We are all called to share the Gospel with the world, and Father Dave welcomes Father David Michael Moses, who seeks to evangelize through social media. In addition to his service as a diocesan priest in Texas, Father David Michael has a popular presence online where he shares stories of his priestly life.
Father David Michael explains the origins of his social media presence. “About six months into being a priest, I had a very specific thought, which was, ‘Gosh, I love being a priest. I wish I had known what this looked like when I was discerning in high school, like I wish I’d had more data about what priests did all day,’” he says. “Now I know what priests do all day, because I am one, I thought I should probably make a video about this.”
“The next day I was going to baptize quintuplets, and I thought this is probably a once in a lifetime thing; I should probably get a video of this,” Father David Michael continues. “I filmed the whole day and posted it online. There was a surprisingly positive response from people, and it just kept going from there.”
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Father David Michael details the impact of sharing faith online. “I just got an email from a guy a couple weeks ago who said he hadn’t been to confession in 25 years, but he saw one of [my] videos,” Father David Michael says. “He said it helped him not to be afraid of confession – that this was a place of victory, and that the priest was not going to be mad at him.” Other viewers shared that they became intrigued by the Catholic Church after watching Father David Michael’s content and entered OCIA.
“I just have a real heart for the lost sheep: the people out there who are maybe open [to God], but don’t have a shepherd coming after them,” he adds. “A buddy of mine says that, ‘In today’s day and age, people don’t let you into their homes, but they’ll let you into their phones.’ So for me that’s the mission field, and the ground there is very fertile if we’re willing just to cast the seed.”
Father David Michael notes that while there are many negative aspects to social media, it is still important to spread the Gospel there. He says, “It’s like a bad neighborhood; I wouldn’t recommend my whole family go live in a bad neighborhood or my nieces and nephews go hang out at night there. But I do think every bad neighborhood should have a Catholic Church and a Catholic priest.”
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In addition to social media, Father David Michael discusses how God has also worked through his love of music. “I’ve always enjoyed writing music, but when I entered seminary, I kind of thought I’d be done with that,” he says. “The Lord has continued to open opportunities and each summer we do this thing called ‘Concert for Life,’ where we put on really big shows as a fundraiser for a pregnancy center here in Houston.” The shows have collectively raised over $1 million dollars to assist women in crisis pregnancies.
“The whole band is six priests from all around the country, and they’re really elite musicians,” he adds. “I write all the music, and it has become a natural vocations event too. I think when young guys see all the priests in the band, it makes you think a little bit about what God might be doing in your own life.”
