Chapter 1 states that the primary role of the priest is to preach, and that effective preaching must take into consideration the particular congregation. The use of electronic media for preaching may be called for as we move further into the electronic age. The thesis is stated that multimedia preaching will be more effective than strictly aural preaching for future generations.

Chapter 2 summarizes the history of human communication from the early oral stage through the two levels of the literate stage (chirographic and lithographic) to the onset of the electronic stage.

Chapter 3 examines the two generations that most properly make up the electronic age—Generation X and the Millennial Generation. This chapter looks at many of the influences on these generations, especially how they deal more in an experiential, spatial mode than in the more analytical, linear mode of the more literal generations.

Chapter 4 cites various experiments that studied how people react to verbal and visual stimuli. It investigates how the human mind processes information that comes through the aural and visual modes. This chapter also provides some background in the developing grammar for various modes of electronic communication.

Chapter 5 describes the project which was conducted to test the thesis presented in Chapter 1. Four preaching presentations were made in the context of a Liturgy of the Word. Two of the presentations were in the traditional oral/aural format. Two of the presentations were in an oral/aural/visual format. The quantitative data showed differences in the two formats which favored the addition of visuals, but it was not enough of a difference to be considered significant. The qualitative data, however, showed a much more substantial difference.*

*This dissertation is a compound document (contains both a paper copy and a CD as part of the dissertation). The CD requires the following system requirements: Microsoft Office.