Reddit.com is not typically a place most people think of venturing to when they need to ask a priest a question.
But through the work of several priests on the site, some people are receiving the Catholic answers they’ve been looking for on Reddit, an online discussion forum.
The subreddit r/AskAPriest was created around five years ago. Father Jacob Maurer, one of its founders, said it stemmed from a need he and fellow priests who posted on r/Catholicism identified.
“We realized people were seeking out Catholic priests to ask us questions,” Father Maurer said. “And we were quickly becoming like, ‘This kind of online ministry that we hadn’t really thought about.’”
One of the priests suggested that they create a sister subreddit to r/Catholicism to specifically address questions that people had for priests.
Around 10 priests ended up creating r/AskAPriest. Father Maurer said that there continues to be a core of around five or six priests who are active on the subreddit and around 20 others, including one bishop, who are on and off.
Each priest on the subreddit has been verified offline through pictures: They’re required to take a picture of themselves with their name and email from an active, ministry-related address to make sure they’re real and in good standing with the Church.
Once verified, they can start answering questions posed by (mostly) anonymous Reddit users.
“I’m always keenly aware that I’m Father Maurer, my username is u/frmaurer, and if you were to click on my profile it goes to my archdiocesan entry and my home page and my parishes – I am accountable and need to be,” said Father Maurer, pastor of several parishes in northwest Washington state.
r/AskAPriest sees up to a dozen questions a day, including those about the priesthood and going to Mass while in a state of sin, plus questions from non-Catholics about being drawn to the faith. Some questions are more lighthearted, such as one that asked if the Church will acknowledge the act of putting pineapple on pizza as a mortal sin – to which Father Maurer replied in jest: “I’m only willing to go as far as declaring it a venial sin, with the standard reduction in culpability for those living in ignorance or not entirely free in their choice of pizza.”
Though the subreddit accepts many questions, there are some that are not allowed – questions about personal sin, advice around scrupulosity, in-depth spiritual or vocational advice, and theological questions that could be answered on r/Catholicism. It’s recommended that people asking the former types of questions go visit a parish priest in person to discuss the matter.
Regardless, the priests of r/AskAPriest try to make sure every single question gets some sort of response, even if it’s just guiding them to use the subreddit’s search function as they’ve previously answered the same question.
Father Peter Wierzbicki, an r/AskAPriest moderator, created his Reddit account, u/polski-cygan, three years ago. Originally from Silesia in Poland, the pastor of St. Jude Parish in Hopatcong, New Jersey, said participating on the subreddit has helped him become more outgoing in how he uses the English language.
“It makes me not afraid to speak up and tell people what they really need to hear. r/AskAPriest actually prepares me for that kind of conversation,” he said.
Father Maurer said most of the priest moderators on the subreddit are in their 30s and 40s, with a few in their 20s as well. Though it’s an activity each priest chooses to partake in when he’s able, it can quickly eat up available time. Often questions require the priests to do their own research to make sure they’re answering the original poster correctly, whether that means searching through canon law, sifting through their own notes or just simply doing deeper online research.
Despite this, Father Maurer tries to get on the subreddit every day, and Father Wierzbicki nearly every day.
“There have been some really great conversations, and it’s often a lot of fun. It forces me to look up things,” Father Maurer said. “We also have a moderator conversation that’s private, and we’ll ask each other: ‘What about this question?’ ‘I’m not entirely sure I got this one right,’ or ‘It’d be nice if somebody else brought in another perspective here.’”
Sometimes a Redditor will make a post about some of the more controversial topics within the Catholic Church. Father Maurer noted these as questions about sexual sin, gender issues, attractions issues and feelings of despair.
He said he enjoys these types of questions as he can use them as a chance to relay Church teaching while letting the original poster know that he or she is welcome in the Church.
Father Wierzbicki said these questions are things many young people in the Church wonder about. The subreddit “is excellent for many priests to learn (from the) younger generation what kinds of questions they have, and to extend our own knowledge about the Catholic Church to make it more youthful,” he said.
While much of the work r/AskAPriest’s priests do on the forum could be seen as a forward-thinking way to reach people in need of Catholic guidance, Father Maurer doesn’t want to take that much credit.
“An opportunity came up and now it seems to be bearing some fruit and I still enjoy it,” Father Maurer said. “And in all honesty, the day that it becomes too heavy, the day that it becomes more of a burden (is) probably the day that I’m going to log off and go, ‘All right. That’s enough for me.’”
