by Juan Camilo Pérez
“While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he grew exasperated at the sight of the city full of idols. So he debated in the synagogue with the Jews and with the worshipers, and daily in the public square with whoever happened to be there” (Acts 17:16-17).
St. Paul observed a city filled with individuals seeking God in misguided ways, prompting him to go to the public square and preach the truth.
In recent years, the faith community known as Fuego de Dios has used Pentecost as an occasion to engage in similar efforts: not in an Athens filled with pagan idols, but in a New York that faces false gods within the public square, known as Times Square, the “Crossroads of the World.”
We have praised God, sung hymns, and engaged in sometimes animated discussions with passers-by. People have joined us in prayer and cursed us in anger.
Faith-filled parishioners from St. Pancras Church in Glendale and members of the Fuego de Dios prayer group have joined me in spreading the good news that God is love to a diverse audience, including tourists, addicts, saints, and sinners, in a place that the entire world converges — Times Square.
That’s the tried-and-true and still effective way to evangelize.
And now, as a “Catholic influencer” with a social media presence and a fervent desire to contribute to evangelizing a world still filled with pagan idols, not unlike the world St. Paul found, I am also eager to make use of some of the contemporary means of disseminating the Gospel message.
A brief reflection on Instagram often resonates more effectively with today’s young people than a learned sermon delivered from a pulpit on Sunday morning.
I find inspiration in Blessed Carlo Acutis, who recognized that these modern means of communication are successors to St. Paul’s innovative preaching in Athens.
I am grateful to God for the opportunity to collaborate with the Dicastery for Communication in Rome in their efforts to use new ways to spread the Gospel, particularly during this Jubilee Year and for the Jubilee for Young People in July.
The June 7 Pentecost vigil in Times Square and the social media presence as a digital influencer serve as clear indications that the Holy Spirit, bestowed at the first Pentecost, remains active
and continues to propel the Church to proclaim the good news to all nations through ever-evolving means.
Juan Camilo Pérez is the pastoral associate, director of religious education, and a youth minister at St. Pancras in Glendale, where he directs the Fuego de Dios community.