Bishop Oster's Laudatio on the occasion of the award of Pieper Prize to Bishop Barron- a long but rewarding read

Dear friends of Josef Pieper, esteemed Bishop Robert Barron,

You're probably familiar with the following experience in a Church: You hear a preacher speak—and quite often, you feel like you're going in to the left and out to the right. And it touches me: nothing. This can, of course, have several causes: including my own lack of attention and inner disposition. But of course, it can also be the speaker, who gives me the impression, for example, of being well-informed, but of little relevance—neither for them nor for me as the listener. And then there are preachers who speak in such a way that they can touch something deep within the listener. In the best case, they can even ignite something. Perhaps even in such a way that they can take you on an inner journey of intense reflection and empathy.

Think of the biblical example of the disciples of Emmaus, who, disappointed, leave Jerusalem after Good Friday. Then the Risen Christ joins them, initially unrecognized, and lets them tell him what happened and why they have lost hope. And then he begins to open up the Holy Scriptures to them in such a way that, in retrospect, they ask themselves: "Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?" (Luke 24:32)

I deliberately say that these two can only express their perceptions in such a way in retrospect. For in the act of listening itself, in the inner participation, in being completely present, one usually doesn't think about the feelings one is experiencing at the time. Then, one is completely focused on what one is hearing. One is inwardly completely oriented, sometimes even captivated, by what someone is saying and also attracted by how they say it. Or think of the Apostle Peter's Pentecost sermon, which the Acts of the Apostles recounts to us. Peter speaks of the Risen Christ Himself and of the prophecies of the Old Testament that reported the outpouring of the Spirit.

And many listeners, it is said, are struck "right in the heart" (Acts 2:37). And three thousand people are baptized. What is so special about Peter's sermon that it has this effect? You can read it, or you could have it read aloud to you, for example. And surely each of us knows: If it were simply read, this sermon would never have the same effect as it did on the Day of Pentecost in Jerusalem.

1. Josef Pieper and the truth of things

But what would be the difference between a preacher who speaks in such a way that it goes in through the right and out through the left? And one who speaks in such a way that it goes straight to the heart? First of all, it's possible that both even use the same words and tell the same thing – and it could do both: either bore me or even ignite me. Of course, we know that whether something can resonate internally or not also depends on the listener's disposition. But quite obviously, some have the ability to ignite more people than others. My personal experience is – especially when it comes to sermons – that the preachers who truly touch me are usually those with whom I sense that they are also praying people in an existential sense.

They are those who make it clear that they have prayed the Scriptures and are praying; and who encounter the Lord in the Scriptures as the God who speaks to them and who is thus simultaneously the demanding God. And: They are praying people who are first receivers before they are givers. They are also people who know about humanity, who, above all, know humanity before God. In its entire existence – with its joys and sorrows. They also know humanity in its lostness and in its true need for love and a redeeming God. But in order to understand humanity more deeply and to be able to express this in words, it is also extremely helpful to also know philosophy.

Above all, philosophical anthropology in its connection with biblical anthropology. And in the dismissal of the prevailing ideologies of the time about humanity. Josef Pieper was a master at this. An older Salesian brother of mine, actually a New Testament scholar from Argentina, once confessed to me: "With Josef Pieper, we were able to learn back then what we can do today with Thomas Aquinas." Humanity in its concrete situatedness in the here and now, in its time and society, in the conditions that enable or prevent human beings from going deeper, in its longings and hopes, in its temptations and abysses – and above all in that which can open people today or broaden their inner perspective to the reality within or beyond the objective, material world.

Does the instructive and redeeming God come into play? Does faith in Christ change our access to reality and to ourselves? With astonishing clarity, Josef Pieper unfolds fundamental connections of human existence that seem to open up automatically to the Gospel. Yet he remains a philosopher in the strict sense; his philosophy does not simply become cryptotheology. Rather, his thinking makes clear what Thomas Aquinas repeatedly developed as a Catholic axiom: Grace presupposes nature and does not destroy it, but rather perfects it.

Thus, when natural reason, which is inherent in every human being, is touched by grace, it is not destroyed, but rather itself—as natural reason—is even more so destroyed. That is, in its ability to know, it is ordered to the things of the world. But in such a way that, as reason, it makes itself available to the knowable world—without being influenced by primarily egoistic interests. Natural reason, which is freed to itself through the gift of grace, is able to know the things of the world by themselves. Of course, never in its fullness and depth, but still in something like its objective content.

As an example, consider the encounter between two people: Imagine someone who approaches you with genuine interest in yourself. And imagine that this is someone who isn't pursuing their own self-interest, not a self-interest, but genuinely means you as a person. And imagine that this person is also someone to whom the truth means something very fundamentally, someone who wants to live and stand in the truth. In a genuine encounter, such a person will perhaps recognize you even more deeply and authentically than you recognize yourself.

Do you notice how recognition itself becomes an ethical stance here? Namely, a recognition that isn't simply possessive, that doesn't seek to exercise power, that doesn't superficially seek to profit? As a philosopher, Josef Pieper reveals such connections to us in an inimitable way. He knows and recognizes people. And when you immerse yourself in his speech and writing, it reads pleasantly, pleasantly, and attractively. It's as if difficult issues were made light. It's writing that exudes freedom—and as a Christian, I would say you can sense the grace in it.

An older, biblical word for this would probably be something like anointing. We encounter this word several times in Scripture, especially in the First Epistle of John: "You have the anointing of him who is holy" (1 John 2:20). The biblical word "anointed" or "anointing" conjures up a pleasant fragrance, a pleasant atmosphere, something healing, and even a certain lightness. At the same time, however, it conjures an authenticity and a kind of authority; an authority that, of course, isn't intrusive, but rather turns what is said into an attractive offer, a gift.

A person who can be ascribed "anointing" in this sense is authentic, convincing, and free in what they say and how they say it—but without being "persuasive" in a bad sense. Think of Paul when he addresses the Corinthians in his first letter: He actually comes, as he says, in weakness and trembling, and he doesn't want to persuade or use particularly clever words. He isn't concerned with himself, but solely with Christ, the Crucified One. But precisely in the midst of this, in this attitude of his contemplation of the matter itself, or here of the Lord himself, the Spirit and power suddenly appear, as he himself says (cf. 1 Cor 21-4). People probably sense: Here someone is saying something that is profoundly true.

And more than that: Because it is true in a profound sense, it is something that also deeply concerns me. The truth of the matter itself and the truth from which I myself exist belong together, have the same root. I would even go a step further: Thomas Aquinas says, and Josef Pieper also reminded us of this, whenever a person speaks the truth, it comes from the Holy Spirit. If someone is, so to speak, grounded in truth not only in thought but in their entire existence, then this will also grant them inner freedom. A truthful person in this sense has become inwardly free for a non-intentional devotion to things for their own sake.

Josef Pieper calls this attitude the ability to be "objective." And if that's truly the case, then Christ himself is mysteriously present in it. For, according to the words of the Evangelist John, he is the Logos, that is, divine reason itself, the Word of God himself, in whom and through whom everything becomes knowable and, in his own words, also "anointed" in its recognition and speaking of it.

Therefore, such speaking can be powerful and profound in a good sense – but without being overbearing. And it may even be able to unleash generative power in the heart of a listener. Unfortunately, ladies and gentlemen, we have rather botched the word "anointing" in our language today. For when someone in German speaks "anointing" (salbungsvoll), it is either banal or meaningless, or in any case boring – in other words, the exact opposite of what the Bible means.

2. Bishop Barron and the Word that can ignite

All of this, ladies and gentlemen, I have also developed from the perspective of Josef Pieper, and now finally come to Bishop Barron. In him, we see a man who, in recent years, has become one of the world's most widely read Catholic evangelists, especially in the English-speaking world. And when I spoke of preaching that can ignite, of knowledge of humanity, and of the anointing, I see this – among many other qualities – also present in Bishop Barron.

His most essential and comprehensive contribution to the service of the Church's faith is summarized as "Word on Fire – Catholic Ministries." It is now a very broad and profound work of the new evangelization. And if I am correctly informed, it was called "Word on Fire" from the very beginning. This phrase perfectly expresses Bishop Barron's primary concern: It's about proclaiming the Word of God itself, making it accessible in such a way that it can ignite: "Word on Fire."

In such a way that people ask in retrospect, "Didn't our hearts burn within us?" And that they might then perhaps stay on that path, continue to follow this Word and bring it to life in their own lives. "Word on fire." There is probably no exact German translation of this: "Word on Fire" certainly doesn't sound like the English original. The word that burns, that can ignite and carry us away, or even: The Word that is anointed—all of these things are certainly meant.

But what makes the heart burn? A key aspect is Bishop Barron's comprehensive biblical education, his knowledge of Scripture. Like few others, he explores the Christ event from the entirety of Scripture, including the great tradition of the Old Testament with its many fascinating announcements and promises that find their fulfillment or culmination in Christ. Of course, he does so with the greatest respect for the tradition of believing Judaism. But always also in a well-informed connection with Jewish tradition. It becomes so clear in his teaching why attempting to understand Christ without the Old Testament would be a profoundly amputated understanding.

From this understanding of Scripture, Bishop Barron also proclaims the whole Christ—and not just the one who would be pleasing to us. It is about the pre-existent Son of God, the Messiah promised in the Old Covenant, the Baby of Bethlehem, the herald of the Kingdom of God, the healer of the sick, the head of the new people of God, the suffering and slain one, the resurrected one, as well as the returning and judging Christ. It is about the whole Christ, who invites us to conversion and rebirth and who teaches us—as Paul says—to let our whole thinking be taken captive to him, to Christ (cf. 2 Cor 10:5).

Bishop Barron has also received extensive philosophical training, particularly in Thomas Aquinas, Paul Tillich, Josef Pieper, Dietrich von Hildebrand, John Henry Newman, but also in Nietzsche, Marx, Sartre, Foucault, and many others. Bishop Barron understands humanity from this perspective as well. He understands the need to stand before God—and he understands the ideologies about humanity, especially about humanity in our societies today. What's more, he is also extremely well-informed about the cultural, political, and social trends of the day and continually seeks public dialogue with key figures in politics, culture, and the media—and with figures of all political and ecclesiastical persuasions.

But what is far more essential and, in my view, the decisive factor: He is a prayer. He continually calls us Christians, especially those involved in preaching, to "Holy Hour," the daily hour with the Lord. With the Liturgy of the Hours, with Scripture, with the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. If you ask me where Bishop Barron's ability to ignite, or even "anointing," comes from, then this is the all-important source. Appropriating Scripture, on the one hand, through comprehensive education and, on the other, through prayer, through dialogue with its author, is the source of the anointing and the word that can ignite and carry us away.

3. Evangelization through Beauty

Robert Barron is also—like Josef Pieper himself—a master of presenting complex content in understandable, beautiful language. And he is adept at media. Like few other churchmen, he first used YouTube videos 25 years ago to engage with contemporary culture. He made videos in which he discussed movies from the perspective of faith. That's how it all began. He was also a radio preacher and had his own television show – and he produced a hugely successful television series about the Catholic faith, which he and his team filmed on several continents: "Catholicism," the story of the development of our faith and its beauty.

With this television series, which is now also available in German, he points to another focus of his preaching. As a theologian, he is deeply influenced by the so-called New Theology, whose outstanding exponents are Henri de Lubac and Hans Urs von Balthasar. And Joseph Ratzinger, a younger figure than these two, also stands in this important tradition and is also a frequent reference point for the theologian Robert Barron.

Cathcon: Before one gets over-enthusiastic about New Theology,  please read "Where is the New Theology leading us?" by Father Garrigou-Lagrange OP

In particular, von Balthasar based his great, magnificent 15-volume trilogy of theology on the so-called Transcendentals. In classical metaphysics, transcendentals are fundamental determinations of all being. True, good, and beautiful are the most striking of these, and they are usually named in this order. Balthasar, however, unfolds his great trilogy in exactly the reverse order. The first volumes of his great work are called "Glory – A Theological Aesthetics." Balthasar thus begins not with true or good, but with beautiful.

I mention this because, for Bishop Barron, this is also an extremely important, inviting approach to faith in his preaching. Barron makes it clear: Much of what they do in "Word on Fire" is intended, above all, to be beautiful, aesthetically pleasing. For in a Western, materialistic, liberal culture like ours, we as a church can generally no longer begin with what we have recognized as truth, i.e., not first with dogma. Nor with morality, i.e., the question of what is good or what should be done. In many respects, the church itself is too much in the moral dock for that today.

But what we can always do is show this culture what is beautiful and how beautifully our faith is expressed in the many magnificent works that our tradition knows: in painting, architecture, music, literature, and so on. The greatest artists of our faith tradition were also very often deeply religious people. Therefore, the products of "Word on Fire" are truly beautiful, not to say: always exquisite. The video productions about faith, about the saints, about the sacraments by Word on Fire are all very beautiful, very attractively produced.

For several years now, a very elaborate and beautifully produced magazine entitled "Evangelization and Culture" has also been published quarterly. There is the Word on Fire Bible, a wonderfully produced multi-volume Bible edition that combines the biblical text with weighty commentaries from the great faith tradition and illustrations by outstanding works of art. A Bible edition like a cathedral, they say. There are numerous books of our own production or classics that are being reissued. All very attractively done.

And the goal of these efforts to create aesthetically high-quality products is this: Those who are attracted by the beauty of the expression of faith may then, in a second step, more easily find their way to the question of what makes a life based on faith good and true, and thus hopefully also to dogma and morality. But then in such a way that these two aspects can be experienced as existentially relevant and liberating, and not initially as alienating, controlling, or even accusatory. After all, this is a common prejudice of our time: Catholicism means agreeing to a belief system that begins with sentences like: You must, you should, and you may not.

4. The Question of Humanity in the Face of the Digital Revolution

In our country, recently, and following various empirical surveys, we have been asking the question more clearly than before: Is humanity truly religious by nature? Or even Christian by nature—as we Catholics have basically liked to believe or even taken for granted since the Church Father Tertullian. Surveys in our country have long shown that more and more people are turning away from church and faith. They leave the church for various reasons, but interestingly, the vast majority of them don't then turn to another denomination or religion. Nor do they become esotericists, as I was once inclined to believe.

Rather, the number of people growing most rapidly in our country is the number of those who are either areligious or anti-religious, or who become so when they leave one of the two major churches in our country. And when I talk to my fellow believers in our eastern states, I have long heard confirmation of such statements: very, very many people are no longer interested in the question of God at all. They are disinterested and therefore precisely areligious or anti-religious. But what is the meaning of the old saying that the "anima humana naturaliter christiana" is, that the human soul essentially finds a kind of natural counterpart in faith in Christ?

Bishop Barron, in his context and for his country, repeatedly addresses the growing number of so-called "nones." These are the people who, when asked what religion they follow, answer "none." Yet he still adheres to the fundamental anthropological principle once formulated by Augustine: "Our heart is restless until it rests in you." One of the key factors why people no longer find this peace of faith, or often don't even seek it anymore, may be, among many others, the level of media distraction.

If people today devote many hours of their time every day to media consumption, then it is quite possible that the soul loses its contemplative dimension or that it becomes deeply buried. In the classical tradition, this would mean the ability to see, i.e., to perceive the world with the entire capacity of the soul. And such a view goes deeper than simply seeing something or many things – something Josef Pieper has repeatedly pointed out.

The media, especially digital media, continually distract us, serving our tendency toward addiction and constant curiosity, while simultaneously fostering our tendency toward narcissism – and thereby burying our soul's potential to look deeper, to allow ourselves to be touched by the truth. Bishop Barron sees all of this – also in connection with what the philosopher Charles Taylor called the "buffered self." This is a general form of self-perception of contemporary humanity, who seeks to unfold their essential developmental potential solely within and from within themselves. And who rarely finds an attitude of receiving and giving thanks.

This is a development that has been taking place for centuries and has continued through specific forms of rationalism, individualism, subjectivism, materialism, and other phenomena – and which is further intensified by the technological revolution. This modern form of self-awareness is, in Taylor's term, "buffered" against anything that could determine or even define me from the outside. And it seeks to engage in a self-determining way—and ultimately even to attribute to itself what it accepts from the outside. The external world is thus much more used and needed in the function of the self, and much less owed.

In the midst of this culture of the digitally distracted, buffered self, prone to constant narcissism, Bishop Barron nevertheless never ceases to enrich this culture himself. He and his now considerably large team continually serve both social and traditional media to reach people. The internet's Areopagus, full of chatter and superficiality, has been enriched with quality, argument, and beauty – for years.

And if I see it correctly, the USA has suddenly once again become a pioneer of at least a perceptible reversal movement: After years of decline, Catholicism has recently remained relatively stable in terms of numbers. Incidentally, this also applies to priestly vocations. And on the other hand, there is a remarkable new turn to Catholicism among intellectuals, actors, media professionals, and educated young adults. And if this is indeed a verifiable trend, Word on Fire and Robert Barron are a significant factor in it.

People seek and find in him a high-quality, intellectual, and existential exploration and guidance to faith, which many find far more satisfying than other approaches. But Barron's approaches also seem to reveal something of our fundamental anthropological axiom: that the human heart can only find peace in an encounter with the infinite.

While the constant, addictive distraction of digital media may be a path to a bad infinity, Bishop Barron, with his content, offers a path beyond it. Toward an encounter with the real infinite, with the living God. Many repeatedly testify on the Areopagus of the internet how much Bishop Barron has helped them to encounter the truly present God anew beyond the internet: in prayer, in his Word, in the sacraments, and in the community of the Church.

In this context, one of his words, which he repeatedly repeats, is particularly important: "Don't dumb down the faith." Translated, it means something like: Let's stop trivializing the content of faith. No, our God isn't a nice grandpa who sits on a cloud and rejoices when his creatures do even a little mischief. And Jesus isn't a nice man in sandals who walks through Israel and strokes children's heads. Our God is the Creator of heaven and earth, who, in Christ, allowed himself to be tortured and killed in order to love his creatures home. In doing so, he conquered sin, death, and the devil.

And this God longs for creatures who have been made new, who have a new heart—and who are evident as belonging to the family of God; that they allow God to determine their path in life; that, in Barron's words, they have entered the stage of theo-drama and left their personal self-reflection or even their ego-drama behind. Therefore: Don't dumb down the faith.

Bishop Barron also wants others to learn what he is doing with Word on Fire: evangelizing in today's world and its culture. Two initiatives stand out for this purpose. One is the Word on Fire Institute, an interactive online school with numerous courses that convey the depth and beauty of faith, help people live a spiritual life, and support participants from all over the world in sharing what they have learned with others.

The institute has over 25,000 members after six years of existence. Furthermore—and this is the most recent development—Bishop Barron has begun to gather a group of priests around him to continue his work. If I understand correctly, this is intended to be the beginning of a new congregation consisting of men who, as priests, are just as adept at new ways of evangelizing in the digital world and other contemporary worlds as they are at sound theology and philosophy.

5. Politics, Catholic social teaching, and beige Catholicism

And then a word about the political dimension of Bishop Barron's work. First of all: Barron is first and foremost a philosophically educated, systematic theologian who, like few others, succeeds in bringing faith into dialogue with the culture of his time. And for him, this dialogue with culture naturally includes Catholic social teaching, which he is able to explain just as understandably as the other topics. And when I hear how some voices in our country reflexively try to defame him as right-wing or a Trump supporter, such a categorization, which usually happens very quickly, reveals much more about the person making the judgment, and often enough also about the church system and its media processes in our country, than about the person being judged.

In what follows, I'll exaggerate things somewhat, and by no means do I mean all manifestations of Catholicism in our country, but in fact, I believe something like the majority positions among those who are still church tax-paying members or even among those who earn their living from church institutions: In my perception, the so-called majority has largely adjusted to the fact that in our German, Catholic world, positions of liberality have been reached, beyond which many simply do not want or cannot return. This applies particularly to the major anthropological questions and, in connection with them, to the very fundamental question of the sacramental constitution of our Church.

Many in our Church have largely left behind doctrinally binding positions on this. And because there are so many of them, probably just as many believe that this is now essentially the new Catholicism shared by most. It's just that in Rome or other parts of the universal Church, this is not yet as well understood as it is here. And this is where it's very convenient when conservative or even right-wing political movements and parties, for example, propagate and instrumentalize family policy positions that actually have their origins in the faith and human image of our Church; positions for which we are the original and not the inferior, political copy, which is often nothing more than superficial populism. Nevertheless, such populist instrumentalized positions can then be used to quickly defame a substantively and intellectually profound Catholicism as "right-wing." Simply because it no longer fits the image of a majority-shared belief system.

As a consequence of such debates, a characteristic of the Church in our country quickly becomes apparent: in many cases, something like a mostly well-funded appeasement Catholicism dominates, but one that has essentially lost its spiritual power and appeal. By this, I mean a kind of belonging shared by many Catholics in our country who struggle with some essential aspects of our teachings or who have long since left them behind – but who remain for other reasons nonetheless.

For example, because the Church is, after all, a good employer here, where one is well looked after. Or because "they do a lot of good social work at the Church." In any case, we also have a great deal of what Bishop Barron calls "beige Catholicism," beige here as a color that is not particularly bright and therefore not particularly meaningful. Applied to the understanding of faith, "beige" Catholicism is a phenomenon in which the dominant culture dominates the faith and adapts it to itself. And this without the faith also having an effect in the other direction. In other words, without being a faith that, with truthfulness, conviction, and love, is capable of transforming the culture itself.

I firmly believe that Josef Pieper would never have wanted to defend such a "beige" Catholicism. In his willingness to engage in dialogue, Pieper was open to any discourse, but in the tenets of his faith, he was a loyal man of his church. And in this, in my view, he has much more in common with this year's award winner than with all those who sought to defend the Pieper Prize from Bishop Barron, primarily because they consider it no longer compatible with a predominantly German form of Catholic belief.

And it is indeed true: This is precisely why something like new evangelization does not have an easy time in our specifically German form of church. It is annoying or suspicious to many. But because Bishop Barron places "new evangelization" at the heart of his faithful commitment, it seems almost inevitable to his critics that he must somehow come from the right-wing corner. As I said, such a classification says more about the one who categorizes it than about the one being categorized.

However, I would like to predict the following: In the foreseeable future, significantly more people will ask themselves: How is it possible that Bishop Barron has such a reach here and has long been one of the beacons of hope for renewal among many young people in our country? How can this be, given his loyalty to the teachings? Perhaps then one or two will finally reflect and find the following answer: Perhaps Bishop Barron is so successful and so far-reaching, not despite, but precisely because he is able to speak the great, beautiful tradition of the Catholic faith so vividly, so deeply, and so relevantly into our time. And perhaps he can even achieve precisely this by ensuring that some honest seekers truly find the depths in which their souls are nourished, instead of ultimately ending up frustrated and actually drifting into a right-wing or left-wing political extreme.

Bishop Barron has since received nine honorary doctorates and numerous media awards. He was invited to the headquarters of Google, Amazon, and Facebook to speak about "Arguing Religion." He has spoken in the British Parliament about the role of the Church in history – and he has well over 6 million followers on the popular social media channels combined.

Therefore, I hope that this award ceremony will also draw the attention of many more searching people to him – and that in this way he can contribute to a new awakening of the Catholic faith in our country, as he did in his own homeland. Dear Bishop Robert, it is a great joy and honor for me to congratulate you on the 2025 Josef Pieper Prize. Thank you for your wonderful service, which fits so well with the thought and work of Josef Pieper – and which is so exemplary for the new evangelization within – within the Church – and at the same time in the broader dialogue with today's culture and world. Congratulations and God's richest blessings.

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