WOF 490: Bishop Barron Responds to His Critics
The Word on Fire Show - Catholic Faith and Culture
Release Date: 05/19/2025
WOF 507: 1,700 Years of the Nicene Creed
The Word on Fire Show - Catholic Faith and Culture
For 1,700 years, the universal church has confessed the Nicene Creed. This anniversary year, Bishop Barron spoke at a Greek Orthodox church in Rochester, Minnesota, to reflect upon the creed’s origins. Enjoy. Link: Word on Fire Institute: NOTE: Do you like this podcast? ! Word on Fire is a non-profit ministry that depends on the support of our listeners . . . like you! So become a part of this mission and to become a Word on Fire insider and receive some special donor gifts for your generosity.
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WOF 506: Why Are So Many Young People Becoming Catholic?
The Word on Fire Show - Catholic Faith and Culture
Both interest and conversions to the Catholic Church have been surging both here and in parts of Europe, especially among young adults. To be sure, secularism still dominates the culture, but the once common wisdom that an increasingly secular society would eventually lead to the death of Christianity and its evacuation from the public square doesn’t seem so common anymore. What are the causes of this apparent religious revival among young people? What can we do as evangelists to maintain and build on the momentum? A listener asks about the most effective way to make an initial evangelical...
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WOF 505: Bishop Barron’s Q&A with Irish Pilgrims
The Word on Fire Show - Catholic Faith and Culture
This week, we bring you the rich question and answer session from Bishop Barron’s recent Jubilee address to Irish pilgrims in Rome. He takes on a variety of questions about faith, doubt, mission, happiness, and more. Enjoy. Link: Word on Fire Institute: NOTE: Do you like this podcast? ! Word on Fire is a non-profit ministry that depends on the support of our listeners . . . like you! So become a part of this mission and to become a Word on Fire insider and receive some special donor gifts for your generosity.
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WOF 504: The Meaning and Purpose of Beauty (Part 2)
The Word on Fire Show - Catholic Faith and Culture
This week we bring you the second half of a recent discussion about the meaning, purpose, and objectivity of the transcendental of beauty between the Editor-in-Chief of Evangelization & Culture at the Word on Fire Institute, Dr. Tod Worner, and Bishop Barron. 00:00 | Introduction 00:38 | The deformation of beauty 08:23 | Does beauty civilize? 10:49 | Beauty and the Catholic faith 17:43 | The awesome nature of beauty 22:30 | Can you get stuck on beauty? 24:16 | Beauty within a challenging world 30:32 | Word on Fire and beauty 32:28 | Join the Word on...
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WOF 503: Our Call to Radical Self Gift
The Word on Fire Show - Catholic Faith and Culture
Bishop Barron gave a Jubilee address in Rome recently to Irish pilgrims in which he looked at the great Old Testament figures and examined what it looks like to be called out of one’s self into radical self gift. Enjoy. Link: Word on Fire Institute: NOTE: Do you like this podcast? ! Word on Fire is a non-profit ministry that depends on the support of our listeners . . . like you! So become a part of this mission and to become a Word on Fire insider and receive some special donor gifts for your generosity.
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WOF 502: The Meaning and Purpose of Beauty (Part 1)
The Word on Fire Show - Catholic Faith and Culture
This week we bring you the first half of a recent discussion between Managing Editor of the Word on Fire Evangelization & Culture Journal, Dr. Tod Worner, and Bishop Barron. The two discuss the meaning, purpose, and objectivity of beauty. 00:00 | Introduction 00:56 | What is beauty? 09:24 | What is a transcendental, and why does beauty qualify? 13:08 | What is it about beauty that quickens the heart? 16:54 | Is beauty a means to an end or an end in itself? 23:58 | Does beauty lie in the eye of the beholder and is it ephemeral or eternal? 36:05 | Join the Word on Fire Institute...
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WOF 501: Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist
The Word on Fire Show - Catholic Faith and Culture
Today, we’re listening to a talk Bishop Barron gave within one of his classic study programs, the Eucharist series. He addresses Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist. Enjoy. Link: Word on Fire Institute: NOTE: Do you like this podcast? ! Word on Fire is a non-profit ministry that depends on the support of our listeners . . . like you! So become a part of this mission and to become a Word on Fire insider and receive some special donor gifts for your generosity.
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WOF 500: Catholic Social Thought in the Age of AI
The Word on Fire Show - Catholic Faith and Culture
In taking the name Pope Leo XIV, the new pope has signaled that the Church finds itself in an era marked by tumultuous social change. The question remains whether the Catholic social thought of his predecessor Leo XIII’s time is still applicable today given the radically different world we now live in—a world increasingly defined by the rise and possible dominance of artificial intelligence, robotics entering into mainstream life, the breakdown of regular physical contact among people, and the rise of transhumanism. Can Catholic social thought help us to navigate these uncharted waters? A...
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WOF 499: Four Culminating Themes of the Bible (Part 2)
The Word on Fire Show - Catholic Faith and Culture
We bring you the second half of Bishop Barron’s keynote address at this year’s inaugural international Evangelisation & Culture conference in London. In the first half, Bishop Barron focused on the first two of four themes of the Bible, namely, creation and the God of Israel. Today, we conclude his address with the final two themes, right praise and kingship, and we learn how these patterns are gathered together in Christ Jesus. Link: Part 1 of this keynote address: Word on Fire Institute: NOTE: Do you like this podcast? ! Word on Fire is a non-profit ministry...
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WOF 498: How to Strengthen Catholic Identity in Catholic Schools
The Word on Fire Show - Catholic Faith and Culture
If Catholic schools are already Catholic, why would they need to become more so? The unfortunate reality, however, is that some Catholic educational institutions are not living up to their name. As some frustrated parents, priests, and even teachers who are afraid of losing their jobs for being “too Catholic” around their colleagues know well, some schools actively promote values that contradict Church teachings. What has led to Catholic education in some instances to deviate from its mission? And what, more importantly, can we do about it? A listener asks how to love God if...
info_outlineWe 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/
NOTE: Do you like this podcast? Become a Word on Fire IGNITE member! Word on Fire is a non-profit ministry that depends on the support of our listeners . . . like you! So become a part of this mission and join IGNITE today to become a Word on Fire insider and receive some special donor gifts for your generosity.