Most Catholic priests are conservative, especially regarding social media and online interactions.
A Nigerian Catholic priest, Fr. James Anyaegbu, has defied this and ventured his sermons on social media, commanding more than 429,000 TikTok followers and over 24,000 Instagram followers, both Catholic and non-Catholic faithful, due to his viral videos.
Since his ordination as a priest in 2013, he went to Scotland in 2015, where he is currently based.
Photo: Fr. James Anyaegbu (Instagram)
“Before 2020, I had this push to reach out and minister to the young generation. I searched for them and created a platform to speak with them. I wanted a platform where their voices could be heard in the Church and spirituality.
“I became very active first on my YouTube Channel in 2019. The lockdown in 2020 inspired me to create an avenue to speak more to young people through TikTok. I love social media; I love surfing the net and seeing the activities of young people,” Fr. Anyaegbu said.
He added that his move was accepted well by his supporters and gained much acceptance because people needed to know about God, especially with COVID-19, where churches were not open in most parts of the world.
Photos: Fr. James Anyaegbu (Instagram)
He added that some people rarely ask questions in Church, but when they see a priest on social media, they reach out to seek clarification on things that bother them. He explained that many people come to his inbox to talk about situations that question their faith.
“When I started, people asked specific questions like what is a priest doing here (on TikTok), a priest shouldn’t be here, and this is not an arena for you. They have social media as a corrupt ground for the priest,” he added.
Photo: Fr. James Anyaegbu (Instagram)
He added that there are many issues with the Nigerian youth, which all boil down to the Nigerian Government and society.
“An average Nigerian youth wants to become something in the society and wants to influence the society, but when the desirable is not available, the available becomes desirable. That is the problem of our country today. Every human seeks a good life, not just the youth,” He said.
