WOF 541: "Heaven in Stone and Glass"—A New Feature Film by Bishop Barron

Welcome back to the Word on Fire Show. I'm Matthew Petrusek, senior director of the Word on Fire Institute and the host of the Word on Fire Show. Thank you for joining us. We're delighted to announce that a new feature film by Bishop Robert Barron will be hitting theaters—yes, theaters—soon. The full-length documentary, entitled Heaven in Stone and Glass, draws on the collective shock and sadness the world experienced watching Paris's Cathedral of Notre-Dame burn in 2019 to explore the enduring philosophical, theological, aesthetic, moral, and evangelical significance of the great Gothic cathedrals of France. Recognizing the potential destruction of Notre-Dame—happily, it has since been restored—as much more than the loss of a historic building, Bishop Barron personally walks us through Gothicism's soaring architecture and richly detailed symbolism to explain everything from the unity and diversity of creation, the nature of the human person, the objectivity of beauty, the meaning of the incarnation, the living communion of saints, and the hope of the beatific vision, and how all of this matters more than ever for a rapidly secularizing West at risk of losing its Christian civilizational identity. Here to share the story behind the making of the film, and what he hopes audiences will take away from it, is Bishop Robert Barron.

Topics Covered

00:00 | Introduction

01:24 | Bishop Barron ordains new priests

02:57 | The role of film in the early days of Word on Fire

06:04 | Connecting Heaven in Stone and Glass to Word on Fire's other films

07:26 | Why a new film on cathedrals?

09:00 | Personal origins of the new film

11:23 | Unpacking the film's title

15:18 | Explaining the full meaning of a church and cathedral

19:20 | Theological reflections within a cathedral

24:11 | Medieval times and the so-called Dark Ages