Robert Joseph Baker

Robert Joseph Baker (born June 4, 1944, in Willard, Ohio) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Birmingham in Alabama from 2007 to 2019 and as bishop of the Diocese of Charleston in South Carolina from 1999 to 2007.

Baker became a member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH) in 2008 and became the state AOH chaplain in Alabama. He has written several books.

Biography

Early life Robert Baker was born on June 4, 1944, in Willard, Ohio. He entered the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio, in 1966. He graduated with a Bachelor of Philosophy degree.

Priesthood Baker served at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine from 1976 to 1997.

On March 21, 1970, Baker was ordained into the priesthood at Saint Wendelin Church in Fostoria, Ohio, by Bishop Paul Tanner for the Diocese of St. Augustine. After his ordination, the diocese assigned Baker as assistant pastor of St. Paul Parish in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. In 1977, he was awarded a Doctor of Theology degree.

Bishop of Birmingham Baker with the Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word in 2009. On August 14, 2007, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Baker as bishop of Birmingham. He was installed as bishop on October 2, 2007.

Positions

Abortion Baker was critical of Notre Dame University's decision to grant an honorary doctorate to US President Barack Obama in 2009, since Obama supported abortion rights. Baker suggested that Catholics assemble and pray on the Notre Dame commencement day; he discouraged public demonstrations, however.

Sexual abuse among clergy

In a 2020 interview with the Catholic World Report, Baker gave his opinion on the cause of the sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic Church:I agree with Pope Benedict XVI that the origins of the scandals we’re experiencing are related to the changing sexual mores in society that we really began to see in the 1960s. The 1969 music festival at Woodstock, New York symbolized the change in American culture. Moral values in our country, and in the Western hemisphere, had changed. The drug culture came with it.