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BiographyThe Most Reverend John O. Barres, D.D, S.T.D., J.C.L., Bishop Barres was born on September 20, 1960 and is a native of Larchmont, New York. His parents, Oliver (a native of Bethlehem, PA) and Marjorie Barres, are convert Protestant ministers who met each other at the Yale Divinity School and entered the Catholic Church in 1955. The story of their conversion is told in Oliver Barres’ book, One Shepherd, One Flock, which was published by Sheed and Ward in 1955 and again in 2000 by Catholic Answers (with forewords by Avery Cardinal Dulles and Fr. Benedict Groeschel). Bishop Barres is the fifth of six children and has seven nephews and four nieces. Bishop Barres was baptized by Bishop Fulton J. Sheen in 1960 while his father was working for the Bishop at the Propagation of the Faith in New York City. He was ordained to the priesthood October 21, 1989 by Bishop Robert E. Mulvee of Wilmington (now Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Providence). He served as an associate pastor at Holy Family Church in Newark, DE (1989-1992) and St. Elizabeth’s parish in Wilmington, DE (1992-1996). After further study in Rome (1996-1999) with residence at the Pontifical North American College (Casa Santa Maria), he served as Vice-Chancellor (1999-2000) and then Chancellor (2000-2009) for Bishop Michael Saltarelli and then Bishop W. Francis Malooly. Pope John Paul II named him a “Chaplain to His Holiness” in July 2000 with the title of “Monsignor.” Pope Benedict XVI named him a “Prelate of Honor” in November 2005. In addition to serving on various diocesan boards and committees in Wilmington, Bishop Barres has served on the Administrative Board of the Maryland Catholic Conference (Annapolis, MD), the Board of St. Francis Hospital (Wilmington, Delaware), and the Board of the Cathedral Foundation (Baltimore, MD). Bishop Barres was ordained a Bishop and installed as the fourth Bishop of Allentown by His Eminence, Justin Cardinal Rigali, Archbishop of Philadelphia at the Cathedral of Saint Catharine of Siena in Allentown on July 30, 2009.Coat of ArmsCoat of Arms of The Diocese of Allentown
The red background of the shield recalls the ardent devotion to the Church of St. Catherine of Siena, the patronal saint of the Cathedral of the Diocese of Allentown, which led to the return of Pope Gregory XI from Avignon to Rome. The golden ring on the silver bar is a representation of the ring, given to her by our Lord during an apparition, signifying the saint’s mystical marriage to Christ. The two silver fleurs-de-lis are taken from the coat of arms of Blessed John XXIII to honor the Pontiff who established the Diocese of Allentown. On the Pope’s original arms, they signified the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph. The silver roundel [in heraldic terms, a “plate” from plata, silver] bearing the red cross is derived from the three such roundels on the coat of arms of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. This commemorates the Archepiscopal See which gave the Counties of Berks, Carbon, Lehigh, Northampton, and Schuykill to form the territory of the Diocese. These roundels were, in turn, taken from the coat of arms of the Penn Family, the colonial Proprietors of Pennsylvania, who, in 1733, authorized the first legal public Catholic Mass in the British Empire since the Reformation.Coat of Arms of the Most Reverend John O. Barres, S.T.D., J.C.L., D.D.
The red and silver bars are a canting device recalling the Bishop’s family surname “Barres”. The Bishop’s immigrant ancestor, Jacob Barres came from Prussia and first settled in Lehigh County in 1852. The blue eagle with the halo is the symbol of St. John the Evangelist, honoring the Bishop’s baptismal name patron. The cross keys symbolically express the Bishop’s dedication and fidelity to the See of Peter and to the Most Holy Father, as did the arms of Bishop Barres’ predecessor, Bishop Cullen. The dolphin is taken from the arms of St. John Fisher, and the rose represents St. Thomas More, particularly his chain of office as Lord Chancellor of England. Pope John Paul II, by motu proprio in 2000, declared Saint Thomas More the Patron of Statesmen, Politicians, and Lawyers. Both of these saints, one a prelate and one a layman, were martyrs for the Faith and remained loyal to the Church and the Holy See. Their symbols are depicted in red to indicate their martyrdom. The axe represents President Abraham Lincoln of whom the Bishop is a great admirer. The arms are completed with current episcopal indicia authorized in 1969 by Pope Paul VI, which are a gold processional cross placed in back of the shield and extending above and below it, and a round wide-brimmed green hat, known as a “gallero”, containing a tassel on each side of the hat’s crown. Suspended from the gallero are six additional tassels in three rows on each side of the shield, also green. Motto: “Holiness and Mission”. The Bishop’s motto derives from a phrase from the final section of the encyclical Redemptoris Missio written by Pope John Paul II in 1990, entitled “The True Missionary is the Saint.” His Holiness wrote: “The call to mission derives, of its nature, from the call to holiness. A missionary is really such only if he commits himself to the way of holiness: ‘Holiness must be called a fundamental presupposition and an irreplaceable condition for everyone in fulfilling the mission of salvation in the Church.’ The universal call to holiness is closely linked to the universal call to mission. Every member of the faithful is called to holiness and to mission. This was the earnest desire of the Council, which hoped to be able ‘to enlighten all people with the brightness of Christ, which gleams over the face of the Church, by preaching the Gospel to every creature.’ The Church’s missionary spirituality is a journey towards holiness.” Bishop Barres was baptized by Bishop Fulton Sheen on October 2, 1960. His father, Oliver Barres, worked for Bishop Sheen at the Propagation of the Faith in New York City, and published One Shepherd, One Flock (1955 and 2000) and World Mission Windows (1963), a collection of his articles on the missionary nature of the Church. Bishop Barres’ episcopal motto reflects his hope for the faithful of the Diocese of Allentown and his own episcopal ministry and is at the same time a tribute to the missionary zeal of Pope Benedict XVI, Pope John Paul II, Bishop Fulton Sheen, family friends Bishop William McNaughton (Maryknoll Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Inchon, Korea) and Catholic publisher Frank Sheed, and most especially Bishop Barres’ father and mother. It is also a tribute to the holiness of his spiritual director for many years and father in the priesthood, Fr. James J. Halligan, who died on February 21, 2006.
Copyright
2003 The Catholic Diocese of Allentown |
Bishop's Writings |
Blazon: Gules a barrulet Argent encircled at fess point by a ring Or between two fleurs-de-lis Argent in chief and a cross Gules on a plate in base. 
Blazon: Barry of six Gules and Argent, an eagle displayed wings inverted, Azure, haloed, beaked and membered Or, holding in its talons fesswise the haft of an American woodsman’s axe Sable with the blade Argent facing dexter base, on the eagle’s dexter wing a bezant bearing a dolphin naient embowed Gules, on its sinister wing a bezant bearing a rose seeded and barbed of the last, and on its breast a torteau bearing the crossed keys of St. Peter proper. 
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