ENROLLMENT IS NOW OPEN!
Be formed as an evangelist and lead the culture to Christ with beauty, goodness, and truth...
"I formed the Word on Fire Institute to respond to what I think is the greatest challenge of our time..."
ENROLLMENT IS NOW OPEN!
Be formed as an evangelist and lead the culture to Christ with beauty, goodness, and truth...
Large Call to Action Headline
THE WORD ON FIRE INSTITUTE WILL HELP TRANSFORM THE EVANGELICAL ATMOSPHERE BY:
Training and forming leaders to effectively engage those on the existential peripheries.
Spiritually forming Institute leadership across the country to adopt a lifestyle and spirituality that naturally seeks to evangelize the culture.
Inculcating these leaders in Bishop Barron's style and method of evangelizing the "nones."
Managing and guiding these leaders in their missionary movement efforts.
Large Call to Action Headline
THE WORD ON FIRE INSTITUTE WILL HELP TRANSFORM THE EVANGELICAL ATMOSPHERE BY:
Training and forming leaders to effectively engage those on the existential peripheries
Spiritually forming Institute leadership across the country to adopt a lifestyle and spirituality that naturally seeks to evangelize the culture.
Inculcating these leaders in Bishop Barron's style and method of evangelizing the "nones"
Managing and guiding these leaders in their missionary movement efforts
Listen as Bishop Barron explains the origin and mission of the new Word on Fire Institute.
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Bishop Barron has spoken about his dream of evolving Word on Fire from a ministry into a movement...
Bishop Barron has spoken about his dream of evolving Word on Fire from a ministry into a movement...
The first step of that process is to form a community of evangelists who share the same mission and desire to proclaim Christ using beauty, goodness, and truth. The critical task of training modern evangelists to effectively proclaim Christ to the culture is the primary motive behind the establishment of the new Word on Fire Institute (WOFI).
"We need a vast, well-formed army of evangelists," says director of the Word on Fire Institute, Jared Zimmerer, "who encourage one another, strive after a radical relationship with Christ through the sacraments, and leave their doorstep every single day ready to proclaim Christ in the culture." This combination of community and action is essential to the future Word on Fire movement. The new Institute is the primary starting place for this need to be realized.
All of the courses and community discussion will be accessible online. When you sign up to become a member of the WOFI, you will create a personal profile through which you will view the course offerings and interact with the community inside the Institute. You will get a customized and personalized learning dashboard through which you can keep track of your course progress, discussions, Institute announcements, and upcoming events. No tech skills are necessary, and you can access the WOFI easily on any device.
On top of all this, as a member of the WOFI you will also receive FREE access to Word on Fire Digital! In other words you get free, unlimited access to ALL of Bishop Barron's films, public talks, future recordings, and study materials. Now, come aboard and join our community of evangelists!
We want to formally invite you to join the Word on Fire Institute, which is
NOW OPEN!
 Be guided through the course materials by Institute staff and fellows...
...and keep track of your course progress, discussions, Institute announcements, and upcoming events all in one dynamic and easy-to-use online learning dashboard.

No tech skills necessary. Easily access on any device.
Take engaging courses in evangelization from Bishop Barron and some of the most qualified experts in the world!
Connect with some of the best minds in the Catholic Church and network with other members from around the world. Learn the theological and philosophical background behind the problems we currently face as a culture. Discover the practical action steps to bring Christ to the culture more effectively.
INTRODUCING THE FELLOWS OF THE WORD ON FIRE INSTITUTE!

BISHOP ROBERT BARRON
Institute Course: Theology of Hans Urs von Balthasar

Bishop Robert Barron is the founder of Word on Fire Catholic Ministries and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. He is also the host of CATHOLICISM, a groundbreaking, award-winning documentary about the Catholic Faith, which aired on public television.

Bishop Barron is an Amazon bestselling author and has published numerous books, essays, and articles on theology and the spiritual life. He is a religion correspondent for NBC, and has also appeared on FOX News, CNN, and EWTN.

LEAH LIBRESCO
Institute Course: Christian Community as Leaven for the World (Coming Soon!)

Leah Libresco has worked as a statistics professor and data journalist. She grew up as an atheist and converted to Catholicism while studying at Yale. Through various relationships and reading the likes of Lewis and Chesterton, Leah began to learn more and more about the Catholic faith and was received into the Catholic Church in 2012. Her conversion unfolded through her popular blog, Unequally Yoked, and was also covered by various media outlets including CNN, NBC News, and The Blaze. 

Leah is the author of two books, Arriving at Amen (Ave Maria Press, 2015) and Building the Benedict Option (Ignatius Press, 2018). She continues to write about faith, philosophy, math, and musical theatre on her blog, and her writing has appeared in The Washington Post, First Things, The Weekly Standard, The American Interest, The American Conservative, America, Fare Forward, and many other outlets.

DR. HOLLY ORDWAY
Institute Course: Imaginative Apologetics

Dr. Holly Ordway is Professor of English and faculty in the M.A. in Apologetics at Houston Baptist University; she holds a PhD in English from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. 

She is the author of Apologetics and the Christian Imagination: An Integrated Approach to Defending the Faith (Emmaus Road, 2017) and Not God’s Type: An Atheist Academic Lays Down Her Arms (Ignatius, 2014).

Dr. Ordway is also a published poet, and a Subject Editor for the Journal of Inklings Studies. Her academic work focuses on the writings of the Inklings, especially C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Her current book project is Tolkien’s Modern Sources: Middle-earth Beyond the Middle Ages (forthcoming from Kent State University Press, 2019).

FR. DAMIAN FERENCE
Institute Course: To the Peripheries!

Fr. Damian Ference is a priest of the Diocese of Cleveland. He graduated from Borromeo Seminary/John Carroll University in 1998, and after earning his MA and M.Div from Saint Mary Seminary and Graduate School of Theology he was ordained for the diocese of Cleveland in 2003.

He served as parochial vicar at St. Mary Parish in Hudson, Ohio from 2003-2007, and, in 2009, earned his licentiate in philosophy from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Fr. Ference has served at Borromeo Seminary in Wickliffe, Ohio as Director of Human Formation and Assistant Professor of Philosophy, and is currently a doctoral student in philosophy at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas in Rome, Italy.

DR. STACY TRASANCOS
Institute Course: Faith and Science (Coming Soon!)

Stacy A. Trasancos earned a PhD in Chemistry from Penn State University and an MA in Dogmatic Theology from Holy Apostles College and Seminary. Before becoming Catholic, she worked as a chemist for DuPont before leaving to raise children. Now she teaches chemistry and physics for Kolbe Academy and theology and science courses for Holy Apostles and Seton Hall University.  

She has been interviewed on Catholic radio, including Sirius XM The Catholic Channel, Relevant Radio, Redeemer Radio, Ave Maria Radio, Radio Maria, EWTN Global Catholic Network, Catholic Answers Live, and Breadbox Media, and was featured on Subject Matters on Salt & Light TV.

Dr. Trasancos has written numerous articles for Catholic publications, such as U.S. Catholic, St. Austin’s Review, The Integrated Catholic Life, National Catholic Register, Catholic Answers Magazine, and Catholic World Report. She is the author of Science Was Born of Christianity: The Teaching of Fr. Stanley L. Jaki and Particles of Faith: A Catholic Guide to Navigating Science (Ave Maria Press).

DR. ANTHONY PAGLIARINI
Institute Course: How 'Nones' Can Misread the Bible

After earning his BA in Theology and Philosophy at Notre Dame, Dr. Pagliarini taught high school in a Catholic mission parish in Belize. He then moved to Rome to study theology at the Angelicum and work as a guide in the Vatican Necropolis (the "Scavi"). He spent the following three years in Austria completing masters work at the International Theological Institute and then returned to Rome for further study at Pontifical Biblical Institute.

Dr. Pagliarini married his wife Katie in 2010 and returned to Notre Dame to begin doctoral work in Old Testament. Anthony and Katie live in South Bend with their four children. They teach in the Department of Theology at Notre Dame, where Anthony is also the Assistant Director of Undergraduate Studies. 

DR. CHRISTOPHER KACZOR
Institute Course: The Seven Big Myths About the Catholic Church

Dr. Christopher Kaczor is Professor of Philosophy at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. He holds a PhD (1996) from the University of Notre Dame and did post-doctoral work in Germany at the Universität zu Köln.

He has authored several books, the latest of which is The Seven Big Myths about the Catholic Church (Ignatius, 2012) and Life Issues, Medical Choices (co-authored with Dr. Janet Smith, Servant, 2016). Dr. Kaczor's research on issues of ethics, philosophy, and religion has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, National Review, NPR, BBC, EWTN, ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, MSNBC, and The Today Show.

DR. MATT NELSON
Institute Course: Reaching the Indifferent

Dr. Matt Nelson is the Assistant Director of the Word on Fire Institute. He holds a Doctor of Chiropractic (D.C.) from the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College in Toronto, and a Bachelor of Education degree from the University of Regina. He is currently pursuing a M.A. in philosophy from Holy Apostles College and Seminary.

Matt is also the author of Just Whatever: How to Help the Spiritually Indifferent Find Beliefs That Really Matter (Catholic Answers Press, 2018). He has been a regular contributor to the Catholic Answers Online Magazine, Strange Notions, and the Word on Fire blog. He has appeared on Salt and Light Television, and has been interviewed on Catholic Answers Live, EWTN radio, Relevant Radio, Redeemer Radio, Ave Maria Radio, and Breadbox Media, and a number of podcasts.

JARED ZIMMERER, M.Th.
Institute Course: The 8 Principles of Word on Fire

Jared Zimmerer is the Director of the Word on Fire Institute, and holds a Master’s Degree in Theology from Holy Apostles College and Seminary where he wrote his thesis entitled Thomas Merton's Perspective of Asceticism as an Evangelical Strategy. 

He is an author, speaker, and holds a bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology, with a passion for the sports and fitness culture. He spent four years as the Director of Adult Catechesis and Family Life at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Parish in Grapevine, Texas before joining the team at Word on Fire. He has written two books, The Ten Commandments of Lifting Weights and Man Up! Becoming the New Catholic Renaissance Man. Jared has appeared on EWTN and has been interviewed on numerous radio shows and podcasts.
 Ask Questions and Get Support From Other Members and Fellows in the Community Forums
Learn together with other members in real-time.

Ask hard questions and get thoughtful answers.

Support others, and receive encouragement and support for your own local evangelization efforts.
AND GET ONE MORE SPECIAL GIFT...
Every Institute member gets FREE unlimited access to ALL of Bishop Barron's films, public talks, future recordings, and study materials on Word on Fire Digital!
(A $199.95/year value!)
A FREE BONUS FOR ALL INSTITUTE MEMBERS!
HERE'S WHAT YOU GET WHEN YOU JOIN TODAY...
1. Access to All Past, Present, and Future Institute Courses from Bishop Barron and Qualified Experts
2. One Dynamic and Easy-To-Use Online Learning Dashboard
3. Ask Questions and Get Support From Other Members and Institute Fellows in the Community Forums 
4. Unlimited Access to ALL of Bishop Barron's Films and Study Programs
5. Special Discounts Throughout the Year on Books and Conferences
ENROLLMENT IS NOW OPEN!
Get Started Today...
Your $27/month membership supports this new and exciting evangelistic initiative and will also help Word on Fire Catholic Ministries, a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, continue to produce and distribute high-quality Catholic films, conferences, and resources bringing Christ to the culture.
* No Contracts. Cancel Anytime. 
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