MINNEAPOLIS/WINONA, Minn. – Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota is announcing the election of The Most Reverend Robert E. Barron, D.D, S.T.D., Bishop of Winona-Rochester to its Board of Trustees. The university is governed by its Board of Trustees, which has fiduciary responsibility for the governance of the university.
The Most Reverend Robert E. Barron is bishop of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester (Minnesota) and an acclaimed author, speaker, and theologian, and as the founder of Word on Fire Ministries, he is noted as one of the most followed Catholics in social media.
“We are deeply grateful to have the leadership and spiritual guidance of Bishop Barron, as he joins an incredible group of dedicated and talented trustees,” said the Very Rev. James P. Burns, IVD, Ph.D., Saint Mary’s president. “We look forward to collaborating as we continue to move Saint Mary’s forward, with an inspirational and faith-filled vision for the future. Deeply rooted in our identity as a Lasallian Catholic community, we are blessed to have the commitment of today’s ethical leaders to help to build the path for tomorrow’s ethical leaders.”
Pope Francis appointed the Most Rev. Robert E. Barron, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, as the ninth bishop of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester June 2, 2022. His installation Mass was held July 29, 2022. He was ordained a priest in 1986 in the Archdiocese of Chicago and appointed to the theological faculty of Mundelein Seminary in 1992. He has served as a visiting professor at the University of Notre Dame and the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas. He was twice scholar in residence at the Pontifical North American College at the Vatican. He received a Master’s Degree in Philosophy from the Catholic University of America in 1982 and a doctorate in Sacred Theology from the Institut Catholique de Paris in 1992.