Utah Catholics urged to 'announce Christ to the nations' by powerful Catholic priest

"Occasionally the church has to pause and throw itself into counsel," he continued. "But then it turns back to its central task. We don't want (the Counsel of) Trent going on forever. We don't want (the Counsel of) Nicaea going on forever. We don't want Vatican II going on forever. That would put us in suspension. We need to go back to our original task."

And that task, he said, is the source of ardor in the new evangelization.

"The new fire comes from clarity about the resurrection of Jesus Christ," he said. "Evangelizing has to do with declaring Jesus risen from the dead."

The key for contemporary Catholics, Father Barron said, is finding the right ways and methods to express that message, especially in a day when so many people are "you know, like, 'whatever'" about the subject of religion.

"Jesus Christ risen from the dead rocks our world!" Father Barron said. "You can't say 'whatever' when I tell you that. You can say I'm crazy or 'I don't believe you.' But you can't say 'whatever.' It just doesn't work when you're talking about the single most important message of all time."