Welcoming Bishop Robert Barron

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. SUOZZI. Madam Speaker, I rise to welcome Bishop Robert Barron, who gave the opening prayer today, here to the Chamber.

Bishop Barron is the second-most followed Catholic on social media after the Pope. He is a remarkable man who has inspired me and my wife and my family for many years, and I am honored to have brought him here to the Nation's Capital where, yesterday, he addressed several dozen Members of Congress, as well as their staff members.

Bishop Barron was ordained as a priest in the Archdiocese of Chicago 33 years ago. In July 2015, Pope Francis appointed Bishop Barron to be the Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. He is the founder of Word on Fire Catholic Ministries, an innovative new hub for spiritual and intellectual formation, where he produces daily meditations, weekly homilies, movies on pivotal players in Catholic history, reviews of movies, and debates with sometimes-controversial thought leaders of today's culture.

Bishop Barron, as I said, is the second-most followed Catholic on social media, second only to the Pope. His regular YouTube videos have been viewed over 40 million times, and he has over 1.7 million followers on Facebook.

He is a number one Amazon bestselling author and has published 16 books. He has created the groundbreaking documentary ``Catholicism,'' which aired on PBS. He has eight other films and study programs.

He is a religious correspondent for NBC and has appeared on FOX News and CNN, as well as other stations. He has been invited to speak about religion at the headquarters of Facebook, Google, and Amazon, and, now, the United States Congress.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source