WOF 529: The Art & Means of Communication (pt. 1)
The Word on Fire Show - Catholic Faith and Culture
Brandon Vogt
4.9 • 5.8K Ratings
🗓️ 16 February 2026
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Welcome back to the Word on Fire Show. I'm Matthew Petrusek, senior director of the Word on Fire Institute and the host of the Word on Fire Show. Thank you for joining us. Today, we're bringing you a special episode—a conversation from our very own Evangelization & Culture Podcast, hosted by Dr. Tod Worner. Recently, Dr. Tod, as we like to call him, sat down with Word on Fire CEO Fr. Steve Grunow and Bishop Barron to talk about social media. But rather than retread the usual tropes of social media conversations, Dr. Tod hosts a richer and more intimate conversation on the topic through the lenses of evangelization, art, communication, and more. Please enjoy this first segment, in which we'll look specifically at the art and means of communication.
Topics Covered
00:00 | Introduction
00:55 | The importance—and challenge—of communication
05:00 | How the gospel spread before the use of mass media
10:51 | Art as evangelization
17:54 | Papal communication and early media
22:05 | Mass media figures and their influence on Word on Fire
27:51 | Join the Word on Fire Institute
Links:
- Word on Fire Institute: https://institute.wordonfire.org/
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome back to the Word on Fire show. I'm Matthew Petrusick, senior director of the Word on Fire |
| 0:04.1 | Institute and the host of the Word on Fire show. Thank you for joining us. Today we're bringing |
| 0:08.3 | you a special episode, a conversation from our very own evangelization and culture podcast hosted |
| 0:14.7 | by Dr. Todd Warner. Recently, Dr. Todd, as we like to call him around here, sat down with the |
| 0:20.6 | Word on Fire CEO, |
| 0:21.8 | Father Steve Grunow and Bishop Barron, to talk about social media. But rather than retread the |
| 0:27.6 | usual tropes of social media conversation, Dr. Todd hosts a richer and more intimate conversation |
| 0:33.0 | on the topic through the lens of evangelization, art, communication, and more. |
| 0:38.1 | Please enjoy this first segment in which we'll look specifically at the art and means of communication. |
| 0:53.5 | In a 2020 interview about social media with the National Catholic Register, |
| 1:00.0 | Bishop Robert Barron noted, quote, |
| 1:02.0 | Social media can function as a wonderful means of evangelization. |
| 1:06.0 | I would strongly urge the rising generation, those who have social media in their blood and their fingers to delve deeply into the intellectual and spiritual tradition of the church, and then |
| 1:15.4 | endeavor to propagate that wisdom through this marvelous tool. Start a website, make videos for |
| 1:21.2 | YouTube, launch a Facebook page, and dedicate these to the gospel. Paul used parchment, ink, |
| 1:27.0 | and the Roman roads. you use what our culture |
| 1:29.3 | makes available today. He goes on to say, I would also give the following spiritual advice. |
| 1:34.6 | Before you say or write anything on social media, whether you are publishing your own material |
| 1:38.2 | or responding to someone else, ask this simple question. Do these words of mine constitute an act of love? Remember that to love is to |
| 1:48.1 | will the good of the other close quote. Bishop Robert Barron and Father Steve Grunow on the |
| 1:54.0 | evangelizing power and pitfalls of social media now. My name is Todd Warner and this is the |
| 1:59.9 | evangelization and culture podcast from Word on Fire. My guests is Todd Warner and this is the Evangelization and Culture podcast from Word |
... |
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