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The Most Rev. John O. Barres, Bishop of Allentown, will deliver the commencement address during the 42nd commencement exercises at DeSales University at 11 a.m., Saturday, May 22, on the campus mall, between McShea Student Center and Trexler Library. (Note: In case of rain, commencement will be held in Billera Hall.)
During the ceremony, DeSales President Father Bernard O’Connor, OSFS, will confer degrees upon 462 graduating students, including undergraduates, graduates and ACCESS. Also, the bishop will be awarded an honorary doctor of humane letters degree.
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. Barres was the first priest to be ordained a bishop in the Diocese of Allentown.
In July 2000, Pope John Paul II named Barres a “Chaplain to His Holiness.” In November 2005, Pope Benedict XVI named him a “Prelate of Honor.”
A native of Larchmont, New York, Barres is the son of Oliver, a native of Bethlehem, Pa., and Marjorie Barres. Barres’ parents are convert Protestant ministers who met each other at the Yale Divinity School and entered the Catholic Church in 1955. Barres is the fifth of six children.
Barres graduated from Phillips Academy in Andover, and earned a B.A. in English literature from Princeton University and an MBA in management from the New York University Graduate School of Business Administration.
His theological education includes an STB and an STL in Systematic Theology from the Catholic University of America, and a JCL and an STD in Spiritual Theology from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome. His 1999 doctoral dissertation is Jean-Jacques Olier’s Priestly Spirituality: Mental Prayer and Virtue as the Foundation for the Direction of Souls.
Barres was ordained to the priesthood on October 21, 1989. He served as an associate pastor at Holy family Church in Newark, Del., and St. Elizabeth’s parish in Wilmington, Del.
In addition to serving on various diocesan boards and committees in Wilmington, the bishop has served on the Administrative Board of the Maryland Catholic Conference in Annapolis, Md., the Board of St. Francis Hospital in Wilmington, Del., and the Board of the Cathedral Foundation in Baltimore, Md.
Press Release: The Most Rev. John O. Barres, Bishop of Allentown, to Deliver Commencement Address at DeSales, Sat., May 22 | Posted on: 5/17/2010
For more info:
Tom McNamara, Executive Director of Communications
DeSales University | 2255 Station Avenue | Center Valley, PA 18034
610.282.1100 x1219 | Tom.McNamara@desales.edu |
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