Word on Fire is a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

media organization founded by Bishop

Robert Barron Robert Emmet Barron (born November 19, 1959) is an American prelate of the Catholic Church who has served as bishop of the Diocese of Winona–Rochester since 2022. He is the founder of the Catholic ministerial organization Word on Fire, a ...

that uses

digital Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Businesses *Digital bank, a form of financial institution *Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) or Digital, a computer company *Digital Research (DR or DRI), a software ...

and

traditional media Old media, also called traditional media or legacy media, are the mass media institutions that dominated prior to the internet; particularly print media, film studios, music studios, advertising agencies, radio broadcasting, and television. Ol ...

to introduce Catholicism to the broader world. It rose to prominence through Barron's work as a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

engaging with new media, and has been noted as an effective model for sharing information about Catholicism to the public.

Media formats

Barron initially worked through radio and television, hosting the ''Word on Fire'' radio show on

Relevant Radio Relevant Radio (corporate name Relevant Radio, Inc.) is a radio network in the United States, mainly broadcasting talk radio and religious programming involving the Catholic Church. Relevant Radio broadcasts "talk radio for Catholic life" over a ...

and the ''Word on Fire with Father Barron'' television show on

WGN America WGN America was an American subscription television network that operated from November 9, 1978 to February 28, 2021. The service was originally uplinked to satellite by United Video Inc. as a national feed of Chicago independent station WGN-T ...

. Barron eventually expanded to online distribution through

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

, and is active in distributing videos on YouTube. In addition to this, Word on Fire distributes spiritual media, such as DVDs and books, for individual and group study.

''Catholicism'' series (2011)

In 2011, Word on Fire published ''Catholicism'', a ten-part video documentary series that explores the

cultural Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

, spiritual, and

historical History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some theorists categ ...

elements of

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. Offered on DVD, the series was also broadcast on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

stations, prompting PBS's

ombudsmen An ombudsman ( , also ) is a government employee who investigates and tries to resolve complaints, usually through recommendations (binding or not) or mediation. They are usually appointed by the government or by parliament (often with a sign ...

to issue a statement clarifying to the public that it was neither distributed by PBS nor produced using PBS funding, the latter of which was expressed as a concern by PBS viewers. The series has received much praise from figures like papal biographer

George Weigel George Weigel (born 1951) is an American Catholic neoconservative author, political analyst, and social activist. He currently serves as a distinguished senior fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Weigel was the founding president of th ...

, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, and Cardinal

Francis George Francis Eugene George (January 16, 1937 – April 17, 2015) was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He was the eighth archbishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago in Illinois (1997–2014) and previously served as bishop of the Dio ...

for its effort in pursuing the new evangelization in the modern world.

References

{{reflist

External links

Word on Fire official website
YouTube channels
Word on Fire Bishop Robert Barron

Word on Fire Institute
Catholic advocacy groups Catholic media Televangelism Catholic radio programs Christian mass media in the United States Television shows about Catholicism Catholic websites

Media formats

''Catholicism'' series (2011)

See also

References

External links