The Word on Fire Institute

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.

Leah Libresco grew up as an atheist and converted to Catholicism in 2012 while at Yale. Her conversion unfolded through her popular blog, Unequally Yoked, and was also covered by various media outlets including CNN, NBC News, and The Blaze.

Fr. Stephen Gadberry is an Air Force veteran where he served in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2007. He studied at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome where he specialized in both the Theology and Spirituality of Saint Augustine and of Joseph Ratzinger. He has appeared on the hit television show American Ninja Warrior.

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. He is an author, speaker, and holds a bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology, with a passion for the sports and fitness culture. He has written two books, The Ten Commandments of Lifting Weights and Man Up! Becoming the New Catholic Renaissance Man.

Dr. Jennifer Frey is currently an assistant professor of philosophy at the University of South Carolina. Previously, she was a Collegiate Assistant Professor of Humanities at the University of Chicago. She earned her PhD in philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh. She is also a wife and mother of six.

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. He is currently pursuing a MA in philosophy from Holy Apostles College and Seminary. He has been a regular contributor to the Catholic Answers Online Magazine, Strange Notions, and the Word on Fire Blog.

Dr. Stacy Trasancos teaches chemistry and physics for Kolbe Academy and theology and science courses for Holy Apostles and Seton Hall University. 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.

Robert Mixa is the Fellow of Education at the Word on Fire Institute. He earned a BA in Philosophy from Saint Louis University and a Masters in Theological Studies from the Pontifical John Paul II Institute at Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. Prior to joining the Word on Fire Institute, he taught high school philosophy and theology near Chicago.

Andrew Petiprin is Fellow of Popular Culture at the Word on Fire Institute. He is an author and former Anglican cleric who came into full communion with the Catholic Church on January 1, 2019. He earned an M.Div. from Yale University and an M.Phil from Oxford University.

Elizabeth Scalia is a Benedictine Oblate and author of several books including the award-winning Strange Gods: Unmasking the Idols in Everyday Life (Ave Maria Press) and Little Sins Mean a Lot (OSV). Before joining the Word on Fire team as Editor at Large, she served as Editor-in-Chief of the English edition of Aleteia, and as Managing Editor of the Catholic section of Patheos.com. Elizabeth also blogs as “The Anchoress” at www.theanchoress.com. She is married, and living on Long Island.

Fr. Damian Ference is a priest of the Diocese of Cleveland. He holds degrees in Divinity and Philosophy from the Borromeo Seminary/John Carroll University, Saint Mary Seminary, and the Catholic University of America. He is currently a doctoral student in philosophy at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas in Rome, Italy.

Paul Murray, OP, an Irish Dominican friar, lives in Rome where he teaches courses at the Angelicum University on the literature of the Western mystical tradition. He is a Fellow of the Word on Fire Institute and has published many books, including Scars: Essays, Poems, and Meditations on Affliction; Aquinas at Prayer: The Bible, Mysticism, and Poetry; and God’s Spies: Michelangelo, Shakespeare, and Other Poets of Vision.

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. He has authored several books and his research has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, National Review, NPR, BBC, EWTN, ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, MSNBC, and The Today Show.

Haley Stewart is a Fellow of the Word on Fire Institute. She is a homeschooling mother of four, wife to a whisky maker, co-host of The Fountains of Carrots Podcast, and the author of The Grace of Enough. She earned a BA as a University Scholar from Baylor University and lives in central Texas.

Dr. Matthew Petrusek received an MA (Yale University) and PhD (University of Chicago) in religious ethics and is currently associate professor of theology at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. He specializes in Christian ethics, though lectures broadly, in English and Spanish, on philosophy, theology, and the Catholic intellectual tradition. In addition to serving as a WOFI fellow, he is host of the show Reasons to Believe at WordNet TV, co-author of Two Rules for Life: A Christian Response to Jordan Peterson (under contract with WOFI Press), co-editor of Value and Vulnerability: Contemporary Interfaith Dialogue on Human Dignity (University of Notre Dame Press), and has published in numerous academic journals. He lives with his wife and children in the Inland Empire in Southern California.

Dr. Anthony Pagliarini earned Theology and Philosophy degrees from Notre Dame, the Angelicum in Rome, and the International Theological Institute in Austria. Anthony and his wife Katie live in South Bend, Indiana with their four children. They teach in the Department of Theology at Notre Dame.

Dr. Tod Worner is a husband, father, Catholic, convert, and practicing internal medicine physician. He is the Managing Editor of the Word on Fire Institute Journal, Evangelization & Culture. His blog Catholic Thinking is found at Aleteia. He also writes for Patheos and the National Catholic Register. Follow him on Twitter @thinkercatholic.

Joe Zambon is the Fellow of Word on Fire Communities.  He is a Canadian, proud husband and father, and a folksy singer-songwriter. He earned a BA in Theology from Dominican College and served for 8 years as a Campus Minister at York University in Toronto before moving down to Dallas Texas.

Dr. Stephen Bullivant is a Fellow of the Word on Fire Institute. He is also Professor of Theology and the Sociology of Religion, and Director of the Benedict XVI Centre for Religion and Society at St. Mary’s University, UK.

He holds doctorates in Theology (Oxford, 2009) and Sociology (Warwick, 2019). He joined St. Mary’s in 2009, having previously held posts at Heythrop College, London, and Wolfson College, Oxford. Professor Bullivant has also held a visiting fellowship at the Institute for Social Change (University of Manchester), Blackfriars Hall (University of Oxford), and the Institute for Advanced Studies (University College London).

John Allen Jr. is the editor of Crux, the leading Catholic news source, specializing in coverage of the Vatican and the Catholic Church. He has written eleven books on the Vatican and Catholic affairs and is a popular speaker on Catholicism. He is also a senior Vatican analyst for CNN. In addition to hosting The John Allen Show, John will be offering an exclusive Q&A to Institute members each month.