Bishop Barron and Dave Rubin: Apostolic Office in an Age of Celebrity

On apostolic witness, celebrity culture, and the purpose of episcopal authority

Last night I attended a confirmation in the old rite, presided over by the Bishop of Portsmouth, Philip Egan. Though I have attended the Traditional Latin Mass almost exclusively in recent years, this was the first time I had experienced a Pontifical liturgy such as an old rite confirmation. What struck me most was the juridical and ceremonial honour afforded to the bishop.

The servers and ministers genuflected to the bishop before genuflecting to the altar, because the bishop is ceremonially treated as the visible representative of Christ governing the local Church. Likewise, as the confirmation candidates and their sponsors approached Bishop Egan for photographs afterwards, each genuflected and kissed the ring on his right hand. This was not adoration of the man Philip Egan, but recognition of the office he bears as a successor of the Apostles.

The old rite places a much stronger emphasis on hierarchical order and graded honour than modern liturgy often does, and in that sense it serves as a useful corrective in an age determined to flatten distinctions of authority altogether. Ours is a culture deeply suspicious of hierarchy unless it can be democratised, inverted, or sentimentalised. Yet hierarchy, rightly understood, is not opposed to charity but ordered toward it.

Of course, there is always the danger of clericalism. But the answer to one disorder is not its equal and opposite counterpart. The solution to abuses of authority is not the collapse of authority itself.

Precisely because the Church accords such honour to a bishop, the faithful rightly expect from him not merely intelligence, charm, or cultural relevance, but clarity in the service of truth. The higher the office, the greater the obligation to witness publicly and unambiguously to the Gospel.

I say all this as preamble to some reflections on Bishop Robert Barron’s recent conversation with political commentator Dave Rubin.