WOF 490: Bishop Barron Responds to His Critics

The Word on Fire Show - Catholic Faith and Culture

Brandon Vogt

God, Vogt, Catholicism, Catholic, Faith, Christianity, Barron, Religion & Spirituality, Christian, Church

4.9 • 5.5K Ratings

🗓️ 19 May 2025

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

We continue celebrating twenty-five years of proclaiming the Gospel; evangelizing the culture; supporting the faithful; and inviting the disaffiliated, the forsaken, and those who have fallen away back to Christ and his church. However, over the years, attacks against Bishop Barron and Word on Fire have come from many sources, including online anti-evangelists who hate religion in general and Christianity in particular and from those who posture themselves as the Church’s greatest defenders. What is the substance of these detractions? What motivates them? Do they pose an actual threat to the ministry? What can they teach us as evangelists about how to respond constructively to public criticism, especially when it’s vicious?

A listener asks how we should understand the meaning and implications of “turning the other cheek.”

00:00 | Introduction
01:32 | Standing for life with the DOWR seminarians
02:27 | Do any of your critics surprise you?
03:40 | Early interaction with YouTube comments
05:28 | Criticism #1: You’re too conservative—or too liberal
06:38 | Your critique of “beige Catholicism” is unfair and trivializing
09:45 | Criticism #2: Prioritizing beauty is a luxury
14:00 | Criticism #3: The thinkers you reference are only appropriate in academic settings
17:18 | Criticism #4:You’ve joined Balthasar in promoting universal salvation
20:01 | Criticism #5: You’re too political—or not political enough
25:46 | Criticism #6: Your critiques of wokeism are one-sided and unfair to social justice
31:57 | Criticism #7: You’re too supportive of Vatican II—or not supportive enough
35:50 | Criticism #8: You don’t discern the platforms on which you appear
41:29 | Advice for responding to public criticism
42:33 | Listener question: How do I “turn the other cheek” without enabling the offender?
44:54 | Join the Word on Fire Institute

Links:

“Dare We Hope” Resource Page: https://www.wordonfire.org/hope/
Word on Fire Institute: https://institute.wordonfire.org/

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome back to the Word on Fire show. I'm Matthew Petrusick, Senior Director of the Word on Fire Institute and the host of the Word on Fire. Thank you for joining us.
0:07.7	We continue celebrating our 25th anniversary here at Word on Fire, which means 25 years of proclaiming the gospel,
0:14.2	25 years of evangelizing the culture, 25 years of supporting the faithful, 25 years of inviting the disaffiliated, the forsaken,
0:22.0	and those who have fallen away back to Christ and his church, and yes, 25 years of getting
0:27.5	denounced, scolded, called out, and condemned for all of it.
0:32.3	Throughout the years, the attacks against Bishop Barron and Word on Fire have come from many
0:36.5	sources, including from the small but
0:38.9	bracingly loud and happily dwindling, band of overly online anti-evangelists who hate religion
0:45.6	in general and Christianity in particular. Surprisingly, however, the complaints and vilification
0:51.2	have also come from those who claim to represent the church,
0:55.0	indeed, from those who posture themselves as the church's greatest defenders.
0:59.5	What is the substance of these detractions? What motivates them? Do they pose an actual threat to
1:04.8	the ministry? And perhaps most importantly, what can they teach us as evangelists about how to
1:09.9	respond constructively to public criticism,
1:12.7	especially when it's vicious? Here to help us set the record straight and to offer advice
1:17.2	on how to develop thick skin without getting a hardened heart is Bishop Robert Barron. Bishop, welcome back to the studio.
1:34.2	Hey, Matt.
1:34.6	Always good to be with you.
1:35.6	So today's topic, we're looking at some criticism that we receive here at Word
1:39.6	on Fire, some of it directly targeting you.
1:42.6	Yeah.
1:42.9	But before we reach into our mailbag of discontent, what have you been up to recently?
	...

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