Great article. Catholicism is about personal relationships within a community which just can’t happen online. These big time influencers often cause people to stay online rather than interact with their own parish community. Your evaluation test of influencers is good. Too many seem to be in it for their own personal glory or for monetary gain. Thank you for this.
I'm not yet confirmed--calling myself 'Cathol-ish' in the meantime--so my perspective is not as nuanced as it could be. Take it with several grains of salt.
Part of me wonders if this is one of those instances where the church functions as a microcosm of the larger world. The best and worst parts of influencer culture are on display in the church. Because we have such high ideals and examples (ya know, like Jesus of Nazareth), our failures are going to be much more pronounced against that background. And our success will be orders of magnitude less than the rest of the culture.
If we want to consider influencers as missionaries, then perhaps a very specific and very robust approach to living that vocation should be considered. "Let not many of you become influencers, for they will receive the harsher cancellation," keeps running through my mind. What advice would a priest or a spiritual director have for someone who desires to serve the church in that world? Are we applying the same discernment process?
The Church is first and foremost a community — an immediate, embodied community in real life. Our primary call is to engage our brothers and sisters in our parish, where we bring our prayer, study, and even our private insights into the light of discernment, with the Holy Spirit among us.
This is how the Church keeps us steady. It prevents us from drifting into extremes, because we remain centered on Christ together.
The problem with influencers is that they encourage us to consult strangers’ content rather than the Church living in our parish. This is how influencers drive extremes: first, by sowing doubt about our parish, and then by offering us a marketplace of personal preferences dressed up as faith.
When we go off on our own, consuming content without discernment, we risk severing ourselves from that anchor. We risk isolation. And let’s be clear: Twitter, TikTok, and YouTube are not communities. They are content streams, and on those platforms, you are the product.
Take one example: someone with homosexual inclinations, if guided by people in their parish, could be helped to encounter the Church’s central truth with charity. But online, that same person can hide their struggles and find an influencer who tells them only what they want to hear—radicalizing them in one direction.
On the other end, someone might fall into a so-called “traditionalist” corner of the internet so extreme that they come to deny the very existence of the pope. Both distortions are fueled by consuming content apart from the parish, without real discernment.
With that said, I consume my share of influencer material. But I also lead two ministries and participate in others. That grounding keeps me rooted in face-to-face community, where questions and concerns can be brought into the light — and truth can be discerned together.
Right, because praying the rosary, doing penance for reparation and the world’s salvation, promoting adoration of the Eucharist, communing and confessing more, attending Mass on Saturdays—all of that is so demonic.
“Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand; and if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Be-el′zebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.”
Nice article, Pat!
Thanks Drago!
Great article. Catholicism is about personal relationships within a community which just can’t happen online. These big time influencers often cause people to stay online rather than interact with their own parish community. Your evaluation test of influencers is good. Too many seem to be in it for their own personal glory or for monetary gain. Thank you for this.
If the public square moves, you move. You don’t stand in empty buildings waiting for crowds that already left.
I'm not yet confirmed--calling myself 'Cathol-ish' in the meantime--so my perspective is not as nuanced as it could be. Take it with several grains of salt.
Part of me wonders if this is one of those instances where the church functions as a microcosm of the larger world. The best and worst parts of influencer culture are on display in the church. Because we have such high ideals and examples (ya know, like Jesus of Nazareth), our failures are going to be much more pronounced against that background. And our success will be orders of magnitude less than the rest of the culture.
If we want to consider influencers as missionaries, then perhaps a very specific and very robust approach to living that vocation should be considered. "Let not many of you become influencers, for they will receive the harsher cancellation," keeps running through my mind. What advice would a priest or a spiritual director have for someone who desires to serve the church in that world? Are we applying the same discernment process?
The Church is first and foremost a community — an immediate, embodied community in real life. Our primary call is to engage our brothers and sisters in our parish, where we bring our prayer, study, and even our private insights into the light of discernment, with the Holy Spirit among us.
This is how the Church keeps us steady. It prevents us from drifting into extremes, because we remain centered on Christ together.
The problem with influencers is that they encourage us to consult strangers’ content rather than the Church living in our parish. This is how influencers drive extremes: first, by sowing doubt about our parish, and then by offering us a marketplace of personal preferences dressed up as faith.
When we go off on our own, consuming content without discernment, we risk severing ourselves from that anchor. We risk isolation. And let’s be clear: Twitter, TikTok, and YouTube are not communities. They are content streams, and on those platforms, you are the product.
Take one example: someone with homosexual inclinations, if guided by people in their parish, could be helped to encounter the Church’s central truth with charity. But online, that same person can hide their struggles and find an influencer who tells them only what they want to hear—radicalizing them in one direction.
On the other end, someone might fall into a so-called “traditionalist” corner of the internet so extreme that they come to deny the very existence of the pope. Both distortions are fueled by consuming content apart from the parish, without real discernment.
With that said, I consume my share of influencer material. But I also lead two ministries and participate in others. That grounding keeps me rooted in face-to-face community, where questions and concerns can be brought into the light — and truth can be discerned together.
Great article man! Very insightful discussion that needs to continually be had.
Right, because praying the rosary, doing penance for reparation and the world’s salvation, promoting adoration of the Eucharist, communing and confessing more, attending Mass on Saturdays—all of that is so demonic.
“Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand; and if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Be-el′zebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.”