Despite opposition from modernist cabal, Bishop Barron receives top Catholic prize in Germany
Church trench warfare continues over US Bishop Barron
The awarding of the Josef Pieper Prize to Catholic Bishop Robert Barron is accompanied by criticism and slogans on building facades.
Catholicism meets ideology—and the trench warfare, which had been somewhat pushed into the background by the Brosius-Gersdorf case, is once again coming into focus: Barron, the successful preacher of the Gospel, will receive the Josef Pieper Prize this Sunday in one of the strongholds of German-Catholic left-wing ideology à la Synodal Way—the award with which the Josef Pieper Foundation honors Barron as a "theologian and academic teacher who, like few others, uses modern media to support Christian preaching," as stated on the foundation's website.
Robert Barron: "Josef Pieper has been a constant companion to me"
In addition to the announced vigils by members of the Green Party, the Federation of German Catholic Youth (BDKJ), the women's association kfd, the reform group "Freckenhorster Kreis," and members of the Münster district association of the Green Party, as well as the Catholic LGBT+ group, critics have again spoken out, accusing Barron of being "misogynistic," "fundamentalist," "radical," "arch-conservative," and "discriminatory." Hannah Lingnau, in an article in the Catholic online magazine "Kirche und Leben," claimed that Barron spreads misanthropic views "under the guise of evangelization."
Slogans on building facades
Slogans also adorn the facades of the buildings where the bishop is staying this weekend. Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) reported this on Saturday. "**** Trump," for example, is written on the facade of the Überwasserkirche (Church of the Water), addressing criticism of Barron's proximity to US President Donald Trump.
While the award's sponsors see this proximity to Trump as a contribution to democratic dialogue, professors at the University of Münster criticized the award for using the Catholic faith for an exclusionary identity politics "that exacerbates ideological divisions and excludes people who don't fit the mold."
"A debate aimed at the benefit of all"
Even Johannes Sabel, director of the Academy of the Diocese of Münster, where a symposium of the Josef Pieper Foundation took place on Saturday—the prize will be (Cathcon- has been) awarded this Sunday at the Münster Borromäum seminary—finds some of Barron's statements problematic, as the Catholic news portal "CNA" reported, but this does not legitimize "even liberal or 'left-wing' Catholics adopting the schema of a far-right perspective that divides the world into friends and enemies." He sees it as his task to bring the opposing positions "into an argumentative, rational debate aimed at the benefit of all."
After all, Barron is also a master of dialogue and is well-known in the United States. Benjamin Dahlke, professor of dogmatics at Eichstätt, praised Barron as an articulate intellectual who enjoys dialogue "across all camps, inside and outside the Church" (CNA). In 2000, he founded "Word on Fire," an organization dedicated to spreading the Catholic faith that instantly conquered the world. Barron has over two million subscribers on YouTube, and more than half a million people follow him on Instagram.
He has appeared for years as a commentator and discussion partner in national and regional US media and has published books and newspaper articles. This hasn't gone unnoticed even by the Vatican: Pope Francis appointed Barron as auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles in 2015 and, seven years later, made him diocesan bishop of Winona-Rochester. According to the foundation, Barron is receiving this Pieper Prize precisely "for his unmistakable affinity to Pieper's philosophy of religion, with its focus on the conditions and difficulties of the concrete foundation and transmission of faith today."
"Seemingly curious defensive reflexes"
The Viennese theologian emeritus Ludger Schwienhorst-Schönberger cannot understand the harsh criticism of Barron. In an article in the current issue of the magazine "Communio," he called the criticism of the award "curious defensive reflexes" from people "who give the impression that they have never read a book by Josef Pieper or Robert Barron, let alone understood it."
And Sabel urged greater differentiation. "The task of perceiving complexity and recognizing that the situation cannot be divided into black and white, but that there are truly diverse aspects and positions, easily fades into the background."
Perhaps it's worth recalling a statement by Thomas Sternberg, former chairman of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK) and former director of the Academy of the Diocese of Münster. Sternberg is one of the three founders of the prize and was a member of the board of the Josef Pieper Foundation until 2016. At the time, he said that Pieper and his thinking were not suitable for "appropriation in any direction."
Awarding of prize. First speech by Bishop Oster. Bishop Barron speaks good German and then changes to English at 1:17
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