Social media as tool for the Church’s mission and response to the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

A recent correspondence claimed that the establishment of community pantries across the Philippines embodies a spirituality of ‘Alay Kapwa’ as it connects people, especially in a time of crisis such as the 2019 coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, to be persons for others.¹ This article highlights that the rise of community pantries was primarily aided by social media. Community pantries were all the talk across social media as the Philippine government imposed another stricter lockdown in the National Capital Region.² The ‘Maginhawa’ community pantry, started by Facebook user Ana Patricia Non, was the first to hit media buzz and spark kindness across the country.³ In less than a week, the ‘Maginhawa’ pantry was able to serve thousands of individuals and inspired many others to help sustain the cause.³ Undeniably, social media was influential in starting and sustaining this community pantry. Through social media, people were inspired to counter the government’s inaction by setting up pantries in their local communities, though these do neither aim to replace the government’s role nor support citizen’s long-term needs.⁴

As the world transferred from physical to virtual, people still found a way to help especially those who are in need. Social media can be credited for this spread. This clearly shows that social media can also be an avenue where spirituality can be exposed and preached. Reinforced by this pandemic, the digital space is not a parallel universe from one’s existential reality but an essential component of it.⁵ A recent publication claimed Facebook to be the new ‘agora’ where people discuss, trade and worship.⁶ Facebook is similar to the ancient ‘agora’ of the Greeks which refers to “a commercial market, a square geared mainly toward government and administration, or a multipurpose public space combining various functions.”⁶ The Greek ‘agora’ was regarded as the city’s heart for politics, commerce and religion. The internet, particularly Facebook, has become a core pillar of modern communication. Mobile phones have outranked computers as the most important channels for internet access worldwide. The huge sales and demand for smartphones may also be attributed to Facebook’s popularity since most of its users access the social media platform almost exclusively via their mobile devices.⁷ Evidently, social media has become more powerful these days.

The spirituality produced by community pantries through social media exemplifies the proclamation of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI that this new technology opens new portals for the Catholic Church’s evangelical mission.⁸ Even if Pope Francis is more critical on digital technologies compared with his predecessors, he clearly believes in the extraordinary opportunities for dialogue, encounter and exchange between persons⁹ through social media.

The Catholic Church is slowly migrating to a new field—the digital field. So far, despite the misuse of digital technology, community pantries, organized mainly through social media, clearly show the innate kindness and compassion of the people in this new field. Finally, social media shows that, if utilized ethically and with a positive disposition and perspective, it can be a powerful tool in the Church’s mission of evangelization, and in its response to this pandemic.

Authors’ contribution

All authors contributed to all aspects of the manuscript.

Acknowledgements

No funding was received from this paper.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest in this paper.

References