WOF 522: What's It Like to Be a Catholic Bishop?

The Word on Fire Show - Catholic Faith and Culture

Brandon Vogt

Christianity, Religion & Spirituality

4.9 • 5.5K Ratings

🗓️ 29 December 2025

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

St. Pope John Paul the II memorably observed that the Catholic Church comes from the eucharist and that the eucharist, in turn, comes from priests. As Bishop Barron noted in a recent letter to his diocese, "by an inescapable logic [therefore] no priests, no Church." We should add, however, that priests come from bishops, which expands the ecclesial logic to this: no bishops, no priests; no priests, no eucharist; no eucharist, no church. In other words, bishops not only hold an important administrative position within the Church; tracing their authority back to the apostles and, ultimately, to Jesus Christ himself, they constitute the very sacramental and liturgical foundation of Catholicism itself. That, to say the least, is a weighty responsibility. So what is it like to be a bishop? How does one come to hold this office? What, specifically, do bishops have authority over–and what don't they have authority over? What kind of relationship do they have with each other and with the Holy Father, the pope? What are their day-to-day obligations and activities? And what are some challenges they face that both clergy and laity may not be aware of?

A listener asks what made Bishop Barron want to be a priest.

Topics Covered:

Links:

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops: https://www.usccb.org/
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 Petrusig, Senior Director of the Word on Fire Institute and the host of the Word on Fire Show.
0:05.7	Thank you for joining us. St. Pope John Paul II, memorably observed that the Catholic Church comes from the Eucharist and that the Eucharist in turn comes from priests.
0:15.2	As Bishop Barron noted in a recent letter to his diocese, by an inescapable logic, therefore, no priests, no church.
0:23.4	We should add, however, that priests come from bishops, which expands the ecclesial logic to this.
0:29.6	No bishops, no priests, no Eucharist, no Eucharist, no church. In other words, bishops not only
0:37.1	hold an important administrative position
0:39.4	within the church, tracing their authority back to the apostles and ultimately to Jesus Christ himself,
0:45.6	they constitute the very sacramental and liturgical foundation of Catholicism itself.
0:51.9	That, to say the least, is a weighty responsibility. So what is it like to be a
0:56.9	bishop? How does one come to hold this office? What specifically do bishops have authority over
1:02.8	and what don't they have authority over? What kind of relationship do they have with each other
1:07.8	and with the Holy Father, the Pope? What are their day-to-day obligations and activities?
1:13.1	And what are some challenges they face that both clergy and laity may not be aware of?
1:18.4	Here to discuss what it means to be a bishop of the Catholic Church
1:21.2	and to share his own experiences overseeing the diocese of Winona, Rochester,
1:25.4	in Minnesota is Bishop Robert Barron.
1:38.2	Music overseeing the diocese of Winona, Rochester, and Minnesota is Bishop Robert Barron. Bishop, welcome back to studio. Thanks, Matt. Always good to be with you. So today we're discussing
1:42.7	a topic very close to home for you, what it's like to be a Catholic bishop.
1:47.0	Ah, yes.
1:47.7	But as usual, before we get into that, what have you been up to as a Catholic bishop?
1:52.5	Well, I guess it is a bit of a Catholic bishop because during the Thanksgiving holiday, I drove to Chicago, my hometown, and I baptized my little grand nephew.
2:00.9	So my brother's first grandson, he's got a couple granddaughters.
	...

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