Bishop Barron Breaks Bread at Winona Catholic Worker

The bishop had seconds of chicken soup…and served himself.

Bishop Robert Barron of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester and founder of Word on Fire Catholic Ministries, broke bread and enjoyed soup and conversation with guests and volunteers at Bethany Catholic Worker house in Winona, Minnesota, on March 19, the Feast of St. Joseph.

As he arrived, the bishop chatted with the thirty or so guests before being invited to offer a
blessing on the soup, salad, bread, and dessert. Then he joined the self-serve line filing through the kitchen to find a place at one of the long communal tables.

A lively dinnertime conversation ranged from typical Minnesotan (“Weirdest winter
I’ve ever seen…”) to tidbits about his recent official visit to the Vatican (“I like to think the
man who may be the next pope took my breakfast order…”) to the beginnings of the Word on Fire ministry (“a radio show on WGN at 5:15 Sunday mornings”).

Barron spoke of Dorothy Day as a particular inspiration in both her actions and in her faith, and commended the Catholic Worker Movement for its dedication to her ideals of service and social justice, with a reminder that those ideals grew out of her deep and abiding Catholic faith.

All photos by Mary Farrell.