NWR: The Clergy and Facebook

katetw

This is totally off-topic, but I am curious what you ladies think. What are you thoughts on being "Facebook friends" with your priest, or just priests and other clergy being on Facebook in general?

I ask because the priest performing our marriage is one of my fiance's and my closest friends, and of course, since we have known him since before he entered seminary, let alone his ordination, we're Facebook friends with him. His account was hacked this morning and posted a disturbing video not only on our "walls", but on those of tons of his Facebook friends, whom I know include some of his parishioners and other priests.

This was clearly not his fault, but do you think the benefits of a priest being on Facebook outweigh, or are outweighed by stuff that could happen to anyone on Facebook, like hacking? (I'm not even touching stuff for which corrupt clergy could use Facebook, because I actually don't think that's relevant to this conversation.)

rlytton87

I kind of like it, it's an easy way to keep contact & get some questions answered (obviously if they're not pressing ones, those I call the church office for). And really, I think anyone who is going to be friends with a priest on facebook, is going to know that if an inappropriate video is posted by "him", it's been hacked. 

ootmother2

I'm not all that keen on priest's having facebook unless it's set up on private and can't be seen by the general public.

A priest in my neighborhood (not my church though) had facebook and it caused him a great deal of trouble.  He put "unmarried" as his status when he set it up.  He said he had debated "in a relationship" but that didn't really fit his situation exactly either.

A parishoner saw his page and went to his pastor and there was a huge deal made of it.  This priest is also a MSW and cousels gay, lesbian and transsexuals in the diocese.  He really just wanted to seem the same as any other person, not only defined as a priest, but more.  yeah, this backfired big time.

Very probable an innocent mistake made by a good man but he was transferred to Boston right after the incident.  Most of that parish consisted of older, very conservative members that probably disliked his "on the side" job.

Sad, but it's most likely best to keep personal information off the internet in these cases.

JMO

[Deleted User]

I don't have a FB page, but I don't think it is a wise idea either to be friends with your priest on FB.

oot- wow, that really sucks for the priest. But he should have definitely thought about the repercussions from that before he put all that info out there.

SaraAndrew2010

I don't think there is anything wrong with a priest being on Facebook.  The Holy Father has encouraged priest to use the internet as a means of reaching out to those in the community.  Facebook seems to be the dominant communication method used by many young people.  I think Facebook could be a very useful tool for priests to do things like set up and promote a young adult event.

That being said, I don't know if I would really want to be Facebook friends with priests I know.  I guess it all depends on the relationship.  I also think it is important that if priests are going to be using social networking sites that they received the appropriate education.   They should be taught things like the connotation of certain settings (ie. relationship status) as well as internet safety and strong password usage.

Calypso1977

id probably side eye a priest on facebook.  im not sure its appropriate.  i can see the logic in trying to reach people, but i think face to face is better for priests.  as we all know, things can be misinterpreted when in typed/written format versus verbal.

SaraAndrew2010

"Who better than a priest, as a man of God," the Pope said, "can develop and put into practice, by his competence in current digital technology, a pastoral outreach capable of making God concretely present in today's world and presenting the religious wisdom of the past as a treasure which can inspire our efforts to live in the present with dignity while building a better future?"

http://virginia.catholic.org/newsArticles.php?article=36499

Hope61

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/cultural-wedding-boards_catholic-weddings_nwr-clergy-facebook?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Cultural%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:615Discussion:420fcdd2-55ed-432d-935f-88a6a3044881Post:53927a04-f4bf-408e-981e-564fc394737a">Re: NWR: The Clergy and Facebook</a>:
[QUOTE]I don't think there is anything wrong with a priest being on Facebook.  The Holy Father has encouraged priest to use the internet as a means of reaching out to those in the community.  Facebook seems to be the dominant communication method used by many young people.  I think Facebook could be a very useful tool for priests to do things like set up and promote a young adult event.

Posted by SaraAndrew2010[/QUOTE]

This. The priests I am friends with on Facebook are campus ministers. It makes a lot of sense for them to be on Facebook, they can set up events for students and such. One of them makes a daily wall post of a quotation from his spiritual reading, or the Mass readings, or the saint of the day etc. If a parish priest with mostly middle-aged/older parishioners were on Facebook, on the other hand, I might think that was a little strange. As said before, it also should be used responsibly. Strong privacy settings (EVERYONE should have them, not just priests!) and watch who you're friends with and what you say.

clearheavens

I'm friends also with my campus ministers and get a lot out of their statuses, which as KatieAnne mentioned, has to do with their spiritual readings, a quote from a saint, or Scripture.  Their online presence helps connect students to the parish and to the Church.  I say, where the sheep congregate, the priests should congregate, too.  Their ministry is to help direct us towards Christ.

At the same time,  I also don't think priests should post what they had for dinner, what hobbies they're doing that weekend, what their personal opinions are, and things like that.  Their page should be mostly representing their parish and their diocese and not them as an individual person.  It would be kind of like being facebook friends with Mark Zuckerberg.  He posts just enough for us to believe it's a real person behind the profile but nothing  personal, yet his online presence makes it easy for people to connect to Facebook.  This is my opinion.

bibliophile2010

I am Facebook friends with several priests and have never really thought twice about it, especially those involved in campus ministry. None of my priest-friends on FB post much of anything, and when they do it is like others said: about parish events or about faith in some way or another. If they were treating it like a very personal page with information about their dinner, their weekend plans, or other personal stuff, I might feel more like it is crossing the line.

I personally take care that anything I post on my FB or that is posted on my FB is something that I would be comfortable having my parents, grandparents, students, and priest see. I try to keep my privacy settings as tight as possible, but you never know what gets around.

mica178

I'm not active on my FB account at all, so it wouldn't matter to me if I was FB friends with a priest.  I'm already friends with my MIL and all of my SILs, so it's not like I'm posting racy things on my wall.  I think if a priest had a lot of young parishioners, it would make sense to reach out to them using mediums they use.  The parish we belong to is older, so I can't imagine the pastor using FB effectively.

DFWIndian

I'm with bibliophile2010. I'm friends with many priest and never thought anything of it either. A couple are family, but they rest are just priests I know or were our parish priest at some point. Our Malankara church is small so I know majority of the priests and bishops on a personal level. I've never seen anything from their profiles I would think is inapporiate and as far as I know none of them have gotten in trouble for their accounts.

Sorry to hear about your priest! That's terrible for him!

bel138

I'm FB friends with several priests, mostly around my age. But DH's uncle is a Russian Orthodox priest, and we're friends with him too. I mean, we hang out at the seminary sometimes and have our priest over to the apartment, so these are our friends. I don't see anything wrong with them being on FB. Most of their accounts are like pages for the parish. Like DFW, our church is really small and personal.

I just think it's about internet safety. Keep the security tight. Don't accept friend requests from people you don't know and don't trust. I routinely keep my friend list below 100. I don't post things I wouldn't want my patients to see, and I am only friends with people who know this and wouldn't post things on their own walls that I find objectionable.