"The infinite intensity of God's goodness.": A CWR interview with Fr. Robert Barron

From the just-posted Catholic World Report interview with Fr. Robert Barron about the "Catholicism Project":

Father Robert Barron recently sat down in his Chicago-area offices with Father Matthew Gamber, SJ for a discussion about Barron's newly released 10-part DVD series, Catholicism.  Produced at a cost of three million dollars, all of which was raised through private donations, the series will be shown on nearly 90 public television stations around the US this fall. It will be broadcast on EWTN, as well.

The series covers the major themes of the Catholic faith—taking viewers on a world-wide tour of its doctrines, its past and present, its sights, sounds, and especially its people. Highly experienced professionals from the world of network television helped to produce the series, in which Father Barron serves as the narrator and master teacher.

Father Barron holds the Francis Cardinal George Chair of Faith and Culture at St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary near Chicago, and has been a guest professor at many of the pontifical universities in Rome. He heads the organization Word on Fire, which produced the series and which is dedicated to proclaiming the Gospel through the use of modern media.

CWR: In the midst of one of the episodes you pause to reflect, and seem to utter spontaneously the phrase, "The infinite intensity of God's goodness." This seems to be what the whole Catholicism series is meant to display—would you say that is a good summary statement, or perhaps your own motto for the project?

Father Barron: Yes, that would be a way to summarize it. It is because of this time we are going through. This time has been the worst crisis for the Catholic Church in American history due to the sex-abuse scandals. The Church has been on the defensive. I wanted to show the life-affirming message of the Gospel—that God became human that we might become like God. I want that to come through. I wanted that, because the Church has come through such a dark and negative period. The project was born of this dark period, I would say.

CWR: One priest, ordained about a decade ago, who recently viewed the program, said that he has never seen such a confident public presentation of the Catholic faith. Where did that of confidence come from in the midst of what you call a very dark period for the Church?

Father Barron: I came of age in what I have called and written about as "Beige Catholicism." Beige, literally, in the bland design of many of the churches that were built during that era, but also in its hand-wringing approach to apologetics. It seemed that, in the Church, we were willing—almost by instinct—to see the worst side of things. And this has not served us well. I wanted the program to be a bold and confident, but not cocky or off-putting, presentation. But bold and confident has been the way of the Church before me. There was St. Paul, who obviously represented a bold Catholicism. Think of G.K. Chesterton, think of Archbishop Fulton Sheen, and their boldness in proclaiming the Gospel and the Church. We have this well-established instinct for self-critique nowadays, but I wanted to present the fuller and affirmative picture of the Church.

Read the entire interview on www.CatholicWorldReport.com...