Live Mass on St. Anthony in Wailuku, Maui’s Facebook page.
CHURCH SOCIAL TIPS
By Sherry Hayes-Peirce
As news of surging numbers of COVID19 cases are reported and many states and counties across the country roll back openings, it’s time for parishes to get serious about social media. This is the perfect time to call on parishioners, both young and older, to serve as stewards of the faith by helping you develop a strategy. Today we will talk about Facebook. The popular application has enough features if you only wanted one site to get social quickly.
Use Facebook Live
The No. 1 way to connect virtually with parishioners is to share Sunday and daily Masses streamed over the internet through Facebook Live. Imagine if just half the number of your registered parishioners followed your parish on Facebook. The impact of keeping your community connected would be awesome!
Some people watch Mass from the cathedral, or by Bishop Robert Barron or on EWTN. That’s great! But what people yearn for is their own church, their own priests’ voices and the community of their fellow parishioners. What you stream may not be perfect, but it will be authentic and specific to your Mass experience.
Also, use Facebook Live for your pastor to give a weekly update about what is happening at your parish or to answer questions you have received. Use it also to urge parishioners to make online donations.
Spiritual Communion
When connecting with parishioners through streamed Masses, encourage them to receive holy Communion spiritually by reciting the following prayer:
My Jesus,
I believe that You are present in the Most Holy Sacrament
I love You above all things,
And I desire to receive You into my soul.
Since I cannot at this moment receive You sacramentally,
Come at least spiritually into my heart.
I embrace You as if You were already there
And unite myself wholly to You.
Never permit me to be separated from You.
Amen.
Take a picture of your priest holding the Eucharist and write the prayer in the caption. Great share! If confession is inaccessible, follow the advice of Pope Francis who said during a livestreamed Mass on March 20, “This is the right time, the opportune moment. An act of contrition done well, and our souls will become white like the snow.” Again, take a picture of your priest or the confessional box and put the Act of Contrition in the caption.
Use cover photo like a billboard
Use your Facebook cover photo to share the parish Mass schedule, upcoming events and other ways your parish is still serving others during the pandemic.
Start a blog with Notes feature
This is an opportunity to have your parishioners write articles about their experiences during the COVID19 era. It could also be a way for your pastor or other leaders to write about your parish’s experience.
Host a prayerful Watch Party
On Fridays, many of our parishes host adoration, benediction, rosaries or Divine Mercy prayer opportunities. Do the same thing online via the Facebook “Watch Party” feature. This is super-engaging for older and more devout members. It is also more secure than a Zoom call.
Continue to pray for intercession from St. Damien and St. Marianne as our world remains in peril living in the era of a pandemic.
Hayes-Peirce is a social media strategist based in California.
