Using Social Media for Lent

[acadian]

I have been tossing around an idea for months now…using Facebook posts to encourage people to go to confession during Lent. My thought is just to post something short each day - a song about mercy, a youtube video, a link to a relevant article or scripture, a quote from Pope Francis, the schedule for local “opportunities” for Confession, an offer to make appointments or provide moral support for the really reluctant.

But as Lent draws closer, I am having second thoughts. I don’t want to drive people away. I am trying to discern if it is God’s idea or my idea. People have told me that they enjoy things I post of Facebook. Am I doing this to draw attention to myself? Or am I having second thoughts because I want to be liked by people and not thought of as some kind of confession wierdo?

It is sometimes hard to know. Am I being asked to use my gifts in some type of small apostolate?

Be gentle, but I would appreciate some thoughts.

 

[NextElement]

I’m a big fan of social media, and think it’s great to spread the message of Lent (and Catholicism in general) and why we do what we do. I don’t think one reminder about going to Confession would be a bad idea, but having one every day might be a little overkill and not really appeal the those possible future Catholics! Instead, maybe just use Lent as an opportunity to spread our message in general, and educate the public on what Lent is and why we have it? That’s what I’m planning to do. God bless, and thanks for trying to spread the word!

 

[john1513]

Very good thoughts and concerns. I tend to use facebook for evangelization of myself and others. However recently I’ve become heavy on online evangelization (which sometimes leads to mindless surfing) and light on offline evangelization encountering many of the issues you mentioned. I haven’t seen many fruits from social media evangelization (doesn’t mean there are none, some have said in the past they enjoy my posts), but I always see many fruits from personal interaction and relationships.

Therefore, for my own personal good, I’m dusting my sandals of social media this lent. I’m unplugging and devoting more time to Christ and those in my physical realm. Hopefully after Easter, I can better evangelize others in any way the Holy Spirit leads me.

Happy Lent to you all!

 

[marywarfield]

I have been tossing around an idea for months now…using Facebook posts to encourage people to go to confession during Lent. My thought is just to post something short each day - a song about mercy, a youtube video, a link to a relevant article or scripture, a quote from Pope Francis, the schedule for local “opportunities” for Confession, an offer to make appointments or provide moral support for the really reluctant.

But as Lent draws closer, I am having second thoughts. I don’t want to drive people away. I am trying to discern if it is God’s idea or my idea. People have told me that they enjoy things I post of Facebook. Am I doing this to draw attention to myself? Or am I having second thoughts because I want to be liked by people and not thought of as some kind of confession wierdo?

It is sometimes hard to know. Am I being asked to use my gifts in some type of small apostolate?

Be gentle, but I would appreciate some thoughts.

I post on Facebook occasionally re: my faith. Almost
always gets me in hot water lol. Most of my
friends on the list are there through farming interests
as I participate in a micro dairy snd farm shares.
Normally the posts are about that.
And so if I sneak in something about the Church I get
slammed on my own page by a. Fundamentalist farmers,
B. Wicca farmers C. Gay farmers and then the odd assortment
of atheist or indifferent farmers.

 

[john1513]

I post on Facebook occasionally re: my faith. Almost
always gets me in hot water lol. Most of my
friends on the list are there through farming interests
as I participate in a micro dairy snd farm shares.
Normally the posts are about that.
And so if I sneak in something about the Church I get
slammed on my own page by a. Fundamentalist farmers,
B. Wicca farmers C. Gay farmers and then the odd assortment
of atheist or indifferent farmers.

Your situation may tempt me to post more! Lively conversation gets my interest but usually there’s no one on the other line when I post, therefore I’m scaling back. I had some productive, sometimes challenging, back and forth with protestants and atheists but it’s been a while. I guess my circles and friends aren’t online very much.

 

[suko]

Am I being asked to use my gifts in some type of small apostolate?

Be gentle, but I would appreciate some thoughts.

I think it’s fine to use facebook to evangelize a bit, and I think that we should if Christ really is in the center of our lives. I think for the most part, my FB page pretty much has nothing but things pertaining to the Catholic faith. The main thing I would suggest for u, though, is that when u do make posts of a religious nature, to be charitable about it, and not to do it in any way that sounds condemning or hostile to ones of other faiths. Remember, we’re not better than anybody else.

And I agree with u about trying to post perhaps just 1 short thing everyday about our Catholic faith, perhaps something in tune with the Lenten season. You don’t want people spending an hour going through your facebook posts everyday, so 1 or 2 posts or something should be sufficient, imo. Also, I wouldn’t recommend posting about confession everyday, as to me, that would just be overkill. Perhaps every Friday, too, u can post something about how fasting is good for the soul, etc…

God bless!

 

[acadian]

Thanks for the feedback, y’all! Perhaps I will moderate my plans to post every day. I don’t want people to feel like I’m beating them over the head with a Bible. I am pretty open about being a “Happy Catholic” and generally avoid Facebook drama.

One thing that I do on a regular basis is to post on Sundays asking for “good news” that they heard that day at church. Sometimes a non-Catholic friend will reply. I had a lady from church tell me tonight that she listens more closely now, because she knows I’ll be asking on Sunday.

I also hate scrolling through 15 posts from the same person. Will definitely limit that!

Thank you much!