One of Mackenzie Hunter’s favorite Bible verses is Matthew 10:27: “What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim upon the housetops.” Hunter said she has “always felt the Lord calling” her to “share certain things that I hear whispered to the people on social media.”
During her senior year of high school in 2017, Hunter said she felt a nudge that was “an overflow from my prayer.”
“It was the thought that maybe these things that the Lord was speaking to me weren’t just for me,” she said. So, she turned to social media.
Hunter, a graduate of the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, used to operate “a blog website,” but has moved to posting more long-form content on Instagram, she told “Practicing Catholic” radio host Patrick Conley, who recently interviewed her for an upcoming episode.
When Hunter started a blog in 2018, she said she was “saying my words to the world.” But moving to social media via her Instagram account “allows it to be a conversation” with her followers, and allows people “to engage,” she said. Hunter said her account appeals to young Catholic women in their late teens, 20s and 30s who are either looking for “that community or just looking for more inspiration in their feeds, things that aren’t going to bring them down,” she said.
“It’s become more of a community, which has been really beautiful, and (a) sharing of thoughts,” Hunter said. “I’m more of an equal than someone to tell you exactly what to do with your life.”
Hunter believes “it’s essential” to bring Catholic content to social media platforms “where hundreds of millions of people who are using social media have the opportunity to be exposed to things that are true and good and beautiful,” she said. “And what can start as an encounter on the phone could turn into this encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist and so many more things.
“I think it’s our responsibility as Catholics to still show up in those spaces,” Hunter said.
Follow Hunter on Instagram at acaffeinatedCatholic. To learn her tips on using social media as a tool for evangelization, listen to this episode of “Practicing Catholic,” which debuts at 9 p.m. July 21 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM and repeats at 1 p.m. July 22 and 2 p.m. July 23.
Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the latest show also includes an interview with Bob Beck, director of marketing and operations at Franciscan Retreats in Prior Lake, who describes the world of spiritual retreats; and Father David Bailey, a priest of the Diocese of Tyler in Texas and member of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Native American Advisory Board, who discusses the prevalence of missing and murdered Indigenous women.
Listen to interviews after they have aired at PracticingCatholicShow.com or choose a streaming platform at anchor.fm/practicing-catholic-show.
