Father Robert Barron inspires the evangelizers

Intermountain Catholic

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New media are a revolution in communication technology that can use to evangelize beyond Church walls, said Father Robert Barron during his Jan. 10 keynote address.IC photo/Marie Mischel

SALT LAKE CITY — Father Robert Barron, whom Cardinal Francis George calls "one of the Church’s best messengers," brought the fire of the new evangelization to a primarily Catholic audience on Jan. 10 for his keynote address at the Cathedral Ministry Conference (see related story, 'Conference draws cathedral ministers').

Referencing popular culture icons like Bob Dylan, theological names such as Margaret Barker and figures from Church history ranging from Saint Irenaeus to Blessed John Paul II, Fr. Barron used humor and a conversational style to drive home his primary message: To evangelize in today’s world, Catholics "need to recover their sense of ardor for Jesus risen from the dead" and use new methods to reach out, but "the new evangelization is the same as the old evangelization in many ways because evangelization is always about declaring the words of Jesus."

Successful evangelization "begins with the beautiful," Fr. Barron said, referencing the Swiss theologian and priest Hans Urs von Balthasar. "The beautiful has a way of beguiling you... Begin with the beautiful ... then beguile people into a consideration of the good and true."

Fr. Barron’s keynote address was open to the public as well as those attending the conference; he drew about 60 people from the community in addition to the 100 at the conference, said Monsignor Joseph M. Mayo, rector of the Cathedral of the Madeleine, which hosted the event.

Now rector of Mundelein Seminary, Fr. Barron is the founder of the new media ministry Word on Fire, and creator and host of "Catholicism," a 10-part video series and study program about the faith.

"Fr. Barron’s reputation preceded him," Msgr. Mayo said. "Everything he had to say was well versed."

The message "relearn what is already good, solid Catholicism and you’ll get through into the next century," is what Msgr. Mayo took from Fr. Barron’s presentation, he said. "He restated the wonderful treasures that we have as a Church."

Some of those treasures that Fr. Barron refered to were the Vatican II documents such as "Lumen Gentium" and saints such as Augustine.

"The Church is about bringing Christ to the world," Fr. Barron said. "Christ sets the agenda for the Church age in and age out. The Church addresses whatever culture it is in, absolutely ... and it does have to modernize to some degree, but Christ is the norm. It’s not modernization of the Church, it’s Christification of the world, that’s the program."

Among those who attended the presentation was Deacon Tom Tosti, a parishioner of Saint Mary of the Assumption in Park City. Their adult formation class is starting Fr. Barron’s "Catholicism" series next month, and "I wanted to hear him in person," Deacon Tosti said, adding that he also wanted tips about blogging. "The main thing that I got out of it is that you start with the beauty as opposed to just being dogmatic and ‘here is the truth.’ We have the truth, but God [also] is in the beauty."

Katie Hobbs, who was among the group from the University of Utah Newman Center that attended the presentation, said Fr. Barron’s passion for spreading the Gospel was a powerful part of his presentation. She has watched many of his videos, and "I love listening to his commentary on popular culture and he also sometimes comments on politics, and I really like to hear what he has to say," she said.

Not all of those at the keynote were Catholic. Pamela Atkinson, who is well-known for her advocacy for the homeless, said she was drawn to Fr. Barron’s evangelical component "and the way he’s reaching out." As a Presbyterian, she didn’t understand some of his references to the various councils and popes, "but much of what he says stretches across all different denominations and faiths," Atkinson said.

Fr. Barron’s use of social media to reach out, particularly to younger generations, also struck Atkinson.

"There are different ways for us to help people find God, Jesus Christ, but we don’t always use all of those ways," she said. "We tend to use the old traditional ways, and he’s saying, ‘Look, there are many other ways to reach out to people and share the gospel of Jesus Christ."