In this article, I write about the trend of Celebrity Priests. So, I should define terms before continuing. When I refer to a Celebrity Priest, I do not mean a priest who happens to be well-known because of his virtues. Instead, I am referring to a trend of famous priests who are well-known not just because they have something good to say but because they are marketable as influencers and media figures because of good looks, youthfulness, and other attributes that facilitate viral media content.

Like most moderns, I spend more time than I should scrolling through various social media. For me, that means looking for videos to watch or listen to on YouTube and things to read on Twitter—I still can’t naturally call it . Now, I don’t want to go to Hell, so I stay away from TikTok and other more absurdly flashy and epilepsy-inducing social platforms. Also, I am under the age of 40 and not a woman, so I don’t use Facebook. How to Hide an Empire:... Immerwahr, Daniel Best Price: $15.69 Buy New $17.24 (as of 11:50 UTC - Details)

Much of what I watch or read has to do with the Catholic Faith; and because of that, the “algorithm” recommends things to me that fall under the umbrella of “Catholic content.” Among the most popular Catholic content is a stream of media that I can only refer to as “Celebrity Priest” media. More and more, I am seeing on my feeds videos of priests “reacting,” “responding,” or “reviewing” a host of things from the secular culture, whether that be movies, social media influencer videos, or stuff coming from the pope, among other things.

In addition, it is becoming more common to see priests recording videos of themselves in the same ways that Zoomers and undignified millennials do. Forgive me, but I am a bit of a Luddite when it comes to social media trends—and I truly despise almost everything that every pop-culture influencer does—so I don’t know what to call the videos. All I know is that I see priests doing stuff with selfies and jump cuts in their videos, basically trying to “Catholicize” the same garbage that people consume to waste their time.

The trend of priests acting in this way is bad enough, but there is more to be concerned about. In addition to the proliferation of these priest influencers—many of whom have become strikingly famous—it is clear that various media teams are behind the priests to help them promote their content.

While I personally stay in my lane and merely produce podcasts and written material, I do know a bit about how marketing and graphic design work when it comes to content production. It is clear that professional teams are producing the thumbnails, filming the videos, and generating the scripts and topics based on viral trend predictors for these priests. What is most disturbing, however, is that, in many cases, there is a clear intention by the producers to market the priest in a way that makes him look more handsome or attractive.

Dark Calories: How Veg... Shanahan MD, Catherine Best Price: $14.61 Buy New $16.45 (as of 01:42 UTC - Details) Of course, some priests are objectively handsome, and there is surely nothing wrong with this. However, there is a difference between Fr. So-and-So being handsome and marketing Fr. So-and-So in a way that accentuates his good looks. What is the point of this other than to attract women to watch the videos? Marketing teams and social-media graphics creators are well aware that in a sea of thumbnails, an attractive image will garner more clicks than a not attractive image. And, they are well aware that an attractive image of an attractive man will bring in clicks from women sucked in by the attraction.

I cannot for the life of me see how that could not be sinful.

In addition, it is not uncommon to see the most well-known of these priests in workout settings or even posting images of themselves flexing in gyms. Personally, I don’t think anyone should post an image of himself flexing, and a priest certainly should not do so; it is vainglorious, sensual, prideful, and seemingly gay.

Now, besides the most egregious offenders of the Celebrity Priest class who do things like showing off their muscles as if they are advertising on a dating app, the fact that they are becoming or have become bona fide “influencers” in the most secular sense of the term is troubling.

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