College Bids Farewell to Bishop Barron

For seven years, the Most Rev. Robert E. Barron, Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles, has shepherded the Archdiocese’ Santa Barbara Pastoral Region, which includes Thomas Aquinas College’s California campus. On Thursday, however, His Holiness Pope Francis reassigned His Excellency to the Diocese of Winona-Rochester in Minnesota, and so the College must now say goodbye — and thank you — to a spiritual father and faithful friend. 

The College first welcomed Bishop Barron (then still Fr. Barron) when he gave a lecture in 2013 as part of the St. Vincent de Paul Lecture and Concert Series. “I was convinced that my dense presentation would bore the students — and probably myself — to tears,” His Excellency later recounted. “With some trepidation, I made my way through the text and then, to my delighted surprise, entertained smart and challenging questions for the next hour and three quarters. As I remember, President McLean had to intervene to bring things to a close, even as dozens of hands remained in the air.” 

The College was thrilled, therefore, when the Bishop returned to Southern California in 2015, after Pope Francis named him one of five auxiliary bishops in Los Angeles. Soon after his appointment, he visited the California campus, encouraging students and reflecting on his new responsibilities. “In my wildest imagination, it would never have occurred to me that I would one day be the bishop presiding over this region,” he later said. “I must say that one of the particular joys of my current assignment is that I can make frequent visits to this college and experience again the thrill of that initial encounter with the bright and delightfully feisty students here.”  

That would be the first of several trips to the College over the years, both planned and impromptu: Bishop Barron presided over Convocation and Matriculation in 2016, and returned again in 2019 to deliver the Commencement Address and receive the College’s highest honor, the Saint Thomas Aquinas Medallion. His most recent visit came this past February, when he offered Mass and joined the students for dinner and conversation. 

“For seven years, Bishop Barron has been a good shepherd to the Santa Barbara region of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and a treasured friend to Thomas Aquinas College,” reflects President Paul J. O’Reilly. “He has shown great concern for our students, and regularly visited campus to celebrate our milestones. We are very grateful for his service, and we will pray for him as he ministers to the faithful of Minnesota.”