Robert Barron, bishop of Diocese of Winona-Rochester, recently launched the Wonder Conference, and it was viewed as a big success in terms of outreach.

The inaugural gathering, hosted by Word on Fire Institute, was held Jan. 13-14 at the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center in Dallas, a report from Our Sunday Visitor said. 

“Friends, Word on Fire’s inaugural Wonder Conference was terrific!” Barron tweeted recently. “My thanks to all who attended, our brilliant speakers, the Word on Fire Institute Fellows and the entire Word on Fire staff. I’m already looking forward to Wonder Conference 2024.”

More than 1,000 clergy members, religious- and lay people attended the Dallas seminar. The on-site tickets sold out, but it was live-streamed to reach more people.

The Wonder Conference arose from a need to address the often brought up disconnect between religious belief and science and to provide an opportunity to discuss how the Catholic Church represents the unity of faith and reason, the Our Sunday Visitor report said. Pew Research research shows that nearly six out of 10 U.S. adults (59% of those surveyed) believe that science and religion often conflict with one another. 

Specialists in physics, philosophy, technology, theology and history were among those at the conference; the report said. Jesuit Father Robert J. Spitzer, president of the Magis Center of Reason and Faith and the Spitzer Center; Jennifer Wiseman, senior astrophysicist at the Goddard Space Flight Center; Karin Oberg, professor of astronomy at Harvard University; and others were among the experts who attended. 

The Word on Fire Institute is part of Word on Fire Catholic Ministries, which Barron founded in 2000.