IT’S a “must do” for all, no matter whether you are Catholic, Christian or a non-believer.
Such is the mindset of Australian Catholic University (ACU), Brisbane campus minister Mark Lysaght toward the March 8 visit to Brisbane of US theologian, philosopher and author Fr Robert Barron.
“If you haven’t heard of him, you need to,” Mr Lysaght said.
“I’ve been watching him for the last couple of years through ‘Word on Fire’ on You Tube.”
Fr Barron launched the not-for-profit “Word on Fire Catholic Ministries” in 2000.
“He’s a great communicator, really articulate to the message of Christianity and a needed messenger for this generation,” Mr Lysaght said.
“Fr Barron felt that the wrong people were telling the story of Catholicism and decided to do something about it – it’s worth seeing what he came up with.”
Interest in Fr Barron’s efforts “has gone way beyond expectations” in the US, the campus minister said.
The Word on Fire website offers daily blogs, articles, commentaries and more than 10 years of weekly sermon podcasts.
Ordained in 1986, Fr Barron is the Francis Cardinal George Professor of Faith and Culture at the University of St Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary near Chicago.
He has published numerous books, essays, and DVD programs.
Fr Barron is a frequent commentator on faith and culture for The Chicago Tribune, NBC Nightly News, FOX News, Our Sunday Visitor, The Catholic Herald in London, and The Catholic New World.
He lectures extensively in the US and abroad, including the Pontiï¬cal North American College and the Pontiï¬cal University of St Thomas Aquinas, both in Rome.
Cardinal Francis George of Chicago calls Fr Barron “one of the Church’s best messengers”.
Since 1992, Fr Barron has taught Systematic Theology at Mundelein Seminary.
He was a visiting professor at the University of Notre Dame in 2002.
Fr Barron received a Masters Degree in Philosophy from the Catholic University of America in 1982 and a doctorate in Sacred Theology from the Institut Catholique de Paris in 1992.
As part of a national tour to ACU campuses, Fr Barron will give a public lecture on March 8 at the Edmund Rice Performing Arts Centre, South Brisbane, at 7.30pm.
For more information about the visit go to the ACU website www.acu.edu.au
