Social media can be a great platform for the New Evangelization to thrive. But it is also a platform that must be approached with sincerity and clarity. A tweet from Catholic Vote last week taught that exact lesson. On Friday, December 8, Catholic Vote tweeted from their account:
Many people were outraged at the tweet, which implied that the Catholic Church hates women who have had abortions. Although that was not Catholic Vote’s intent at all, the tweet read that way. Here are a few of the responses from Twitter:
https://twitter.com/turnerjoylynch/status/939358036526710784
omg you HAVE to delete this
— scarey 🎃🍂 (the keanu evangelization) (@careyhelmick) December 9, 2017
https://twitter.com/HildieTallgem/status/939353213676822528
After seeing the confusion, Catholic Vote issued a clarification as a reply to their initial tweet. Here’s what they said:
Just to be clear, that's the message Planned Parenthood sends when it dismisses women hurt by abortion. Catholics, on the other hand, should love and accept all women who have suffered abuse, including those who have courageously broken their silence on abortion.
— CatholicVote (@CatholicVote) December 9, 2017
But their followers were not completely satisfied with a clarification as a reply to the initial tweet, though. They asked Catholic Vote to delete the original, confusing tweet. Here are a few of their responses:
https://twitter.com/_hannahbutt/status/939312055894663168
https://twitter.com/jasontrujillo_/status/939292809114374144
Even with the calls to delete, Catholic Vote refused to delete the original tweet. Stephen Herreid, managing editor online for Catholic Vote, engaged in some dialogue with people who were upset.
I don't get it. Either CV made an understandable mistake and so you're treating CV with respect but recommending a correction, or you've already judged CV as hateful and un-Catholic and so you're going to be disrespectful and hostile no matter what. Which is it?
— Stephen Herreid (@StephenHerreid) December 9, 2017
As of the morning of December 9, Catholic Vote has deleted the tweet in question, leaving the clarification, and tweeted an apology.
Our tweet challenging Planned Parenthood's hypocrisy with respect to women who speak out on abortion was not clear. We have deleted it.
— CatholicVote (@CatholicVote) December 9, 2017
Sometimes clarity on social media is hard lesson to learn, but the way we come across online matters. This lesson specially important for Catholics – use clear language so as not to confuse readers and followers while using social media as a tool for evangelization.
