蜜桃交友

By Linda Bordoni

Bishop Robert Barron, auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles, is one of the 266 bishop delegates to the Synod of Bishops on Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment.

As part three of the proceedings is already underway, and a 鈥渨riting group鈥� has been elected and charged with composing the Synod鈥檚 final document, Bishop Barron speaks of an interesting and enriching experience and of how he has been deeply moved by the testimonies of participants from parts of the world where Christianity is persecuted and oppressed.

鈥淭he most surprising thing is whenever people from persecuted parts of the Catholic world speak they get a very strong reaction from the Synod hall,鈥� Bishop Barron says. He highlighted the fact that the two longest ovations have been for a person from Iraq and one from India where Christians are being actively persecuted.

New perspectives

鈥淚t was very interesting and healthy 鈥� in a way 鈥� to get us out of our first-world preoccupations鈥�.

And reflecting on how he is so engaged with social media and the internet, Bishop Barron says that this reality really shone the light on how 鈥渋n a way all this is secondary to people who are dying for their faith鈥�.

鈥淪o it has been a great raising of consciousness and broadening of perspective鈥�, he says.

The 鈥榥ones鈥�

Mentioning the content of his own intervention, Bishop Barron explained that it focused on the importance for the Church to reach out to the so-called 鈥榥ones鈥� 鈥� those with no religious association or interest.

He explains that this is a huge issue in the US and in the West and that one of his fears is that 鈥渁 lot of our language and the strategies we are proposing are going to miss the nones鈥�.

鈥淭hese are people who are not going to come to our institutions; they are not going to come to our parishes and our programmes鈥�, he says.

These are people, Barron continues, who are not looking for spiritual direction: 鈥淭hese are people who say 鈥業 鈥榙on鈥檛 believe in God, I think Jesus Christ is an old myth, that the Church is corrupt, that religion causes violence. These are things I hear all the time from the nones鈥�.

But, he adds, these are people the Church has a duty to reach out to and 鈥渢hrough God鈥檚 Providence we have the means to do so: social media!鈥�

Reaching the existential peripheries

鈥淚 love the fact that I can do a video or a presentation and it goes way beyond the confines of the Church. And I know that because you hear back from people鈥�, he says.

And even if many of the comments are negative, Bishop Barron says, it is still positive because it means that these media are 鈥済etting us out to the existential peripheries鈥� and once you get that contact, you鈥檝e got some traction and you can engage with people.

鈥淲e have the means to reach out to the nones鈥�, he says.

Barron is also adamant that if you are careful you do not risk diminishing the content on social media, and says that he hates 鈥渄umbed-down鈥� Catholicism which, he says, has been 鈥渁 pastoral disaster in the West鈥�.

I believe, he concludes, 鈥測ou can be rich in content and reach out on social media鈥�!