Photo by Rodion Kutsaev on Unsplash
CHURCH SOCIAL TIPS
This new year ushers in a whole new decade. Many themes associated with 2020 are connected to clarity, vision and focus. For our church, the month of January is focused on respect life events and prayer.
Across the country there will be marches and walks for life — events to galvanize the faithful to action by lifting their voices and providing a large visual witness for the cause for life. There is a great focus on the March for Life in Washington, D.C, but Hawaii’s ohana has also been called to “raise your voices.” This year’s march on Jan. 16 at the capitol rotunda marked a 47-year tradition of celebrating life from conception to natural death.
While the position of the church has never wavered on its definition of life, individual members are divided on their positions on this Catholic teaching. The divisions can create caustic conversations within social media feeds. Posting your position on social media opens you up to responses that may be in conflict with your opinions. While everyone has a right to his or her opinion, people should not think that that right gives them a license to be abusive.
The acronym “Think” is a good guide to follow for practicing civility on social media. It challenges us to consider the following before posting:
T — Will your response be true?
H — Will your response be helpful?
I — Will it be inspiring?
N — Is it really necessary?
K — Is it kind?
While we hold the church’s teaching to be true, these days the truth seems to be up for debate. Sometimes you just have to agree to disagree. Knowledge is power and if you have insightful articles or other posts by respected persons, share those. Inspiration lifts up. It does not tear down. So if you are tempted to post your position using abusive language, DON’T post! Necessity is relative in social media; what one person finds necessary, others perceive as inconsequential.
Last, but most importantly, be kind. Someone’s post may make you angry or you may vehemently disagree with their position. If you must respond, simply say “I will pray for you.” And in the moment, truly pray for the person to have a change of heart. Nothing is kinder than offering a prayer or sacrifice for another — especially a stranger!
There is often a focus on the caustic nature of social media when it comes to characterizing pro-life vs. pro-choice conversations. However, the power of hashtags to spark conversations about pro-life issues and to promote pro-life events has served to amplify the message to a broader audience. A quick review of the #Whywemarch on Instagram reveals nearly 60,000 posts using it.
The next generation of the pro-life movement uses social media effectively. @studentsforlife on Instagram is a vibrant page with more than 70,000 followers, averaging a few thousand likes per post. The Students For Life YouTube channel, which shares short pro-life video messages, has over 13,000 subscribers.
Even the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has created a landing page of downloadable graphics to share on social media pages as part of its annual “9 days for life novena.” A graphic for each day focuses on varied respect life themes from womb to tomb.
On Jan. 24, help pro-life posts to trend across social media platforms. Like, share or respond to pro-life social media pages you follow.
Visit https://www.40daysforlife.com/honolulu, https://marchforlife.org/about-the-march-for-life or https://www.hilifealliance.org for more information and opportunities to support pro-life activities the whole year through near you.
Hayes-Peirce is a social media strategist based in California.
