Fox’s Timothy H. J. Nerozzi sat down with Bishop Robbert Barron—”the most popular Catholic outside the Vatican”—this week. Barron is the author of the Word on Fire series and a great evangelizer; his casual ability to explain the church’s intricacies to well-educated theologians and the general public alike makes him one of the church’s most notable figures.
Barron’s cultural influence also makes him, I think, a good source to weigh in on some of the recent culture shocks that have hit Catholicism — like, for example, the influx of celebrities who have announced their conversions. Nerozzi writes:
Celebrities who have recently declared a new Christian affiliation include entertainer Russell Brand, artist Kat Von D, and rapper Daddy Yankee. OnlyFans model Nala Ray now claims to be seeking salvation after abandoning her highly lucrative career in professional nudity.
High-profile converts to the Catholic Church specifically have come from a variety of cultural spheres as well — actors including Shia LaBeouf, Rob Schneider, and Dasha Nekrasova have embraced the faith in recent years. Porn star Bree Solstad renounced her adult entertainment work last month and converted after a trip to Rome and Assisi.
In the political realm, recent public converts to the faith include Sen. JD Vance and political pundit Candace Owens. Author and culture commentator Jordan Peterson recently applauded his wife Tammy Peterson’s entry into the Catholic Church after a miraculous recovery from cancer . . . Regardless of which public conversions endure, their increased prominence points to a larger social consciousness about Christianity.
Recent and well-publicized celebrity conversions have elicited two responses from believers: skepticism or enthusiasm. Barron seems to have a different response. Not to say he isn’t enthusiastic about converted souls, but he does seem a tad indifferent to the “public conversion” phenomena, as a whole. I had a history professor in college who converted to Catholicism in his adult life; his mantra was, “Nothing new under the sun!” He was excited and deeply passionate about the faith, but what ultimately drew him into the Church wasn’t her newness, cultural prowess, or relevance. It was the Church’s unchanging nature.
That’s more-or-less Barron’s explanation for so many celebrity conversions: “The church has this very articulate moral tradition, and there’s a tendency in our country to subjectivize this business. The fact that we have this rigorously thought through, objective, intellectual tradition, I think is attractive and that is one reason why people find Catholicism compelling. The idea is we keep proclaiming it in season and out, whether it’s popular or not.”
Some of pop culture’s recent converts raise eyebrows, mostly because, for some of them, their Catholic awakenings seem suspiciously trendy. It’s easy to question how noble one’s intentions are for converting, especially when said converts profit off their newfound faith or use their faith to justify radical, wrong political opinions. But as Barron says, it’s the church body’s responsibility to remain “publicly unambiguous about the church’s view,” not to judge someone’s sincerity of faith.