An outspoken American bishop who has posted 400 tweets since joining Twitter four months ago has said that his use of social media is “humanising” the office of bishop and that, like Donald Trump, he finds its “immediate” impact “useful”.
In an interview with the Catholic news website Crux, Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence, Rhode Island explained why he took to Twitter in February after viewing it as trivial and a waste of time.
“Eventually, I came around and thought: the President is using it and the Pope is using it…it has an impact,” he said. Describing has prolific use of the network as an “experiment,” he said: “Its chief virtue is that it’s immediate, and its network is enormous…I suppose that’s what President Trump finds so useful, too.”
And in his own way, Bishop Tobin is as forthright as the President in his tweets. After Ireland last month voted to liberalise abortion, the bishop tweeted: “The Western world has lost its moral compass; it is adamantly atheistic and amoral.”
Crux noted that although a number of bishops use the social media sites Facebook and Twitter, many accounts are managed by diocesan officials. Bishop Tobin, in contrast, writes his own tweets, though he recognises the potential downsides of the platform.
“I need a heavy dose of prudence in things that I post, because I don’t use a lot of filters,” he said.
But Bishop Tobin told Crux that using Twitter has been an occasion for “humanising the office of the bishop”. He said: “Most people don’t know bishops personally, but if I tweet something about my dog, or about the weather, or about my family, or the [American football teams the Pittsburgh] Steelers or the [New England] Patriots, it helps people to see the bishop is a real person and he has a life too outside of the realm of the Church.”
Earlier this month, he asked his 4,500 Twitter followers for prayers concerning ongoing back pain, adding: “The good news is that my tweeting finger is working just fine. Infidels, heretics, atheists and apostates: beware!”
Having previously used Facebook and his diocesan newspaper, the bishop sees Twitter as “an opportunity to expand the teaching office of the bishop” by reflecting on scripture, providing commentary on the Liturgical seasons, outlining the background of a saint, or expanding on something Pope Francis has said.
However, Bishop Tobin does not shy away from highly topical areas of discussion. In 2013, he was in the spotlight after announcing that he had switched his support from the Democratic party to the Republicans following the 2012 Democratic convention, which he described as an “aha moment” over their official support for abortion and gay marriage.
A conservative who describes himself as “ardently pro-life,” Bishop Tobin has nonetheless repeatedly expressed support for stricter gun control laws, weighing into a national debate that some bishops have declined to enter into.
“I just try to take the teachings of the Church and apply them to a variety of issues,” he told Crux.
On some controversial issues, Bishop Tobin is soliciting opinion on Twitter. After the Archdiocese of Baltimore announced earlier this month that it was becoming the second place in the US to allow outdoor Catholic weddings to take place, he wrote on Twitter: “I have mixed emotions about that. If it keeps some young couples involved in the Church, that’s excellent. Or, does it risk losing even more the sense of the sacred surrounding Holy Matrimony? Your opinion?”
On the one hand, the bishop sees the advantages of the site. “It helps the Church, and me in particular, to be relevant to things going on in the world,” he said.
On the other, he recognises that it is possible to spend too much time on Twitter and neglect what matters most. Last month, he wrote: “It just occurred to me that if I spent as much time with my Bible as I do with my smartphone, I’d be a much better Bishop.”
And like so many others on the platform, he has been unable to resist the temptation to tweet a picture of his dog.
Loading ...
