Word on Fire or Full of Hot Air?
If Catholicism was a sport, author Matthew Petrusek would undoubtedly be the spirit team captain. Complete with metaphorical pom-poms and rah rahs, Petrusek penned his book, Evangelization and Ideology in a full display of loyalty to his “coach,” Bishop Robert Barron, by elevating and arguing in support of the bishop’s views on Catholic social teachings.
Barron, a prolific content creator, public speaker, and founder of Word on Fire Ministries, has indeed done much to contribute to modern-day denominational literature. Most notably, he developed the 10-episode Catholicism series, which aired on PBS in 2011.[1] In addition, Pope Francis named him head of a diocese in Minnesota.
However, following a series of employee resignations related to “a culture of hypermasculinity and the poor handling of sexual abuse allegations at the hands of another employee,”[2] Bishop Barron stepped down as CEO of Word on Fire Ministries paving the way for new leadership under Fr. Steve Grunow. Matthew Petrusek is now on staff there serving as senior director for the institute where his book was self-published.
Mirroring the alleged “boys’ club” culture at Word on Fire, Petrusek embraces a tone of hypermasculinity in his writing, focusing on the methodologies to argue, not fight for Catholic social beliefs, particularly in political arenas. The book tackles secularism as the foe, describing it as “A house of mirrors in which illusion seems to have triumphed over reality.”[3] In Petrusek’s own words, “Only Catholicism is the real religion.”[4] He asserts that natural law tradition should govern the standards of human behaviors.
With a little curiosity and additional research about natural law, I learned it was articulated in the 1840s by a group of esteemed theologians at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands to influence the Dutch Reformed Church which they believed had strayed from traditional teachings. However, “Until about 1860, the Groningen scholars held that Christ had come to lead humanity to God’s will, but Christ is not God, and God is not a Trinity. Christ’s death did not satisfy divine justice on behalf of sinners.”[5]
This finding reveals that the individuals who created the concept of natural law, which is held in high regard by Petrusek, did not share the core fundamental Roman Catholic belief in the Holy Trinity and resurrection. Did he miss this bit of history? Or has the author perhaps taken the liberty to define his own truth of natural law?
In isolation, I agree with some of Petrusek’s ideas such as this generation is experiencing a loss of moral authority. Once reprehensible behaviors are now deemed acceptable and even displayed with celebration by leaders. Also, words have taken on new meanings making discourse with others especially challenging without a common vernacular.
However, Petrusek’s testosterone-charged bully pulpit promotion of his personal form of dogma is alarming. Figuratively speaking, he is so loud, that I cannot hear anything he is saying. Petrusek couples together Bishop Barron’s ideas and uses them as tactical strategies to dominate and silence the opposition. He is effectively advocating against ‘loving your neighbor as yourself,’ and instead oppressing them.
For Petrusek, diplomatic discourse is viewed as a game to win. Better yet, it is warfare. This outspoken academic Catholic seems to have lost Jesus on the battlefield as he directs readers toward power and victory rather than obedience to God. American Christianity is indeed in a crisis. We all bear responsibility for that. However, rather than following Petrusek’s self-proclaimed and self-published expert advice, I will choose to follow Jesus, who says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:5-6). Amen.
[1] “Pope Francis Names Bishop Robert Barron, Founder of Word on Fire, to Head Diocese of Winona-Rochester.” America Magazine. Last modified June 2, 2022. Accessed April 10, 2024. https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2022/06/02/bishop-barron-winona-rochester-243092.
[2] “Multiple Resignations at Bishop Barron’s Word on Fire after Allegations into Staffer’s Personal Life.” National Catholic Reporter. Accessed April 10, 2024. https://www.ncronline.org/news/accountability/multiple-resignations-bishop-barrons-word-fire-after-allegations-staffers.
[3] Petrusek, Matthew R. Evangelization and Ideology: How to Understand and Respond to the Political Culture. Park Ridge, IL: published by the Word on Fire Institute, 2023.
[4] Episode 107: Matt Petrusek: Politics as Idolatry, Jordan Peterson, Social Justice and Evangelisation, n.d. Accessed April 8, 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxIbgo5Vobc.
[5] McGoldrick, James Edward. God’s Renaissance Man: The Life and Work of Abraham Kuyper. Darlington, England ; Auburn, MA: Evangelical Press, 2000.
About the Author
Jennifer Eckert
Fundraising director, people connector, believer in second chances, fights poverty, supports justice reform, lives a life integrated with Matthew 25.11 responses to “Word on Fire or Full of Hot Air?”
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Jennifer,
Speaking of packing a punch!
Thanks for your candid thoughts and perspective. Thanks for pointing out his influence by Bishop Barron and also letting me know he lives here in my city. I will certainly need to connect with him at some point. How did you come across Petrusek’s connection to Barron? It seems you did a bit of digging.
Thanks, Adam. In doing an introspective reading of the book, Bishop Barron’s name came up numerous times. So much so, that I looked in the index to count the difference in the number of times he is mentioned versus Jesus or the Holy Spirit. But alas, Barron didn’t make the cut for the index listing. I googled him out of curiosity – trying to understand why Petrusek was such a fan, which is when I saw that he lived near you.
I did not dig into any of Bishop Barron’s work, but I would be interested in seeing if his writings are more Christ-centered than how Petrusek uses them. He’s got quite the following on all the major social media platforms, including YouTube. If you reach out to him, I would love to hear how it goes.
Jennifer,
Like Adam, I appreciate your post and the digging you did. As a social worker, there are aspects of Catholic social thought that I appreciate, but I am not an expert so I missed everything you picked up on (honestly, I may not have been in a frame of mind to pick up on this). Of course, as you mentioned the entire church, especially here in America needs to do some introspective searching and figure out if we have lost our first love. After reading a book that seems like it was distasteful to you, let me ask you an easy question. What area of justice reform (loving your neighbor as yourself) are you most passionate about and how would you like the church to be more involved?
Thanks, Jeff, for the easy question. My husband and I live our lives integrated with Matthew 25. For seven years I worked at a food bank while volunteering in prison on weekends. Today, I work for a prison ministry while volunteering in prison and the food bank on weekends. I have a trans-step-child, and while I don’t endorse his lifestyle, isolating him won’t bring him closer to Jesus. My job isn’t to judge, but rather to love the least of these.
So my answer to your question is anyone marginalized by society is where I go with intention. Mostly that looks like racial minority groups and lower socio-economic groups, people in prison, and their families who suffer the collateral damage of prison alongside their loved ones. My tactic is not an overbearing approach of scaring them into Jesus or even a Billy Graham style of evangelism, but rather leading people to Christ through authentic relationships and walking beside them along the way.
(Sometimes even the uber-rich are marginalized through isolation and loneliness — that was a new realization to me within the past year).
I would like the church to respond through action. Few churches help prisoners and even fewer welcome them from the parking lot to the pew upon their release. Jesus has already advised us on his wishes. Now it is up to us as individuals and the church to act.
Hi Jennifer, Thank you for your honesty in the post. I hear you. I was going to ask you what you think it the best way to share the gospel if it isn’t Petrusek’s method but I think your answer to Jeff spoke to that. Having listened to you talk about the impact of the prison ministry, my sense is that you see God at work in your time spent there.
Hi Jennifer,
Thanks for your honest criticism of Petrusek’s work. I can understand your perspective and appreciate it.
I didn’t find him as repulsive as you did. This might have been because I’m seeing that there is a space for debate rather than fighting, or because I wasn’t able to read the entire text as thoroughly as I would have liked. But in responding to Debbie’s post, I considered a few Scriptural examples of debating (like Paul in Athens – Acts 17) but I was also reminded of Jesus encouraging his followers to forgo the debate in lieu of those who are open to the gospel (Luke 10). My personal style is the latter, but I can see a space for the former.
Can you point out some examples of the “boy’s club” or “tone of hypermasculinity” that you found in the text? Is there any space to learn from his ideas while also disagreeing with his posture? Probably like you, I am usually pretty sensitive to hypermasculinity and find it difficult to engage in – but I wonder if we can sometimes “throw the baby out with the bathwater” because of this. I would love to see how you might engage in a debate with Petrusek on the core ideas that you disagree with.
Hi Jennifer, I appreciate your well-written blog. Christy beat me to my question, so I’ll tag on here as well. Was there anything you felt you could learn from or apply in your own personal life despite the challenges you had with his writing?
Preach, Jennifer, Preach!!
LOVED your thoughts here. As a recovering Catholic myself, I could relate to your thoughts. What came to mind when I was reading your post was the old saying “Don’t confuse me with the facts”. That was my personal experience. I grew up with and knew some amazing Catholics, including my parents and sister, but always found that they believed what they believed because they were told to believe it, and facts didn’t matter. I remember when I was curious about the bible when I was in college and picked up the giant show bible from the coffee table that no one looked at. My mom came out and told me that we weren’t supposed to read it, because the priest is supposed to explain it to us, and that I wouldn’t understand it. Sigh.
Great post. Thank you!
Jennifer, I knew I was uncomfortable reading the text, but I couldn’t quite articulate why. Well, a little, as I shared in my post.
But you helped explain the emotion behind the big words and high-falutin’ language. It’s that kind of bombast that I took issue with also. I think you and I will have a lot of commonalities to share when we next meet in Washington DC. I look forward to a few sit-downs. 🙂
Hi Jennifer,
Woot! Go ahead now ….
I’m so glad you pointed out the hypermasculine language because that might be why I was also struggling with the writing. The language is dense and terse, almost without much compassion.
Your statement, “…he is so loud, that I cannot hear anything he is saying.” Also another great point. I mentioned in another response that I almost walked away completely from this week, and that is not my style.
So, that begs a question: what would help balance out this book and writing so that it isn’t so loud to the female audience?
Is that even possible?
Jennifer, great post. Very engaging! Not only the additional insight into Natural Law but also the levity of your statement, “Complete with metaphorical pom-poms and rah rahs.” Given your work with Prison Fellowship and your association with Chuck Colson and his work, do you find any serious tactical differences between Colson’s approach to cultural engagement and that of Petrusek’s?