Evangelizing on Twitter: A Tweeting Priest’s Experience, by Zelda Caldwell

The other day, we published an article about Fr. Goyo Hidalgo (a Spanish priest serving in the archdiocese of Los Angeles) and how one of his tweets about a “Godincidence” went viral—he called a wrong number and ended up reaching someone who needed to talk to a priest, but was afraid to call. He tweeted about it, and the story ended up all over social media and Catholic websites. Aleteia reached out to him by email with a few questions about this experience, and he kindly replied, sharing with us what it’s like to have God work through him and through his mistakes.

Aleteia: What has it been like to have a tweet go viral like this?

Fr. Goyo: Well, I don’t know if this was viral, but it always surprises me that these things become this big news because, to me, they are normal simple actions of God that happen every day. We just have to be open to being an instrument of God’s actions through us. I have had other tweets that were also viral, but again, to me, it was a very normal day to day action of God in our lives. I love these stories because it is very clear that the whole “viral news” is obviously not about me, but God using my mistakes.

A few years ago, a similar story happened to me. I went to the hospital to anoint a sick person, only to know later that it was the wrong room. Hours after the person went to confession, received communion and got anointed, she passed. It was on December 31. It was a great story that went viral, but again, obviously not me. I made a mistake. I was not the hero. God used my mistake once again. God’s love for us and His actions should go “viral” every day because He loves us through ordinary things and if we see through these things, they become extraordinary. ….

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