Satisfying the ‘hungry heart’: an interview with Bishop Barron 

In addition to the spiritual maladies of the times, Bishop Robert Barron says he also sees opportunities for both evangelization and renewal in the Church. / Credit: Screenshot/EWTN News in Depth

CNA Newsroom, Mar 16, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, provided both diagnoses of and prescriptions for the most pervasive spiritual maladies of our times in an interview with EWTN News Rome correspondent Colm Flynn.

One of the most popular bishops in the United States and founder of the Word on Fire evangelization ministry, Barron told Flynn the spiritual crisis of our age is stoked by “the immanentism, the materialism, the secularism that has taken hold of much of our culture.” 

“Nothing in this world can satisfy the hungry heart. You can deceive yourself for a while,” he explained. “But the heart knows otherwise and will rebel against that sort of immanentism.” 

Barron told Flynn he also sees hopeful signs and opportunities for the Church. 

He has observed that even “some of the most popular podcasts in the world” that were secularized 10 years ago are now using “spiritual language.”

“I’m aware of that, kind of in the zeitgeist, there’s this moment of new spiritual interest,” he said. “Let’s take advantage of it … the Church should move into that space to say boldly, but lovingly, we have the answers. You’ve now experienced the hunger. We got the bread of life, that will satisfy you.”

Barron said that within the Church itself, another hopeful sign is the renewed focus on the Eucharist, which in the United States will culminate this year in the National Eucharistic Congress that will take place July 17–21 in Indianapolis.

Asked what he hopes will be the fruit of the country’s Eucharistic Revival, the bishop answered: “A keener sense of the importance of Jesus Christ … so that I hope it awakens people’s faith.”