Chicago, Ill., May 11, 2012 / 17:18 pm
Cardinal Francis George of Chicago has named Catholic communicator and evangelist Father Robert L. Barron as the rector and president of the University of St. Mary of the Lake and Mundelein Seminary.
“As a priest of Jesus Christ I accept this responsibility with joy,” Fr. Barron said May 10. “The appointment brings together many of the elements that have long been of great importance to me, namely, the priesthood, theological scholarship, pastoral care and evangelization.”
Fr. Barron is founding director of Word on Fire Catholic Ministries, a nonprofit media organization to support Catholic evangelism through the lives of the saints and through the Catholic traditions of art, architecture, poetry, philosophy and theology.
In 2011 Fr. Barron created the television series “Catholicism” to explain the history and the self-understanding of the Catholic faith. The series, which was well-received, aired on public television and on EWTN.