The University of St. Thomas-Houston MAX Studios, in partnership with the Word on Fire Institute, launched an innovative video series to demonstrate how to bring the light of the Gospel to the digital world. Harnessing the expertise of major Catholic influencers who evangelize effectively on social media platforms, each episode of the series, The New Evangelization and New Media, spotlights today’s most interesting and compelling Catholic influencers to share their experiences with technology and media to get to the heart of our culture and reach their specific audience.

Check out the trailer for the series!

EPISODE TWO – FR. ROB GALEA EXPLORES YOUTUBE

In episode 2 of The New Evangelization and New Media video series, Fr. Rob Galea talks all about everyone’s favorite video platform, YouTube. Fr. Rob Galea is an ordained Catholic priest and is currently serving in Sandhurst Diocese, Victoria after moving to Australia from Malta, his home country. He is a singer and songwriter with an international fan base, has written songs for World Youth Day 2016 and 2019, and has performed for Pope Francis. Apart from a series of recordings and CD releases, Fr. Rob has 73,000 subscribers on YouTube where he features many of his songs and homilies. He was a contestant in Australia’s 2015 The X Factor and is the founder and serving director of FRG Ministry.

The UST MAX Studios team caught up with Fr. Rob while touring in the U.S. This episode was filmed on location in Chicago.

Watch the episode – Fr. Rob Galea Explores YouTube

“At the end of the day, people want to connect with a human being. They don’t want to connect with a film star. They don’t want to connect with a celebrity. They want to connect with the human being behind the person at the front.”

Takeaways and Reflection:

Takeaways:

1. Think about relevance and authenticity with every video you make.
2. Practice using programs and apps to enhance and edit your videos.
3. Balancing your phone and social media use with time for yourself and others.

Reflections:

1.      What are some timely/relevant things you feel passionate about and would want to make a video of – with the love of Christ in mind?

2.      What is a new program you could learn or download to help you produce a quality video?

3.      Ponder how you balance your phone and social media use. Is it healthy, or does it distract you from making time for others and developing ideas?.

For more behind-the-scenes content with Fr. Rob, visit https://ustmaxstudios.com/the-new-evangelization-new-media/youtube/.