Bishop Barron: Athletic Excellence and DEI Quotas Incompatible

Catholic Bishop Robert Barron argues that society's admiration for Olympic excellence contradicts its focus on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, which prioritize equality of outcomes rather than opportunities.

Catholic Bishop Robert Barron has ignited a debate by asserting that society's veneration of athletic excellence at the Olympic Games clashes with its current preoccupation with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives. In an interview with Fox News Digital, Bishop Barron, who leads the Diocese of Winona-Rochester in Minnesota and is a prominent Catholic influencer, used the case of Olympic gymnast Simone Biles to exemplify the incongruity between DEI and sporting achievement.

Bishop Barron contends that Biles' exceptional talent emerged because she surpassed other athletes to become the best, effectively excluding those who fell short in her sport. "Well, that's not only unjust, but it militates against the very excellence that we're celebrating," Barron told Fox, referring to how forced equality of outcomes contradicts the very qualities that are applauded at the Olympics.

Bishop Barron: Athletic Excellence and DEI Quotas Incompatible

According to Bishop Barron, there is an inherent tension between athletic excellence and so-called equity. "I don't think you can really have both those things at the same time," he said, highlighting the distinction between equity of outcome and "equality of opportunity."

The Bishop employed the record-breaking gymnast, who he hailed as the "greatest of all time," to illustrate his point: "Let's say if at some point in her career, Simone Biles was told, 'No, no, you can't go out for the gymnastics team because you're Black or because you're a woman' or whatever. Of course, that's unjust. And that should always be fought any time at any level."

Bishop Barron: Athletic Excellence and DEI Quotas Incompatible

"Well, there's that – equality of opportunity. But then there's equity of outcome, which our society now seems to be highly prizing; so that the outcome of a situation or a particular walk of life should correspond to, let's say, the racial breakdown of a society, etc." Bishop Barron declared the latter framework unjust, emphasizing that Biles' achievement of a higher athletic standard than practically everyone else on earth in her field is contrary to that, and praiseworthy.

"She stands at the pinnacle of Olympic excellence because along the arc of her life, armies of people have been excluded. Now what I mean is, not that they weren't given equality of opportunity. What I mean is, well, she won a medal, which means the other people competing with her didn't win the medal."

Bishop Barron: Athletic Excellence and DEI Quotas Incompatible

"She made team after team after team, which meant all kinds of other people that went out for the team were excluded," he added.

Bishop Barron cited other examples of people or institutions achieving excellence as flying in the face of the equity of outcomes philosophy. He mentioned speaking at an American university where he asked the students if they believed their institution had achieved "complete inclusivity." Barron recounted that all the students nodded, so he confronted them with the fact that there was "an army of people" that was "excluded from the process so that you could be included in this university."

"I'm not judging the school at all. I'm not saying it's unjust. I'm saying they want to be an elite school. And so, they excluded all kinds of people so that the really excellent students might be included," Barron said, before making the same point with members of a world-class orchestra.

Bishop Barron's remarks have sparked a lively debate, with some commentators supporting his view that merit-based achievement should be celebrated, while others argue that DEI initiatives are essential for creating a more just and equitable society.