Bishop Robert Barron reaches a huge online audience with his Word on Fire ministry. What’s his secret, asks Melanie McDonagh
There aren’t, frankly, many Catholic bishops who have to field questions about how it is they’re so brilliant at reaching young people, but that’s Bishop Robert Barron for you. He’s known as the Bishop for the Internet (though his actual see is Winona-Rochester), because his Facebook following and YouTube hits are so huge. What Fulton Sheen – another US bishop, and one of his heroes – did for the age of television, Bishop Barron is doing for social media with his Word on Fire website. “I could have stuck with talking to other Catholics in a small room,” he observes, “But I thought: we have to address the wider culture and use the media in a creative way. I’m an academic, but it seemed an obvious thing to do. I didn’t have a grand plan.” It was entering territory that can be hostile to the Church, but “I have a certain joie de combat,” he says cheerfully.
