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Styles of John Oliver Barres
Reference style	His Excellency The Most Reverend
Spoken style	Your Excellency
Religious style	Bishop

John Oliver Barres (/ˈbærɪs/ BARR-iss; born September 20, 1960) is an American Catholic prelate who has served as Bishop of Rockville Centre since 2017. He previously served as Bishop of Allentown from 2009 to 2017.

Early life and education

Barres was born on September 20, 1960, the fifth of six children, to Oliver and Marjorie (née Catchpole) Barres, in Larchmont, New York. His parents were Congregationalist ministers who converted to Catholicism in 1955. John Barres was baptized by Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. For high school, Barres attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts.

After graduating from Phillips in 1978, Barres entered Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey, obtaining a Bachelor of Arts degree in English in 1982. He then entered the New York University Stern School of Business in New York City, earning in 1984 a Master of Business Administration degree in management.

Having decided to become a priest, Barres moved to Washington D.C. to enter the Theological College at the Catholic University of American. He received a Bachelor of Sacred Theology degree in 1988, and a Licentiate in Systematic Theology in 1989.

Priesthood

Barres was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Wilmington by Bishop Robert Mulvee on October 21, 1989 at Saint Elizabeth Church in Wilmington, Delaware. After his 1989 ordination, the diocese assigned Barres as an associate pastor at Holy Family Parish in Newark, Delaware. In 1991, Barres joined the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross, run by Opus Dei. He was transferred in 1992 to St. Elizabeth Parish in Wilmington to serve as associate pastor there.

Barres went to Rome in 1996 to attend the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, where he earned a Licentiate of Canon Law in 1998 and a Doctor of Spirituality degree in 1999. Barres' doctoral thesis was entitled "Jean-Jacques Olier's Priestly Spirituality: Mental Prayer and Virtue as the Foundation for the Direction of Souls."

After his return to Delaware in 1999, Bishop Michael Saltarelli named Barres as vice chancellor for the diocese. In 2000, he was named chancellor. That same year, the Vatican elevated Barres to the rank of chaplain to his holiness by the Vatican. In 2005, the Vatican named Barres as an honorary prelate. In addition to his duties as chancellor, Barres briefly became pastor of Holy Child Parish in Wilmington in May 2009.

Barres served on the following boards while in Delaware:

• Maryland Catholic Conference
• St. Francis Hospital in Wilmington
• Cathedral Foundation

Bishop of Allentown

On May 27, 2009, Barres was appointed the fourth bishop of Allentown by Pope Benedict XVI, succeeding Bishop Edward Cullen. Barres received his episcopal consecration on July 30, 2009, at the Cathedral of Saint Catharine of Siena in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Cardinal Justin Rigali was the principal consecrator, with Bishop W. Francis Malooly and Bishop Emeritus Michael Saltarelli as principal co-consecrators.

Barres was the first diocesan bishop of Allentown who had not served previously in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Barres established the Saint Thomas More Society for lawyers in the diocese and expanded the diocese's Hispanic ministry and evangelization.

Bishop of Rockville Centre

Pope Francis appointed Barres as bishop of Rockville Centre on December 9, 2016. He was installed on January 31, 2017, at the Cathedral of Saint Agnes in Rockville Centre.

In October 2017, Barres announced the creation of the Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program (IRCP) for survivors of acts of child sexual abuse committed by clergy in the diocese. Barres serves on the Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). In 2017, Barres created with Telecare, the diocesan television network, a video series targeted to commuters, entitled The Catholic Spirituality of Commuter Delays.

In August 2018, a Pennsylvania grand jury report criticized Barres for failing to remove a priest from the ministry after credible allegations of sexual misconduct while he was bishop in Allentown. In 2009, the diocese had received a allegations from a man that Reverend Michael Lawrence had "fondled his genitals" when he was age 13. Lawrence, who had admitted to sexually abusing a 12-year-old boy in 1982, had previously been sent to a monitored rural facility for sex offenders. In 2002, Lawrence retired from pastoral work. At some point, Barres had considered having Lawrence laicized. However, according to a spokesperson for the diocese, Barres finally decided:

"... to withdraw the application to remove Lawrence from the clerical state out of concern that if they did, he may leave the supervised, secure facility and re-enter society, where he might be a danger to children. 'Bishop Barres stands by his decision'".

A second case mentioned in the Pennsylvania grand jury report involved Monsignor Thomas J. Benestad,in Allentown. A 2011 accusation had stated that Benestad forced a boy in the 1980's to perform oral sex on him, then later he performed oral sex on the boy. According to the grand jury report "... the Diocese reported the allegation to the Northampton County District Attorney's office, which ... found the victim's allegations to be credible." No charges were filed because the statute of limitations had expired. A response from Barres to the grand jury report regarding the handling of the Lawrence and Benestad cases was posted online.

Barres is a member of Opus Dei. In addition to his native English, he is fluent in Italian, French, and Spanish.

Publications

Barres wrote about his parents' conversion to Catholicism in the book One Shepherd, One Flock

Viewpoints

Abortion

During the 2016 US Presidential Election, Barres had his priests read a letter at Sunday masses. It stated that any candidate who supported abortion rights for women “should disqualify any and every such candidate from receiving our vote.”

See also

• Catholic Church hierarchy
• Catholic Church in the United States
• Historical list of the Catholic bishops of the United States
• List of the Catholic bishops of the United States
• Lists of patriarchs, archbishops, and bishops

References

1. ^ "The Most Reverend John Oliver Barres, S.T.D., J.C.L., D.D, Fifth Bishop of Rockville Centre" (PDF). Diocese of Rockville Centre. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
2. ^ "Pope Names Bishop John Barres as New Bishop of Rockville Centre; Accepts Resignation of Bishop William Murphy". US Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
3. ^ "Bishop John Oliver Barres [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
4. "How the Allentown Diocese dealt with an admitted abuser". The Inquirer. August 14, 2018. Retrieved August 15, 2018.
5. Strack, Ben (August 15, 2018). "Bishop John Barres named in report detailing alleged clergy sexual abuse cover-up in Pennsylvania". Herald Community Newspapers. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
6. "Report 1 of the 40th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury," Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General, July 27, 2018, pages 321-322.
7. "Letter-to-Hon-DanielDye" (PDF). www.drvc.org.
8. Otterman, Sharon (January 31, 2017). "A New Bishop, With the Style of a Parish Priest, for Rockville Centre". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 8, 2024.

External links

• The Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre Official Site

• Biography
• Catholicism
• New York (state)

v t e Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre
Bishops	Ordinaries Walter P. Kellenberg John R. McGann James T. McHugh William F. Murphy John Barres Present auxiliaries Robert J. Coyle Luis Miguel Romero Fernández Andrzej Jerzy Zglejszewski Former auxiliaries Vincent John Baldwin Robert J. Brennan James Joseph Daly John Charles Dunne Richard Henning Peter Anthony Libasci Alfred John Markiewicz Nelson J. Pérez Gerald Augustine John Ryan Paul Henry Walsh
Churches	Cathedral St. Agnes Cathedral Basilica Basilica of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, Southampton Parishes St. Dominic Roman Catholic Church, Oyster Bay
Education	Diocesan high schools Holy Trinity Diocesan High School, Hicksville Bishop McGann-Mercy Diocesan High School, Riverhead St. John the Baptist Diocesan High School, West Islip Private high schools Chaminade High School, Mineola Kellenberg Memorial High School, Uniondale Our Lady of Mercy Academy, Syosset Sacred Heart Academy, Hempstead St. Anthony's High School, South Huntington St. Dominic High School, Oyster Bay St. Mary's High School, Manhasset Closed Academy of Saint Joseph, Brentwood St. Pius X Preparatory Seminary, Uniondale Seminary of the Immaculate Conception
Cemeteries	Holy Rood Queen of Peace Holy Sepluchre
New York (state) portal Catholicism portal

v t e Roman Catholic Diocese of Allentown
Ordinaries	Bishops Joseph McShea Thomas Welsh Edward Cullen John Oliver Barres Alfred Andrew Schlert Diocesan priests who became bishops Ronald William Gainer Joseph Edward Kurtz David B. Thompson
Churches	Cathedral Cathedral of Saint Catharine of Siena Parishes Mary Queen of Peace Catholic Church, Pottsville St. John the Baptist Church, Pottsville
Education	Universities and colleges Alvernia University DeSales University High schools Allentown Central Catholic High School, Allentown Bethlehem Catholic High School, Bethlehem Berks Catholic High School, Reading Marian Catholic High School, Tamaqua Nativity BVM High School, Pottsville Notre Dame High School, Easton Seminary (closed) Mary Immaculate Seminary, Northampton
Catholicism portal

• 1960 births
• Living people
• People from Larchmont, New York
• Phillips Academy alumni
• Princeton University alumni
• Princeton Tigers men's basketball players
• New York University Stern School of Business alumni
• Catholic University of America alumni
• Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington
• Roman Catholic bishops in Pennsylvania
• 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in the United States
• Roman Catholic Diocese of Allentown
• Roman Catholic Ecclesiastical Province of Philadelphia
• American men's basketball players
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