration of Catholic renewal and a hunger for adult catechesis that could literally change the world.
That is not an exaggeration...
Read the rest of the article on The Anchoress blog.
Groundbreaking Series on Catholicism to Hit PBS
Father Robert Barron Offers Viewers Expansive Look at the Faith
National Catholic Register's Tim Drake writes:
CHICAGO — Inspired by Kenneth Clark’s 1969 BBC television series Civilization, Father Robert Barron always dreamed of doing something similar to showcase the beauty of the Catholic Church.
More than two years and 12 trips to 16 different countries later, the result is an ambitious 10-part documentary series called Catholicism (CatholicismSeries.com). Parts of the unprecedented documentary will start to air nationwide on PBS at the end of September through the fall.
“This is the most important media project in the history of the Catholic Church in America,” said papal biographer George Weigel. “Catholicism could well become one of the most significant efforts ever to advance what Pope John Paul II called the New Evangelization.”
Beginning Sept. 22, four of the 60-minute episodes will air on PBS in the Maryland market, with later airings on PBS in Chicago and elsewhere beginning Oct. 13; the show will air on EWTN in November.
Utilizing high-definition cinematography, the documentary explores the beauty and the truth of the Catholic faith by journeying with Father Barron to more than 50 locations to illuminate the spiritual and artistic treasures of the Church. Father Barron uses art, architecture, literature, music and all the riches of the Catholic tradition to explain what Catholics believe.
Among the episodes, the series explores a variety of topics: Christ, the mystery of God, Mary, Peter and Paul, the Church, liturgy, the communion of saints, prayer and “The Last Things.” Viewers are brought to the Holy Land, Uganda, Italy, France, Poland and Spain, as well as the streets of Brazil, the Philippines, Mexico, Calcutta and New York City...
Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/site/article/groundbreaking-series-on-catholicism-to-hit-pbs/#ixzz1YW8mVe3Q
September 20, 2011: In the fall of 1972, a group of us, philosophy majors all, approached our dean of studies, Father Bob Evers, with a request: Under the supervision of a faculty member, could we build a two-credit senior seminar in our last college semester around Kenneth Clark’s BBC series, “Civilization,” which had been shown on American public television. Father Evers agreed, and we had a ball. “Civilization” was the perfect way to finish a serious undergraduate liberal arts education; it brought together ideas, art, architecture and history in a visually compelling synthesis of the history of western culture that respected Catholicism’s role in shaping the West.
Over the next four decades, I wondered whether someone, somewhere, at some point, would do a “Civilization”-like series on Catholicism itself: a Grand Tour of the Catholic world that explored the Church as a culture through its teaching, its art, its music, its architecture—and above all, through the lives it shaped. That has now happened. The result is the most important media initiative in the history of the Catholic Church in the United States.
The man responsible for this feat is Father Robert Barron, a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago and a faculty member at Mundelein Seminary...
Read Mr. Weigel's column here.
Catholicism Series Premieres Across the Country this Fall
Father Robert Barron will present the story of the Catholic Church on public television.
September 19, 2011: Catholicism, a multi-part documentary series, will air in over 80 public television markets across the country this Fall. The stations will broadcast four of the ten episodes, premiering in the nation's capital next week. Viewers in Washington, DC and Maryland can see Catholicism on Maryland Public Television (MPT) September 22nd and 29th from 8-10 pm EST.
Catholicism illustrates the history and treasures of a global religion shared by more than one billion people around the world. The series, hosted by Father Robert Barron, is filmed in stunning high-definition and spans more than 50 locations in 15 countries.
“Catholicism is fascinating television. This series will be of great interest to viewers who want a better understanding of the impact and meaning this faith continues to have throughout the World,” said Dan Soles, WTTW s Senior Vice President and Chief Television Content Officer. “I am pleased and honored that this production has a home with WTTW and that public television stations around the country will broadcast this important work,” he added.
Father Robert Barron, the Francis Cardinal George Professor of Faith and Culture at Mundelein Seminary and a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago, is the creator and host of the series. The executive producer is acclaimed filmmaker Mike Leonard, a veteran correspondent for NBC‘s Today show and producer of the popular public television series Ride of Our Lives. Together, Fr. Barron and Leonard spent two years traveling the world with a crew of seasoned network television producers....
View the press release here.
September 9, 2011: The National Catholic Register online journal featured information on the "Groundbreaking Series on Catholicism to Hit PBS," interviewing the staff of Word on Fire and detailing the "making of" and "mission of" Fr. Robert Barron's CATHOLICISM Series (www.CatholicismSeries.com).
Read the article here.
August 25, 2011: Catholic News Agency featured Father Barron's commentary on World Youth Day, 2011, "The Pope's young Army":
I have just completed one of the most extraordinary weeks of my life. For the past eight days, I participated in World Youth Day in Madrid, a gathering of some 1.5 million Catholic young people with Pope Benedict XVI. I met enthusiastic teen and 20-something Catholics from the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Netherlands, Sweden, Nigeria, England, Australia, New Zealand, China, the Philippines, India, Denmark, and many other countries. The universality of the Church has never been, for me anyway, on fuller and more thrilling display. My Word on Fire team and I were especially encouraged to see so concretely the outreach that the Internet and the new media provide. To hear, over and again, and in dozens of different accents, that our videos and podcasts have made a difference in people’s lives was deeply gratifying...
Read the article here.
August 23, 2011: Brandon Vogt, author of The Church and New Media and moderator of the blog, The Thin Veil, reviews Father Robert Barron's book, "Catholicism: A Journey to the Heart of the Faith":
When defining Catholicism, many first turn to its unique practices and characters--the Mass, the sacraments, Mary, priests, and the Pope. Others point to its intellectual traits--its distinctive apologetics, theology, and philosophy.
In his new book, Catholicism: A Journey to the Heart of the Faith (Image, hardcover, 304 pages), Fr. Robert Barron explores these typical characteristics but doesn't stop there. He looks through many more lenses to reveal the core of Catholicism.
Barron is not just concerned with what's good and true about the Catholic tradition but also what's beautiful. The Catholic faith is not just a matter of the mind and the soul but of the body and the senses. Therefore if we want to fully understand "the Catholic thing", we need to gaze on art, history, culture, music, literature, and architecture...
Read the review here.
August 23, 2011: Cradio out of Australia features Father Barron's article, "Tiny, Whispering Sound":
I have long loved the cycle of stories in the first book of Kings dealing with the prophet Elijah. In fact, I’ve often told people who are just getting interested in the Scripture to commence with the fascinating, adventurous, and often comical stories concerning this prophet. His name tells us all we need to know about him. “Elijah” is the Anglicization of the Hebrew Eliyahu, which means, “Yahweh is God.” People can be named from what they worship, what they hold to be of highest value. Thus, someone who values her work above all is a “company woman,” and someone who prizes his family above all is a “family man;” someone who seeks pleasure as his highest good is a “good-time Charlie,” etc. Elijah is a Yahweh man, for he worships the God of Israel. Once we know this, we know all we need to know about how he thinks and how he acts and reacts. Because he is a Yahweh man, he stands athwart the idolatry of King Ahab; because he is a Yahweh man, he is forced to flee the persecution of Queen Jezebel; because he is a Yahweh man, he seeks refuge on Horeb, the mountain of God...
August 21, 2011: The Catholic Post out of Peoria, Illinois, featured an article about Fr. Barron and CATHOLICISM: "Fr. Barron 'shows off' Catholic faith in 10-part documentary"
-- By Tom Dermody
Catholicism is a beautiful religion “meant to be shown off,” says Father Robert Barron.
This fall, the Chicago priest’s new 10-part video documentary called “Catholicism” will offer a new way for parishes and individuals to not only show off their faith, but to better learn and share it
.
Clergy and religious educators in the Diocese of Peoria had opportunities to preview several episodes of the series when Father Barron visited as a keynote speaker for this month’s Summer Institute.
“I hope (viewers) get a sense of the tip of the iceberg of the wealth of Catholic tradition,” said Father Barron -- writer and host of the documentary -- to a group of priests, deacons, and seminarians who gathered at the Spalding Pastoral Center on June 9, the eve of the two-day institute.
Participants at the institute were encouraged to consider using “Catholicism” and its accompanying study guide, in their parish’s religious education efforts.
“We’re excited about the ways this can be used in adult faith formation, RCIA, and CCD,” said Vincent McClean, diocesan director of catechetics. Filmed in 15 countries with a budget of more than $3 million, “Catholicism” features 10 episodes, each 50 minutes in length, on elements of the faith including the teachings of Jesus; the mystery of church’s sacraments and worship; Mary, the Mother of God; the communion of saints; prayer; and more.
McClean introduced Father Barron as an outspoken voice for the Catholic Church in America, comparing his use of modern media to engage the culture to that of the Diocese of Peoria’s sainthood candidate, Archbishop Fulton Sheen...
Read the article in Peoria, Illinois' Diocesan newspaper, "The Catholic Post."
August 18, 2011: Father Barron's World Youth Day "Vocations" presentation featured on Catholic News Service.
"World Youth Day vocations fair helps young people put God first"
MADRID (CNS) -- As pilgrim Mark Horn mingled among hundreds of young people in an auditorium full of priests and women and men religious, the words he had just heard from Father Robert J. Barron cascaded through his mind.
It is through God that true happiness can be found, Father Barron told Horn and an auditorium full of English-speaking pilgrims during a vocations fair sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops at St. Francis Borgia Parish in Madrid Aug. 17, part of World Youth Day activities.
Father Barron, who runs the Chicago-based Word on Fire ministry, was "spot on," said the 24-year-old Horn of the Diocese of Rapid City, S.D...
Read the article here.
August 14, 2011: Catholic News Agency features article, "Groundbreaking new series to air on PBS this Fall":
A high-definition series exploring the beauty and richness of Catholicism is set to air on over 80 public television stations across the U.S. this fall.
Fr. Robert Barron, head of Word on Fire media and the visionary behind the “Catholicism” series, told CNA his hope is that the films will be used “as a tool of evangelization for everybody.”
“I want the series to go out beyond the walls of the Church,” he said in an Aug. 10 interview. “That's why we're so happy it's going to be on public television.”
Set in 50 locations in over 16 countries, the series examines major themes within the Church such as the person of Christ, the mystery of God, the Virgin Mary, Saints Peter and Paul, the “missionary thrust of the Church,” the liturgy and the Eucharist, prayer and spirituality and the saints, Fr. Barron said.
In the episode on the Virgin Mary, for instance, the crew traveled to the Holy Land, France, Mexico and “around the world to see where the Marian faith shows up.”
“The approach I used,” he said, “was just to go to places around the world that visually show the themes I'm talking about...”
To read the Catholic News Agency article, click here.
August 14, 2011: Catholic News Agency features article, "Groundbreaking new series to air on PBS this Fall":
A high-definition series exploring the beauty and richness of Catholicism is set to air on over 80 public television stations across the U.S. this fall.
Fr. Robert Barron, head of Word on Fire media and the visionary behind the “Catholicism” series, told CNA his hope is that the films will be used “as a tool of evangelization for everybody.”
“I want the series to go out beyond the walls of the Church,” he said in an Aug. 10 interview. “That's why we're so happy it's going to be on public television.”
Set in 50 locations in over 16 countries, the series examines major themes within the Church such as the person of Christ, the mystery of God, the Virgin Mary, Saints Peter and Paul, the “missionary thrust of the Church,” the liturgy and the Eucharist, prayer and spirituality and the saints, Fr. Barron said.
In the episode on the Virgin Mary, for instance, the crew traveled to the Holy Land, France, Mexico and “around the world to see where the Marian faith shows up.”
“The approach I used,” he said, “was just to go to places around the world that visually show the themes I'm talking about...”
To read the Catholic News Agency article, click here.
August 9, 2011: Catholic News Agency features Fr. Barron's article, "The acts we perform, the people we become":
From the 1950’s through the late 1970’s Karol Wojtyla (Pope John Paul II) was a professor of moral philosophy at the Catholic University of Lublin in Poland, specializing in sexual ethics and what we call today “marriage and family life.” He produced two important books touching on these matters, The Acting Person, a rigorously philosophical exploration of Christian anthropology, and Love and Responsibility, a much more accessible analysis of love, sex, and marriage. These texts provided the foundation for the richly textured teaching of Pope John Paul II that now goes by the name “theology of the body.” As was evident throughout his papacy, John Paul had a deep devotion to young people, and he wanted them to see the teaching of the church in regard to sex, not as a burden, but as an invitation to fuller life. In the context of this brief article, I would like to develop just one insight from John Paul’s rich magisterium on sex and marriage, for I share the perennial concern of older people that too many young people are treating sex in a morally casual way...
Read the article here.
August 8, 2011: Father Barron was recently interviewed by Kris McGregor, host of the popular podcast "Discerning Hearts" and the radio program "Inside the Pages with Kris McGregor," regarding the upcoming release of his book, Catholicism: A Journey to the Heart of the Faith.
"Fr. Robert Barron's "Catholicism: A Journey to the Heart of the Faith" is wonderful. A beautiful exploration of the Roman Catholic faith, and it's gift to the world and to culture. From randomhouse.com: What is the Catholicism? A 2,000 living tradition? A worldview? A way of life? A relationship? A mystery? In Catholicism Father Robert Barron examines all these questions and more, seeking to capture the body, heart and mind of the Catholic faith."
Listen to the audio interview here.
August 1, 2011: A comprehensive review of Fr. Barron's CATHOLICISM series was posted by Brad Miner on The Catholic Thing today.
Read the review here:
I have an “uncorrected proof” of the book and a “rough-cut” of the DVD series; both are titled Catholicism, but they have different subtitles: A Journey to the Heart of the Faith and The Journey of a Lifetime. Take your pick; each is true.
The chapters of the book (Doubleday, $18.47) follow – and in some cases amplify – the episodes in the video series. In its ten chapters, the book includes over 100 images of, as author Robert E. Barron aptly describes it in his introduction, “The Catholic Thing.”The ten one-hour DVD episodes ($149.95), narrated by Fr. Barron, have approximately a zillion images: all of them moving – and you can take that in several senses of the word: active, poignant, stirring.
So what is this thing, Catholicism (speaking now principally of the DVDs)? Simply the most vivid catechism ever created; a high-def illustrated manuscript for the twenty-first century; the best-ever film about the Catholic faith.
The early episodes could have been titled Mere Catholicism. Fr. Barron starts with Jesus (“Yahweh moving among his people”), and what he says about the Lord would find concert with most Christians. This, for instance, with regard to the Incarnation:
The church fathers never tired of repeating this phrase . . .Deus fit homo ut fieret Deus (God became human so that humans might become God). . . . We are called not simply to moral perfection or artistic self-expression or economic liberation but to what the Eastern fathers called theosis, transformation into God.
He often bolsters his presentation with quotes from Protestant authors: C.S. Lewis, N.T. Wright, and Paul Tillich among them. You get no histrionic preaching from Fr. Barron, which is not to say his narration isn’t enlivened by passion for Jesus Christ. It is, but he mostly lets Jesus, the saints, the Church, and the scenery illumine the emotional power of Catholicism. All films (and some books) are collaborative endeavors, and director Matt Leonard, cinematographer John Cummings, and composer Steve Mullen have created a stunningly lyrical audio-visual backdrop to the words of the globetrotting Fr. Barron.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched a Catholic film or TV program and commented, “Surely we can do better than this!” Well, Catholicism is better than I ever imagined such a film could be – a feast for eye and ear and soul...
Read the entire The Catholic Thing review here.
July 14, 2011: Area Catholics and members of all faith traditions are invited to deepen their understanding of the gift of Eucharist and the Catholic faith at an all day event featuring Fr. Robert Barron. Mayslake Ministries, of Lombard, IL, is hosting its fall symposium, on October 1 from 9am to 3pm at the beautiful Drury Lane ballroom in Oakbrook Terrace, IL...
Get more information here.
July 1, 2011: The website for the Catholic News Agency, CNA, featured Father Barron's reflection on the Eucharist, which he wrote as a result of his recent experience at the Archdiocese of Atlanta's Eucharistic Conference.
Read the article here.
June 26, 2011: Chicago Tribune's The Seeker Blog featured Father Barron's recent commentary about the controversy surrounding the removal of "Under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance during NBC's coverage of the U.S. Open.
The article, entitled, "US should be a nation under God that keeps the Sabbath," can be found here.
June 26, 2011: The Catholic Post, website of the Archdiocese of Peoria, IL, featured an article about Father Barron and Word on fire entitled, "Fr. Barron 'shows off' Catholic faith in 10-part documentary series."
Read the article here.
June 23, 2011: The St. Louis Review, online journal of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, featured an article on Father Barron entitled, "Evangelizing priest uses many tools to reach out."
Read the article here.
June 17, 2011: Father Barron's recent article, "Why so many Atheists on the CNN Belief Blog?" was featured on the website, RealClearReligion.com.
Read the article here.
June 8, 2011: Father Barron's review of Woody Allen's recent film, Midnight in Paris, was featured on the website of U.S. Catholic.
"When I was a doctoral student in Paris in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, I used to fantasize about the Paris of the 13th century, when my hero, Thomas Aquinas, was composing his theological masterpieces and when the cathedral of Notre Dame and the Sainte Chapelle were being brought to completion. From the perspective of late 20th-century Paris, when a bored skepticism held sway in much of the high culture, that time when ardent faith and high intellectual achievement went hand in hand seemed to me a golden age indeed. It is just this tendency to hanker nostalgically after a beautiful lost epoch that Woody Allen affectionately mocks in his witty new film, Midnight in Paris..."
Read the rest of the review here.
May 26, 2011: Catholic Education Resource Center recently featured Father Barron's article on "The Indecipherable Writings of Thomas' Aquinas."
Visit the CERC website and view the article here.
May 26, 2011: Father Barron's review of Terrence Malick's new film, "The Tree of Life," was featured on Chicago Tribune's "The Seeker" Blog.
Read the review here.
May 23, 3011: Father Barron's article, "A Great Time to Be a Priest," was featured on the website of Irish American News.
Read the article here.
May 16, 2011: "Ambitious series on Catholicism to put faith in global perspective"-- Father Robert Barron's CATHOLICISM Series featured on Robert Feder's Time Out Chicago blog:
"Matters of faith are central to the lives of millions every day, but television rarely touches on them. If religion gets covered at all, it usually becomes distorted in the context of politics, scandal or fanaticism. So when a notable exception comes along, it’s worth praising.
A prominent Chicago area priest and a veteran producer have teamed up to create a groundbreaking documentary series about the history and the impact of the Catholic faith worldwide to debut on public television stations this fall.
The first four episodes of Catholicism will premiere in October on Window to the World Communications’ WTTW-Channel 11, which will distribute them to stations nationwide. Altogether, it’s planned as a 10-part DVD series..."
Read the blog post here.
CHICAGO- May 5, 2011: The story of the Catholic Church to be presented on public television this fall
WTTW, Chicago’s premier public television station, announced that it will premiere and distribute four episodes of Catholicism – a multi-part documentary series for public television – in October 2011 to public television stations nationwide. This epic television production illustrates the history and treasures of a global religion shared by more than one billion people around the world. The series is filmed in stunning high-definition and spans more than 50 locations in 15 countries.
Read the entire Press Release here.
May 2, 2011: Making my way from my hotel near the Castel Sant’Angelo to the media platform at the foot of the Via della Conciliazione, where I was to do some color commentary for television, I was almost crushed by the crowds surging to the beatification ceremony for Pope John II. Through a combination of my Roman collar, the waving of my media badge and lots of prayers, I made it to my colleagues on the platform. What struck me as I pushed through the throng of humanity was that I heard pilgrims speaking Italian, English, French, German, Swahili, Spanish, Portuguese and, of course, Polish...
Read the Chicago Sun-Times article here.
May 1, 2011: As many of the newsers attending this year’s White House correspondents dinner — and after parties — were calling it a night, in Rome, the cable news networks were just getting going, covering the Mass for the beatification of Pope John Paul II. Chris Jansing (with analysts George Weigel and Fr. Robert Barron), who’d anchored coverage of the Royal Wedding Friday and flew to Rome yesterday, began MSNBC’s coverage just before 4am ET.
Read the full story here.
May 1, 2011: For the funeral of Pope John Paul II in 2005, nearly 3,000,000 people flooded into Rome, effectively doubling the city’s population. Some estimates are that crowds of that magnitude will return to the Eternal City Sunday to celebrate John Paul’s beatification. These big numbers are only fitting for the man who was seen by more people than any other person in history and who gathered the largest crowd ever assembled at World Youth Day in Manila. John Paul wanted to reach out to the world, and so it’s appropriate that the world is coming to witness his beatification.
Read the Chicago Sun-Times article here.
April 29, 2011: Father Barron is reporting from Rome on the beatification of Pope John Paul II for the Chicago Sun-Times.
Read his first article here, "Blessed John Paul II: Why are we celebrating?"
April 27, 2011: Renowned theologian, Father Robert Barron, will offer commentary on all NBC Network News programming during Pope John Paul II’s beatification on May 1. Barron was selected for his in-depth knowledge of Pope John Paul II and will be in Rome covering the event.
On May 1, Pope Benedict XVI will celebrate the Solemn Mass and Beatification before hundreds of thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square and for millions of television viewers around the world. This is the first time a pope has beatified his immediate predecessor.
Read the Press Release here.
April 9, 2011: Father Barron, during his stay in Rome this week, was interviewed by Vatican Radio.
Listen to the program here.
March 30, 2011: Father Barron's review of the recently released film, "Of Gods and Men," was featured on the National Catholic Register website. The article, entitled "Gods, Powers, and Principalities," can be viewed here.
March 25, 2011: Father Barron's article, "What does the Catholic just war teaching say about Libya?" was featured in the Washington Post's "Guest Voices" column.
Read the article here.
March 22, 2011: Father Barron's article regarding the motto on our nation's coins, paper money, and government buildings, entitled "In God We Should Trust," was featured on Chicago Tribune's "The Seeker" blog.
Read it here.
March 16, 2011: Father Barron was a keynote presenter at the 2011 Living the Catholic Faith Conference in Denver, Colorado. Read the highlights from the event, as well as a reference to Father Barron in the keynote address given by Archbishop Timothy Dolan, in the Denver Catholic Register.
March 13, 2011: Father Barron's article, "Outlawing the Death Penalty in Illinois," was featured on Chicago Tribune's "The Seeker" blog.
Read it here.
March 8, 2011: Father Barron's response to CNN's recent feature of the controversial "historical Jesus" scholar, John Dominic Crossan, was published on the CNN Belief Blog.
Read it here.
February 10, 2011: Father Barron's commentary on the new iPhone App that prepares Catholics for the sacrament of Reconciliation was featured on Chicago Tribune's The Seeker blog.
Read the blog post here.
January 19, 2011: Described as “one of the Catholic Church’s best messengers,” Father Robert Barron hopes to light attendees on fire with the word of God at the Living the Catholic Faith Conference set for March 11-12.
For details on this conference, click here to visit the website of the Archdiocese of Denver.
January 25, 2011: On the 25th of January, the church celebrates the great feast of the conversion of St. Paul, and this celebration provides the occasion for thinking about who we are as followers of Jesus Christ. As I have often complained, most of us Christians in the West more or less follow the protocol of the secular society, which dictates that religion is an essentially private matter, something that individuals can cultivate for their own personal edification—but decidedly not something that ought to show up in the public arena...
To read the rest of the article, please visit Parishworld.net.
January 24, 2011: Father Barron's commentary on Abortion, the "most compelling moral issue of our time," was featured on Chicago Tribune's "The Seeker" blog.
Read the blog post here.
January 18, 2011: NECEDAH, Wis.-- Catholic Word Publisher Group announced today it has added world-renowned evangelist Fr. Robert Barron and his Word On Fire Catholic Ministries to its growing roster of powerhouse members. Word On Fire is a global media organization that supports Catholic evangelical preaching, particularly that of Fr. Barron.
Read the article here.
January 13, 2011: The sisters talk with Father Barron about WWJD? What would Jesus do given today’s digital technology and media? Does Scripture give us any clues on why or how we might use digital media for the sake of the Gospel? We discuss these topics and more on this episode of Digital Ministry.
Listen to the podcast here.
January 3, 2011: Father Barron featured in Brad Miner'sarticle entitled Real Men Love Jesus on TheCatholicThing.org.
View the article here.
December 1, 2010: Washington Post features article: "Pope Benedict: what the media left out" by Rev. Robert Barron
Over a period of about 15 years, in the 1990's and early 2000's, the German journalist Peter Seewald conducted a number of interviews with Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, then the prefect for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith. The edited conversations appeared as two rather lengthy books, The Salt of the Earth and God and the World. Seewald's pointed questions dealt with fundamental matters--God, creation, Incarnation, redemption, sin and grace--and Ratzinger's answers--clear, succinct, illuminating--were marvels of the teacher's art. Perhaps the most extraordinary fruit of these encounters was Seewald's conversion from an unfocused agnosticism to a full embrace of the Catholic faith...
Read the entire article here.
November 24, 2010: Father Barron's commentary on Pope Benedict XVI's interview with Peter Seewald in his new book, Light of the World, was featured on Chicago Tribune's "The Seeker" blog.
Read the blog post here.
November 18, 2010: Father Robert Barron is a well-known author and public speaker who has pioneered new efforts in the Catholic Church's outreach with a global media ministry: He's gained a worldwide audience through his website: wordonfire.org. His podcasts and blogs range from topics on movies and books to questions of Catholicism in today's world...
Read the entire report and watch the news video here.
Premier New Catholic Study, CATHOLICISM, being revealed today at the USCCB Conference in Baltimore
November 16, 2010: A new premier Catholic study program, CATHOLICISM, for parishes across the country and throughout the world is being introduced tonight at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in Baltimore.
Answering the call for New Evangelization, this multi-media educational program reveals the truth, beauty and richness of the Faith in an unprecedented way.
With creator and host Father Robert Barron, founder of Word on Fire Ministries, participants will learn what Catholics believe and why by exploring the art, architecture, literature, music, and all the riches of the Catholic tradition. Filmed in 50 locations throughout 15 countries, CATHOLICISM is on-location and in the streets, illustrating the splendor of the global Church-- all in original, high-definition cinematography...
November 10, 2010: Father Barron's article on "Thomas More and the Bishop of Rome" was featured on Catholic.net.
View the artlicle
here.
Father Barron's commentary on the "Depressing Pew Forum Study" was featured on
The Integrated Catholic Life website.
Read the web article
here.
Thomas More and the Bishop of Rome.
"My favorite movie is A Man For All Seasons a film based on the Robert Bolt play of the same name. I first saw it when I was in high school, and I’ve watched it at least once a year every year since then. When I was teaching full time at the seminary, I would show it to my students, and on June 22nd, I would offer a screening to my fellow faculty members. That date, of course, is not accidental, for it is the feast day of the great St. Thomas More, with whose final years the movie deals..."
October 2, 2010-- Archbishop Timothy Dolan of the Diocese of New York says he is thrilled to hear that Father Barron is going to be on WGN on Sunday mornings, beginning October 3rd, 2010.
September 27, 2010-- The Rev. Robert Barron, a Chicago-based Roman Catholic priest, has made himself a new-media messenger for the church, bringing a Catholic perspective to topics from “Avatar” to atheism to the use of steroids in baseball.
September 13, 2010- In a bold move to reach Catholics and those searching for Christ in their lives, Father Robert Barron begins broadcasting a weekly national television program on October 3rd. “Word on Fire with Father Barron” will appear on WGN America Sundays at 8:30 am Central.
September 13, 2010-- John Henry Newman, a vibrant 19th century Catholic convert and eventual Cardinal, wrote some of Catholicism’s most masterful prose, which still serves to inspire the Church today. To honor Newman’s beatification on September 19, Word On Fire Catholic Ministries, led by Father Robert Barron, is introducing John Henry Newman-- A Prophet for Our Time. This new CD set features Fr. Barron’s insight on three of Newman's most compelling works. Fr. Barron believes Newman is still “relevant, inspirational and a profound prophetic voice” for all who seek a greater understanding of the philosophy and theology of the Church.
Stephen Hawking's answer to God question tiresome
September 2, 2010-- So another prominent British academic has weighed in on the God question. Stephen Hawking, probably the best-known scientist in the world, has said, in a book to be published a week before the Pope’s visit to Britain, that the universe required no Creator.
Father Robert Barron's article entitled, "My Take: Why Christians Should Pray for Christopher Hitchens," was featured on the CNN.com
Belief Blog.
Read the article
here.
SKOKIE, Illinois, JUNE 7, 2010 (Zenit.org <http://www.zenit.org> ).- In the 24 years that Father Robert Barron has been a priest, he has witnessed great advances and profound lows in the priesthood.
As one of the leading Catholic evangelical priests, Father Barron uses today's technology to its fullest extent to bring God's word to the world. His Web site,WordOnFire.org <http://www.wordonfire.org/> , his books, his television and radio programs and his many You-Tube Videos and DVD's have captured the attention of millions worldwide.
He is a highly sought after speaker and serves as the Francis Cardinal George Chair of Faith and Culture at University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary in Mundelein, Illinois.
Father Barron has dedicated his life to sharing his faith and in this interview with ZENIT he offers words of wisdom and support to those struggling to understand the role of the priest today amidst such hardship and controversy...
Read more.
Father Robert Barron was featured on
NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams on Good Friday, 2010.
Watch the clip
here.
CHICAGO, January 25, 2010 –
In a Jan. 23 statement, Pope Benedict XVI called priests around the world to operate Web sites and blogs in order to participate in social media communications. The Holy Father also revealed the theme for the annual World Communications Day on May 16, “New Media at the service of the Word.” Fr. Robert Barron of Chicago has answered the Pope’s call – he already embraces new media with his apostolate Word On Fire Catholic Ministries.
View PDF
Chicago, January 23, 2009 – Political corruption is nothing new. While the governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, is gaining much media attention from allegedly attempting to sell the Senate seat left vacant by President Barack Obama, the phenomenon of political corruption goes back to biblical times.
View PDF
Chicago, January 12, 2009 – It is tradition that the beginning of a new year regularly brings resolutions to make changes. Most often those changes have to do with one’s physical life: eat healthier, lose weight, quit smoking, or spend more time at the gym. While these are all very good New Year’s resolutions, one prominent Catholic priest suggests making spiritual resolutions as well. Father Robert Barron, Chicago theologian and evangelist, suggests three spiritual resolutions for 2009: prayer, forgiving an enemy, and comforting the afflicted.
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CHICAGO, November 18, 2008 – There has been more bad news about the U.S. economy since the Presidential election; the stock market has plummeted, the country has lost more than 500,000 jobs since September, and companies that have been the backbone of the U.S. economy are hemorrhaging and pleading for help from the government. In these uncertain times, what spiritual wisdom and practical advice can the church offer?
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CHICAGO, October 15, 2008 – The financial turmoil our country and the world is experiencing has shaken many, not only on a practical level, but a spiritual level as well. For many, their faith has been rocked by the uncertain economy and many are looking for direction from the Church.
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CHICAGO, October 3, 2008 – Comedian Bill Maher has taken his disdain for religion – all religions – to the big screen. His film Religulous opens today in theaters across the country and while Maher’s claim is that “he’s asking questions about religion”, he doesn’t seem to be too interested in the answers.
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CHICAGO, October 2, 2008 – Publishing books, podcasting his sermons and posting movie reviews on his YouTube channel were just warm-ups for Chicago priest and popular theologian Fr. Robert Barron. Next month, he heads to Rome to shoot the second episode of his biggest production yet—a $10 million, 10-part TV documentary on Catholicism.
CHICAGO, March 24 — When the Rev. Robert Barron talks about why he thinks Jesus is the answer to what is missing in people's lives, he mentions St. Augustine's writings about the restlessness of the human heart. He also evokes less common figures in Roman Catholic sermons: Mick Jagger and Bono.
One sings about not getting satisfaction and the other about not finding what he was looking for, but both rock stars address the same sense of longing, said Father Barron, 46, a theology professor at the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary in Mundelein, Ill.
"This is what Billy Graham has always done," said Father Barron, the host of an evangelical Catholic radio program and the author of seven books. "To show, you're not satisfied, are you? I've got what can satisfy you."...