Fear of Celebrity Priests

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opus101

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Ever since the rise and crashing fall of several media-savvy celebrity priests in my lifetime (I can think of 4 right off hand), I am extremely wary of priests who are constantly in view, presenting their “views” on everything.

I realize that many are called to this type of apostolate, but I can’t help but notice that some seem to promote themselves just as much as the Gospel.

One of my questions is: how do we know where all of the money goes, when a specific apostolate is not associated with a group or association, but mainly with an individual himself?

For instance, does anyone know exactly how the profits of Word On Fire are specifically used? According to the website, it is a non-profit organization that supports the work of Fr. Barron. It’s not supporting a charity, it’s not supporting a wider organization, it specifically says it’s for the support of Fr. Barron.

wordonfire.org/about/word-on-fire/

Can anyone reassure me about this?
 
Word on Fire is a charity. They are bringing the Catholic voice to the secular culture in a way that is engaging. That is a very much needed act of charity.

If you have concern over how the money is spent, you could always contact them directly and ask. My guess is that it goes towards many of the costs associated with the apostolate. It costs money to run the website and make the videos. A video series of the caliber of Catholicism would not be possible without some generous donations. There are lots of people that are required to work at these things, and they all deserve to be paid a living wage for their services. I highly doubt that Fr. Barron (or anyone else at Word on Fire) is pocketing the money to spend on personal extravagances.

I understand your reticence about “celebrity priests”. There are temptations and dangers. But the same fate does not await all such priests. There are a great number of priests and bishops – and even popes – who are “celebrities” and yet who also manage to be good and holy men.

Fr. Barron is a diocesan priest and is also rector of the seminary in Mundelein. He’s not lone wolfing it, which I think is what has made some more susceptible to such temptations.
 
Thanks, Joe. That was helpful. I only wish that, instead of saying that it “supports the work of Father Robert Barron”, the website would have said it “supports the salaries of employees and the media production costs of the apostolate”.

Saying that it supports the work of an individual can justify just about anything.
 
opus101 said:
Thanks, Joe. That was helpful. I only wish that, instead of saying that it “supports the work of Father Robert Barron”, the website would have said it “supports the salaries of employees and the media production costs of the apostolate”.

Saying that it supports the work of an individual can justify just about anything.
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It might seem to me that the work of FRB would include such things as salaries of empoloyees and media production costs but it would certainly be more specific and may help reassure those who are concered their money is indeed going for a ministry so to speak and not just for his personal fame and recognition.

Mary.
 
opus101 said:
Thanks, Joe. That was helpful. I only wish that, instead of saying that it “supports the work of Father Robert Barron”, the website would have said it “supports the salaries of employees and the media production costs of the apostolate”.

Saying that it supports the work of an individual can justify just about anything.
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Well, they’re all part of his “work.”

I get what you’re saying. I think the reason they do that is because. Fr. Barron is the face of the apostolate. He’s the one people want to see. And he’s the one, generally speaking, that people want to feel like they are “supporting” with their donation. It doesn’t mean they are supporting him in the sense of paying his personal bills. It is support of the work that he is doing.

It’s not uncommon with non-profits to market themselves that way. It would be the same thing with Fr. Pavone and the Priests for Life. Or even Scott Hahn and the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology. If you’ve got a big name at the helm, you tend to put the big name front and center. People want to feel like they’re supporting the good work that these individuals are doing, not that their money is a drop in the bucket to covering overhead costs (as necessary and essential as those costs may be to support the work of said individuals).
 
I think the given explanations are good and convincing, but the OP could perhaps contact the Word On Fire and express concerns on how their marketing could be perceived. I’m sure they don’t want to give the wrong message and would welcome feedback.

I was actually wondering about the same thing yesterday when I was watching some Word On Fire Youtube videos. Glad I have gotten my answer 👍
 
I think some are more interested than others to where there money is going. Here are some things you generally never see on an appeal letter for a non-profit asking for donations:
  • Your donation of $10 will pay for two reams of printer paper that we will use to make copies in our office.
  • Your donation of $20 will pay for two boxes of manila envelopes for us to mail stuff out.
  • Your donation of $50 will pay for a new office chair for Sally our secretary.
  • Your donation of $100 will pay most of our phone bill for one month.
  • Your donation of $250 will pay for our annual staff Christmas party.
  • Your donation of $500 will pay for one of our staff to fly to a conference and set up a booth to promote our apostolate.
  • Your donation of $1000 will pay for us to rent our office space for one month.
Most of us want to feel like our money is going towards mission work. And, really, it still is. But it can be a lot harder for many of us to recognize that if it gets itemized down to the most mundane components. We don’t necessarily realize that, because that staff member was at that conference, people from ten parishes picked up copies of the apostolates latest materials to bring back to their parish where a total of 1000 people gathered to learn more about the Catholic faith, 50 of whom were touched in such a profound way that they had what can be described as a genuine moment of conversion. And the reason four of those ten parishes knew about the booth was because of the mailing sent out on the copy paper in the manila envelopes from the office space (or via the email sent out by the computers – things that also need to be paid for).
 
Word on Fire revolves around the cult of personality, and that particular personality’s opinion/take on a myriad of subjects.wordonfire.org/faq/

All of the questions about the ministry have to do with Fr. Barron or how to order things, the return policy, etc. This makes it seem more like a business.

Hopefully, the temptations that go along with this will be avoided/overcome, and we will not have to endure the scandal of another star falling from the sky.
 
opus101 said:
Word on Fire revolves around the cult of personality, and that particular personality’s opinion/take on a myriad of subjects.wordonfire.org/faq/

All of the questions about the ministry have to do with Fr. Barron or how to order things, the return policy, etc. This makes it seem more like a business.

Hopefully, the temptations that go along with this will be avoided/overcome, and we will not have to endure the scandal of another star falling from the sky.
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🤷 That’s one way to look at it, I guess. But I think we should give the good father the benefit of the doubt rather that operating under the assumption that his fall from grace is imminent.

I hadn’t perused the PFL and SPC websites. They were just examples off the top of my head. I know I’ve received appeal letters from both organizations before and I was always left with the impression that by giving money I am helping them personally. The language on the Word on Fire website seems in the same vein to me.

I’m just not concerned. He’s a diocesan priest in good standing with the Archdiocese of Chicago. I’m sure that Cardinal George (and soon Archbishop Cupich) are more than up to the task of making sure Fr. Barron stays grounded. If they thought there was a danger, they would pull the plug and transfer him out of the spotlight.
 
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