Father Robert Barron stands in front of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles. CNS photo/J.D. Long-Garcia, The Tidings

“Phenomenal news” was among reactions from people in Minnesota as word spread June 2 of the appointment of Bishop Robert Barron to the Diocese of Winona-Rochester.

Michael Naughton, director of the Center for Catholic Studies at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, said Bishop Barron has helped that ministry since the bishop’s days as a priest, and gave the keynote speech at Catholic Studies’ 25th anniversary celebration as a bishop in 2018.

“I think this is phenomenal news for us in Minnesota and certainly for our archdiocese,” Naughton told The Catholic Spirit. The founder of Catholic media apostolate Word on Fire and auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles is “an international figure who has evangelized all sectors of our society in such a powerful way.”

Dr. Tod Worner, a member of St. Bartholomew in Wayzata who also is a fellow of the Word on Fire Institute and managing editor of the institute’s journal “Evangelization and Culture,” said in the three years he has been with the apostolate he has not made it out to Santa Barbara, where Bishop Barron focused his pastoral ministry. “For the (Holy) Spirit to lead him to Winona-Rochester, that’s even better,” Worner said.

While he didn’t get to Santa Barbara, he has met Bishop Barron several times, and exchanged numerous telephone calls and emails, Worner said. As a native of Chicago, the bishop has Midwestern roots, and a great capacity for meeting and being fully present with people that will fit well with southern Minnesota, Worner said.

“I think he’s going to bring a profound enthusiasm for the new evangelization,” Worner said.

And given the nature of flexible, far-reaching modern media, Word on Fire initiatives should not suffer in any fashion when Bishop Barron moves from Los Angeles, Worner said.

Worner and Naughton said Bishop Barron has a gift for accessibly and convincingly explaining the faith, and Naughton noted the bishop’s ability to address challenging social, political and cultural issues including racism, sexual identity and distribution of wealth.

“He’s found a way to bring the Gospel to contemporary problems of our culture that is fruitful, that is loving and that is always true to the faith that has been given to us by the Church,” Naughton said.

Bishop Barron’s connections to the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis include speaking when he was a priest in 2013 at a daylong Rediscover: Catholic Celebration that drew 5,000 people to the RiverCentre in St. Paul. Among his comments was expressing the need for a missionary Church, “not a Church bickering with itself, but a Church full of missionary zeal.”

Many local parishes have used his documentary film series “Catholicism,” which premiered on PBS in 2011, and its sequel series, “Catholicism: The Pivotal Players,” as part of faith formation.

Father James Burns, president of St. Mary’s University of Minnesota in Winona, said that while he doesn’t know Bishop Barron personally, he is familiar with his work, including the film series “Catholicism,” and he is confident the bishop will be as enthusiastic about St. Mary’s as retiring Bishop John Quinn has been.

“Bishop Quinn has been a great supporter of the university,” Father Burns said, including teaching a theology course every semester and donating his stipend to student scholarships that, over the 13 years of his tenure as bishop, amounted to more than $70,000.

“The fact that Bishop Barron was rector of a seminary (president-rector of the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary near Chicago from 1992 to 2015), his academic work will be a benefit to us,” said Father Burns, a priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. “He understands pastoral and academic needs.”

Father Joseph Taphorn, rector of The St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul, welcomed Bishop Barron in true Minnesota fashion.

“It is with great enthusiasm that we welcome Bishop Barron to the vibrant Catholic community here in the Land of 10,000 Lakes,” Father Taphorn said in a June 2 statement. “The Church has been blessed by his work in seminary formation, diocesan leadership, and ministry via Word on Fire Catholic Ministries. Similarly, our community has been blessed by the presence of our seminarians from the Diocese of Winona-Rochester. We look forward to partnering with Bishop Barron in his mission to cultivate healthy vocations in his new diocese.”