Bishop John Barres, 56, who will be installed as the fifth bishop of the Diocese of Rockville Centre on Tuesday, took roads less traveled — and gained a wealth of experiences along the way — before permanently entering the religious life he so deeply loves. 

Credit: courtesy of Bishop John Barres

John Barres as a baby in 1960. Barres seemed destined for big things almost from the day he was born: He was baptized by Fulton Sheen, the famous archbishop of New York who pioneered the use of radio and television to spread the faith.

Credit: courtesy of Bishop John Barres

John Barres, left, is pictured with his brother Bill and their mother Marjorie Barres at Jones Beach in the summer of 1969. Barres is no stranger to the New York area. He grew up in Larchmont in Westchester County, where as a youngster he was a caddy at the Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck. He holds a master’s in business administration from New York University and once worked for the Arthur Andersen accounting firm in Manhattan.

Credit: courtesy of Bishop John Barres

John Barres, right, with his younger brother Bill in a childhood photo.

Credit: courtesy of Bishop John Barres

John Barres bats while playing baseball with his younger brother Bill in approximately 1972. They played for the “Village Ford Cubs” in the Larchmont Little League.

Credit: Courtesy of John Barres

John Barres, first row left, played point guard for the varsity basketball team at Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass. He is seated next to Chris Leggett during his senior year, the 1977-78 season. They would go on to play junior varsity basketball together at Princeton University.

Credit: courtesy of Bishop John Barres

John Barres, left, celebrates with teammates Chip Monk and Kevin Max, after the Princeton Junior Varsity basketball team beat the University of Pennsylvania by one point in overtime in February 1979. Barres says he applies what he learned playing sports to his religious thought and teaching, and is a big fan of Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry.
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Credit: courtesy of Bishop John Barres

John Barres (No. 11) goes to the basket during a junior varsity game against Columbia University in March 1980.

Credit: courtesy of Bishop John Barres

The Rev. John Barres, left, with Mother Teresa in Washington, D.C., in 1987 while at the Theological College at Catholic University of America.

Credit: courtesy of Bishop John Barres

The Rev. John Barres at his ordination into the priesthood on Oct. 21, 1989, with his sisters, Margaret Cotter, left, and Catherine Cawthon at St. Elizabeth Church in Wilmington, Dela.

Credit: courtesy of Bishop John Barres

The Rev. John Barres ordination picture from 1989. Among those who attended his first Mass was Cardinal Avery Dulles, the famous American theologian and Jesuit who taught Barres at Catholic University.

Credit: AP/Monica Cabrera

John Barres is ordained a bishop and installed as the fourth bishop of Allentown at a Mass at the Cathedral of Saint Catharine of Siena in Allentown, Pa., on July 30, 2009. Barres became one of the youngest bishops in the United States when Pope Benedict XVI named him head of the Diocese of Allentown. He was 48 and had been a priest for two decades.

Credit: courtesy of Bishop John Barres

Then Rev. Msgr. John Barres meets with Pope John Paul II and Bishop Michael Saltarelli. Pope John Paul II also made Barres a monsignor.

Credit: AP/Andy Matsko

The Most Rev. John Barres, bishop of Allentown, Pa., before a Mass in Mahanoy City, Pa., on Sept. 4, 2016, holds a picture of Mother Teresa presented to him by the Sisters of the Missionaries of Charity in honor of the Teresa's canonization as a saint. 

Credit: Newsday/Alejandra Villa

Bishop John Barres during an interview at the Rockville Centre Diocese, Monday Jan. 9, 2017. On Long Island, he will be on the largest stage of his career, in a diocese with six times the number of Allentown’s 250,000 parishioners.

Credit: Newsday/Thomas A. Ferrara

Roman Catholic Bishop John Barres celebrates Mass at the Cathedral Church of Saint Catharine of Siena in Allentown, Pa., on Jan. 22, 2017. Allentown Catholics said Barres’ gregariousness and pastoral care are among his standout qualities. 

Credit: Newsday/Thomas A. Ferrara

Bishop John Barres walks in the processional as his installation Mass at St. Agnes Cathedral begins on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2017. Barres, 56, will be installed as the fifth bishop of the Diocese of Rockville Centre.

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