In a world of fake news and moral relativism, more and more people are hungry for the truth, but don’t even know where to begin looking for it. In response to this, Word on Fire, an organization founded by Bishop Robert Barron, has launched the Word on Fire Institute and a quarterly journal to draw people to the fullness of truth found in the Catholic faith.

Dr. Tod Worner, managing editor for the new quarterly journal Evangelization & Culture, stopped by A Closer Look™ this week to discuss the power of beauty and creativity in a world that is searching for truth.

Explaining the mission and purpose of the Word on Fire Institute and Evangelization & Culture, Dr. Worner said, “This is just this effort to reach out to people, to lead with beauty, to engage an uncertain culture, and to champion an intellectually robust and mystically rich Catholic faith.”

He pointed out that the quarterly journal will cover a wide range of topics from a diverse group of contributors, saying, ” We have priests, we have homemakers, we have poets, we have scientists, we have professors, we have artists. It’s a whole wide range. … Catholicism speaks to everything. It’s like Chesterton said, it has something to say about everything. It is indeed universal.”

In speaking to a wide variety of topics, Dr. Worner emphasized that the Word on Fire Institute and Evangelization & Culture will lead with beauty. He shared with A Closer Look host Sheila Liaugminas why leading with beauty and creativity can ultimately lead people to the truth.

“There are a lot of people that are uncertain about their faith,” he said. “They’re uncertain whether they believe in God, they’re trying to figure out what direction they’re going to go in. And so they’re searching for truth. Well, one of the things we can commonly agree on is there is beauty out there. And if one agrees upon the notion of something which is beautiful you start to approximate the notion of goodness. And when you start to agree on the notion of goodness, you are getting near to that which is true.”

“So creativity as an initial theme, leading with beauty, it just fits with who Word on Fire is as an institute and as a movement.”

Just as the institute and journal seek to lead with beauty with a goal of journeying toward truth, the goal of acknowledging truth is to lead to a relationship with Truth itself – the person of Jesus Christ.

“What the Word on Fire Institute, and Word on Fire as a movement, is doing as a whole is trying to form people. We’re trying to form people in their interior life, form intellectual life, and form the aesthetic life,” Dr. Worner said. “If they walk away having been transformed, to having a deeper faith, and a warm friendship with Christ then that’s all we’re trying to do. We’re trying to bring people closer to that Christ-centered relationship and we do believe that this is one of the ways to do it.”

Find out more about the Word on Fire Institute and listen to the full conversation with Dr. Tod Worner below:

A Closer Look airs weekdays at 6:00 p.m. Eastern/3:00 p.m. Pacific on Relevant Radio® and the Relevant Radio App.