Civilize It: Unifying a Divided Church

Robert W McElroy was born in San Francisco on February 5, 1954, to Walter and Roberta McElroy, who now reside in Santa Rosa, California. A fifth generation San Franciscan, Bishop McElroy lived until he was ten years old in Daly City, attending Our Lady Of Mercy Elementary School. His family then moved to Burlingame, where he and his three sisters and brother attended and graduated from Our Lady Of Angels School.

During these years Bishop McElroy felt called to the Catholic priesthood, and thus after eighth grade he entered Saint Joseph High School in Mountain View, which was the high school seminary of the Archdiocese of San Francisco. Upon graduating from Saint Joseph, Bishop McElroy was still committed to seeking a life in the priesthood but concluded that it would be best to pursue his vocation in a college outside the seminary system. Thus, in 1972 he entered Harvard College and graduated three years later with a degree in American history. After his graduation from Harvard, Bishop McElroy attended graduate school at Stanford and in 1976 received a master’s degree in American history.

Reentering the seminary in the Fall of 1976, Bishop McElroy attended Saint Patrick Seminary in Menlo Park, California and was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese on April 12, 1980. His first assignment was Saint Cecilia Parish in San Francisco, which was the parish where both of his parents had grown up and attended grammar school, and the church where they were married.

In 1982 Bishop McElroy became the secretary to San Francisco Archbishop John Quinn, who himself was a former auxiliary bishop of San Diego. Archbishop Quinn asked Father McElroy to undertake graduate studies in the field of Catholic Social Teaching, and thus Bishop McElroy obtained a licentiate in theology from the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, a doctorate in moral theology from the Gregorian University in Rome and a doctorate in political science from Stanford.

Bishop McElroy returned to Parish work, which has always been his first love, in 1989 serving as a parochial vicar at Saint Pius Parish in Redwood City. In 1995 Archbishop Quinn appointed Bishop McElroy vicar general of the Archdiocese, a post he continued to hold under Cardinal William Levada, who succeeded Archbishop Quinn.

In 1996 Bishop McElroy was made a prelate of honor by Saint John Paul II and appointed Pastor of Saint Gregory Parish in San Mateo by Cardinal Levada. Bishop McElroy had the immense happiness of serving in this same parish for more than fifteen years.

Bishop McElroy was appointed auxiliary bishop of San Francisco by Pope Benedict XVI on July 6, 2010, and was ordained by Archbishop George Niederauer at Saint Mary’s Cathedral on September 7, 2010. He became the Archdiocesan Vicar for Parish Life and Development and has served in that role until his appointment to be the next Bishop of San Diego.

Bishop McElroy has written two books: The Search for an American Public Theology and Morality and American Foreign Policy. In addition, he has written a series of articles in America magazine touching upon key elements of Catholic social teaching.

Pope Francis appointed Bishop McElroy to the College of Cardinals on May 29, 2022. Cardinal-Designate McElroy was installed in a consistory on Aug. 27 at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. He is a member of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life.

When he was informed that Pope Francis had appointed him to be the sixth bishop of San Diego, Bishop McElroy said:
“When I was growing up, my family would come to San Diego for our summer vacation, and I was captivated by the beauty and vitality of this graced region. During my years as a priest and bishop, I have continually been struck by this same beauty and vitality in the life of the local church — proclaiming the Gospel, embracing the poor and the marginalized, strengthening family life, forging unity in faith and solidarity amidst great cultural diversity. Now I have the privilege of becoming a member and a leader in this magnificent Catholic community and the society which surrounds it. There are no words to describe the tremendous joy and gratitude to God which I feel at this moment.”

Bishop Barron was ordained a priest in 1986 in the Archdiocese of Chicago and appointed to the theological faculty of Mundelein Seminary in 1992. He has served as a visiting professor at the University of Notre Dame and the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas. He was twice scholar in residence at the Pontifical North American College at the Vatican.

He served as the Rector/President of Mundelein Seminary University of St. Mary of the Lake from 2012 until 2015. On July 21, 2015, Pope Francis appointed Bishop Barron to be Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. He was ordained bishop on September 8, 2015. On Thursday, June 2, 2022, at noon Rome time, Pope Francis appointed Bishop Robert Barron the ninth bishop of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester (Minnesota).

Bishop Barron received a Master’s Degree in Philosophy from the Catholic University of America in 1982 and a doctorate in Sacred Theology from the Institut Catholique de Paris in 1992. His other advanced degrees include:

Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa, Assumption College
Doctor of Divinity, Honoris Causa, Saint Anselm College
Doctor of Sacred Theology, Honoris Causa, Dominican House of Studies
Doctor of Religious Education, Honoris Causa, Providence College
Doctor of Humanities, Honoris Causa, Lewis University

Bishop Robert Barron is an acclaimed author, speaker, and theologian. He is also the founder of the global media ministry Word on Fire, which reaches millions of people by utilizing the tools of new media to draw people into or back to the Catholic Faith. Francis Cardinal George has described him as “one of the Church’s best messengers.”

Bishop Barron and his growing Word on Fire team have released dozens of films, books, and study programs, along with an ever-growing collection of apparel and art. Bishop Barron has produced over 400 online video commentaries. The ministry strives to consistently produce high-quality productions, including brief and lively theological reviews of contemporary culture in movies, books, music, current events, and more.

Fernando Javier Flores and Lydia Dilley Flores, the parents of Daniel E. Flores, were both born of families long established around the town of Zapata, Texas, with roots on both sides of the border between Texas and Mexico. They married in Corpus Christi, Texas, in 1958, and began to raise their family in that city. During the first years of their marriage, seeking work to support his family, Bishop Flores’ father worked construction, and for this reason the family moved frequently. They lived for a time in various towns, such as Palacios, Texas; Luling, Louisiana; Meridian, Mississippi; McAllen, Texas; and Zapata, Texas. They would return to Corpus Christi whenever work was available in the area. Bishop Daniel Flores, second son of Fernando and Lydia, was born in 1961 in Palacios, Texas. He was baptized at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Zapata, Texas.

Bishop Flores’ father passed away in 1984; that same year his maternal grandmother, Teresa Dilley, also passed away. She was always an intimate part of the Flores-Dilley family. His mother lives in Corpus Christi, Texas. He has two brothers and one sister and numerous nephews and nieces. He also maintains close relations with his aunts, and cousins, and other familial relations established over the years.

Bishop Flores received his First Holy Communion and Confirmation at Saint Paul the Apostle Church in the Flour Bluff area of Corpus Christi. He graduated from Flour Bluff High School in 1979. During high school, he began to consider the possibility of studying for the priesthood for the Diocese of Corpus Christi. He attended the University of Texas at Austin for two years, prior to entering the seminary. In 1981, he entered Holy Trinity Seminary, an institution associated to the University of Dallas and received a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy in 1983, and a Masters of Divinity in 1987. He completed his preparations for the priesthood in 1988.

In January 1988, he was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Corpus Christi by Bishop Rene H. Gracida. As a priest of the Diocese of Corpus Christi, he served in a number of capacities, including Parochial Vicar at Corpus Christi Cathedral, Secretary to the Bishop, Diocesan Master of Ceremonies, Assistant Chancellor, Rector of the Saint John Vianney House of Studies, and Episcopal Vicar for Vocations. In September 1995, Pope John Paul II named him a Chaplain to His Holiness, with the honorary title of Monsignor. In September 1997, he was sent by Bishop Roberto Gonzalez, OFM, to Rome to pursue a doctoral degree in the theology of Saint Thomas Aquinas. Bishop Flores resided at the North American College, Casa Santa Maria in Rome, while studying at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (the Angelicum). He completed his degree (S.T.D.) in 2000 and returned to Corpus Christi that year, and was appointed Chancellor of the Diocese of Corpus Christi by Bishop Edmond Carmody.

In August 2001, he was sent to serve in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston as part of the formation faculty of St. Mary’s Seminary and the teaching faculty at the University of St. Thomas School of Theology, in Houston, Texas. He taught courses in Patristics, Medieval and Thomistic Theology, and Modern Catholic Literature. He was named Vice-Rector of St. Mary’s Seminary in June 2002. In September 2005, Bishop Edmond Carmody named him to serve as Rector of Corpus Christi Cathedral, in Corpus Christi, Texas. During the months of the scholastic year 2005-2006, he administered Corpus Christi Cathedral while completing his seminary duties in Houston, Texas. In June of 2006, he returned to the Diocese of Corpus Christi to assume the position of Cathedral Rector on a full time basis.

In October 2006, Pope Benedict XVI named him Auxiliary Bishop for the Archdiocese of Detroit, in Michigan. He was ordained on November 29, 2006, in a ceremony presided over by Adam Cardinal Maida, Archbishop of Detroit. Recognizing the growing population of Catholics of Hispanic heritage in the Archdiocese of Detroit, Cardinal Maida named Bishop Flores to oversee Hispanic ministry in the Archdiocese. At the same time, he gave his responsibility over a region of the Archdiocese, and directed him to teach theology at the Archdiocesan Major Seminary (Sacred Heart Major Seminary). With time, he was assigned as Episcopal liaison to the Cardinal for Black Catholic Affairs in the Archdiocese of Detroit, and moderator of matters related to Catholic hospitals in the Archdiocese. Bishop Flores continued with these responsibilities under the direction of Archbishop Allen Vigneron, who was named Archbishop of Detroit in January, 2008.

On December 9, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Bishop Flores as the Sixth Bishop of Brownsville. He was installed on February 2, 2010 at the Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan del Valle – National Shrine, and thus became the third native Texan to serve the Rio Grande Valley as Bishop.

On a national level, as a member of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Bishop Flores currently serves as Chairman of the Committee on Doctrine. He has also served as a member to the following committees: Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty, Committee of Divine Worship, Sub-Committee on Pro-life Activities, and the Committee for Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Affairs.

Host of The Gloria Purvis Podcast for America Magazine

Gloria Purvis is an author, commentator and the host and executive producer of The Gloria Purvis Podcast.

Through her media presence, she has been a strong Catholic voice for life issues, religious liberty, and racial justice.

She has appeared in numerous media outlets including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Fox News, PBS Newshour, NPR, Newsweek, and Catholic Answers Live and hosted Morning Glory, an international radio show.

She presented a powerful video series entitled Racism, Human Dignity and The Catholic Church through the Word on Fire Institute.

She was part of a groundbreaking, exclusive interview with Pope Francis with a delegation from America Media.

She is the Inaugural Pastoral Fellow at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at Notre Dame University and recently received Honorary Doctorates in Humane Letters from the University of Portland in Oregon and Saint Martin's and Saint Martin's University in Washington State.

Ms. Purvis is currently the Scholar in Residence at Saint Martin's University.