Bishop Robert Barron, an alumnus of The Catholic University of America and the founder of Word on Fire Catholic Ministries, returned to his alma mater May 17 to deliver the 2025 commencement address on the University Mall.
The bishop of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, addressed graduates and their families beneath a bright spring sky, recalling his own Catholic University graduation.
“I sat exactly where you’re sitting, 44 years ago,” Bishop Barron said. “It was a day just like this, bright, sunny … It felt joyful. It felt exciting. It felt full of promise. And I hope you all feel that way today.”
In a speech weaving together philosophy, personal memory and theological reflection, Bishop Barron urged graduates to resist the “secularist ideology” that he said has led many young people to anxiety and despair.
“Graduates, why are numbers measuring anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation spiking among your peers?” he asked. “There are many reasons we could give, but I would suggest the first among them is loss of contact with God and with the things of God.”
He encouraged Catholic University’s class of 2025 to embrace their “holy longing” and to pursue truth, beauty and goodness not as abstract ideals, but as windows into the divine. He reminded graduates that their lives are meant to be a gift.
Drawing from his online ministry, Bishop Barron said he often hears from individuals in despair. His counsel, he said, is simple: love.
“Perform, every day, the simplest act of love: will the good of another,” he said. “That’s my recommendation to all of you, for every moment of your lives, for the rest of your life. At all times, in triumph, in failure, in depression, love.”
“To make God absolutely central to your life is to conform your life to love,” he said. “What you’ve received as a gift, give as a gift.”
Bishop Barron’s address returned often to the value of studying philosophy and theology — disciplines he called essential to the good life. Quoting saints, popes and theologians, he invited graduates to become “conduits of grace,” saying, “Your being increases in the measure that you give it away.”
He concluded with the words of another Catholic University honorary degree recipient, St. Teresa of Calcutta: “Don’t worry inordinately about doing great things. Do even the littlest things with great love.”
Catholic University honors leaders in faith, advocacy and service
Bishop Barron was one of six individuals awarded honorary degrees at Catholic University’s commencement.
- The university recognized Archbishop Vicken Aykazian, ecumenical director for the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of America, for his decades-long commitment to Christian unity and interreligious dialogue. Known for his advocacy for Christian minorities in the Middle East, he formerly served as president of the National Council of Churches.
- Msgr. John Enzler, the former president and CEO of Catholic Charities of The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, was honored for a lifetime of outreach and his unwavering motto to “say yes” to those in need.
- Jeanne Mancini, the former president of the March for Life Education and Defense Fund, was recognized for expanding pro-life advocacy at the national and state levels.
- Steven Muncy, a Catholic University alumnus and founder of Community and Family Services International, was honored for more than 40 years of work with displaced persons and refugees across Southeast Asia.
- Rep. Christopher Smith, the longest-serving member of New Jersey’s congressional delegation, was honored for his decades of legislative work on behalf of human rights, including authoring the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000. Rep. Smith has been a leader in Congress in opposing abortion.
This year marked the University’s first fully unified commencement ceremony, with undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students from all academic schools celebrating together on the University Mall. The new format was introduced to foster a greater sense of community among graduates and to allow families to witness the entire class honored in one collective event.
Among the many takeaways Bishop Barron offered the graduates was a simple but profound call: “Conform your life as fully as you can to love, and you’ll find the joy in the heaven that you seek.”
