Black Friday and bodybuilders: Bishop Barron's crass tactics mimic the culture

https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/black-friday-and-bodybuilders-bishop-barrons-crass-tactics-mimic
St. Paul told us to be all things to all (men). That he reaches beyond traditional boundaries is probably a good thing. I expect he is selling the Church as Jesus ate with sinners and cured anyone, not just fellow Jews. Barron is confident that once he gets people in the door others like him will catechize them.

Asking for money from social media is akin to sending the 72 out without money or the Jesuit practice of sending candidates for the priesthood out on a bus and with nothing with the instruction to get back on their own. It is like field survival training in ranger school without the need to kill small animals.

I am sure that Barron has hired outside help for his fundraising. He uses it because it works. My inbox gets requests for support year round, including from Catholic organizations like America.

The use of body builders is troubling, as the message that one must be beautiful is the path to self loathing. One can argue that the practice of frequent Confession does the same thing. It is faux holiness and self absorption.

Worrying about going to Hell is the heart of conservatism. It is also why we have celibacy, which is the same kind of faux holiness. It is also why abuse by priests gets more attention than incest.

People like Barron because they want both answers and certainty. They want the bottom line, not the questions or the open ended challenge that faith and Francis demands of us.

I am not a fan but I know people who are. Not all of them are conservatives.

Like most clergy he does not think outside the box. In America he compared gay marriage to marrying a relative so one could get the benefits of marriage. Of course, this ignores the sexual component of marriage. Not surprising for a celibate who is likely asexual. He also ignores the fact that family members already have kinship while marriage is created kinship and separation from the natal family.

It is that kind of rule based spirituality that is dangerous to the soul, which is my concern with Barron and those like him.