Here she is, writing a couple of weeks ago about the ongoing scandal of Bishop Robert Barron’s toadying to the Regime as it nakedly went full-speed ahead with the Horst Wesselization of Charlie Kirk:
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Bishop Robert Barron was on top form last week.
He went to Charlie Kirk’s memorial service. Ok – well, God bless him for that: he wanted to support Charlie’s family at such a terrible time.
He posted about the service afterwards, saying that he found it “a rich, spiritually enlivening experience”.
Ok – um… well, God bless him for that, too: it’s perhaps not how some people would describe it, but probably Barron was moved by Kirk’s widow saying that she can forgive Charlie’s killer. That was a good and beautiful thing for her to do.
Then Barron said that he “was moved to hear often the name of Jesus on the lips of our government officials.” Um – ok – well. Yes. OK – Name of Jesus. A good thing, for sure. Slightly weird, that he’s suddenly talking like a cross between Yoda and an Edwardian hymnal – but fair enou….
It’s no good. I can’t. *Where was he sitting and what event is he even talking about?*
A quick reminder for Barron. Basic Christianity. We’re all crap at it. But at least we know what we’re supposed to be aiming for.
“Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also….Do to others as you would have them do to you… Love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back.”
“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God… But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort.”
Now here’s what the two top “government officials” actually said, at Barron’s “spiritually enlivening” experience.
Trump: “I hate my opponent, and I don’t want the best for them. I’m sorry. I am sorry, Erika… but I can’t stand my opponent.”
“They [the Democrats] cheated like dogs, but we got them back, didn’t we, huh? Got them back.”
Stephen Miller: “[we have] fire in our hearts. And that fire burns with a righteous fury that our enemies cannot comprehend or understand.”
“I am the storm. Erika is the storm. We are the storm. And our enemies cannot comprehend our strength, our determination, our resolve, our passion. Our lineage and our legacy hails back to Athens, to Rome, to Philadelphia, to Monticello.”
That’s not so much a racist dog-whistle as a racist fog-horn.
Miller again: “[To our enemies] You have nothing. You are nothing. You are wickedness. You are jealousy. You are envy. You are hatred. You are nothing. You can build nothing. You can produce nothing. You can create nothing.”
“You have no idea the dragon you have awakened. You have no idea how determined we will be to save the civilization, to save the West, to save this republic”
“To our enemies, you have nothing to give. You have nothing to offer. You have nothing to share but bitterness.”
Yes – somewhere in all that, Barron found something he liked, something he’s actively commending to the rest of us. From where I’m sitting, it looks like he found the New Faith – the one which occasionally says the word “Jesus”, while worshipping wealth and raw nationalism.
Barron, after all, sat there and enjoyed an event where Trump described Charlie Kirk as “our greatest evangelist for… “ – for Jesus? for Christianity? No, as “our greatest evangelist *for American liberty*”.
He enjoyed it – maybe not in spite of, but because Trump said that Charlie “is immortal. He’s a martyr now for… “ for Jesus, for Christ? No – “He’s a martyr now for American freedom.”
He enjoyed it because Trump said “Charlie Kirk loved…” – not God, not Christ, but “…Charlie Kirk loved America with everything he had.”
He enjoyed it because – even when Trump mentioned the word Jesus and “what Charlie called the most important decision of his life, to become a Christian and a follower of his savior, Jesus Christ” – he quickly clarified exactly what Charlie did with all this:
Trump: “Inspired by faith and his love of freedom, Charlie did something remarkable when he was just 18 years old… He devoted his life to converting young people to… “ to God, to Jesus? No. “He devoted his life to converting people to the conservative cause…”
Barron enjoyed it because Trump said that Charlie “was a missionary… He would go into these colleges. All of a sudden, within two years, three years, they turned into bastions of… Christianity, of God? No – “they turned into bastions of conservatism.”
Trump said that “Charlie and Erika made Turning Point hot. We are looking at a country that has the chance to attain a level like never before. Tariffs are making us rich again, richer than anybody ever thought was possible… And [Charlie’s] looking down at us right now and he’s saying, ‘Wow, that’s a great crowd.’ He’s saying, ‘That’s a great crowd.” And it’s a great crowd of patriots.’”
Barron saw all of this and called it spiritually enlivening.
So what are we to do? Well, for starters – whenever we see this New Faith (which is actually as old as sin) at a church near us, for God’s sake – literally, for Christ’s sake – we must stand up, speak out clearly to describe it for what it is, and then help the people who are in there to get out. Because if Barron and his followers carry on down this course, they are doomed. Briefly rich – maybe, if they’re lucky. But doomed.
So speak up. Don’t be afraid. And – for Christ’s sake – keep writing to Barron’s diocese. They need to hear our disgust – because whatever Barron is selling, it’s certainly not Christianity.
Phone: +1 507-516-6946
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10 Responses
The Holt Gospel according to….DonaldTrump? The mixing of Christianity with MAGA has resulted in an abomination. So tax cuts for billionaires and throwing the poor under the bus is holy? Where did they find this? Matthew? Luke? Do these people actually believe this?
Barron is a Trump sycophant. He is Lindsey Graham with a Roman collar. Has he ever even mildly disagreed with Trump? It’s sickening to hear this MAGA schlock coming from a Bishop.
Most bishops have only ever sidled up to power.
They’re just another class of politician.
I love how the Sisters of Charity in NY told off their boss Cardinal Dolan, for likening Charlie Kirk to St. Paul.
Bravo. They didn’t mince words.
We had a bit of a row in our family over Kirk. My son Xavier asked, “but what about all of the good things he said?” I told him that evil always uses things like piety, patriotic sentiment and the beauty of family to cover up for what is vile and evil. (Nazi Germany)
“What if 98% of what comes out of somebody’s mouth is the good and the beautiful, but the other 2% is from Hell?” I asked.
Even if we could even say that 98% of what he said was good/okay, which it wasn’t, –the very act of wearing a MAGA hat means you support the hate that spews from Trump’s mouth.
My son agreed that Kirk’s comments about black people were ugly and sinful. I pointed out to him that comments like that keep the flames of racism burning in people. The widespread willingness to call Kirk a saint proves that decent Americans like Barron are okay with racism. It doesn’t shock or disgust them at all.
I left things with my kid saying, “be 100%, don’t accept 98%–evil thrives and grows in that dark corner.”
I’m so disappointed in Bishop Barron. Our parish watched many of his film series together, and they were great! A lot of the essays, books, movies produced by Word on Fire are truly inspirational. I have never forgotten his advice to look at your credit card statement to see what you value and if there is room to tilt the scales more to the poor than to keep indulging yourself, that if you have a choice when making a purchase such as clothing or a new car, get the cheaper version and give the difference between that and the more expensive thing you could have had to charity – all good advice. Has his prominence gone to his head? Does he not know Charlie Kirk called Pope Francis a Marxist, or that he referred to Pope Leo as “Mr. Prevost” after he was elected?!? Or that Charlie Kirk interviewed Frank Pavone, the laicized priest, about Pope Leo? Of all the people to ask for an interview…sure, ask the one who was basically fired from the Church what he thinks of the new Pope…
I didn’t know about the Pavone part, or that he called Pope Leo Mr. Prevost. Gross. Not surprising. My mother’s whacked out Catholic friends are already poisoning her against Pope Leo. She was so excited to begin with. (Does this make them Protestants?)
Yesterday, when we listened to Bishop Barron’s Sunday sermon on the way to mass, I felt a little chagrined. He IS brilliant, and inspires me, but as I listen to him and reflect upon this betrayal of conscience, it’s clear to me that we are all at risk when it comes to vanity. We can have the knowledge of angels and still do bad things. I think it was Josemaria Escriva who wrote about how we can get along for a while on muscle memory of virtue and theology, but if we aren’t rooted in a deep prayer life, we will eventually run out of spiritual fuel.
Right wing Catholics think that anybody who is not a Christo-Fascist is thus a Marxist. Even moderates and old guard conservatives are now “Marxists.” It’s gotten very tiresome.
@Will, when sitting at lunch with a bunch of them, I refuse to argue or even engage in a polite exchange of ideas when they say awful things. Why bother. Some of them are too far gone.
Yes, I know a few of them. They are logic resistant. I voted for Reagan and was a Republican. MAGA is not “conservative.” They are right wing. Not the same thing. Mussolini was not a conservative.
My poor Mom. She’s good, just afraid and looking for a savior. PG&E turned the electricity off and she was so lonely without FOX News.