Father Fiel Pareja evangelizes on TikTok

In the Philippines, Father Fiel Pareja evangelizes on TikTok

Nearly 2 million subscribers and growing. From his diocese of San Fernando, in the Philippines, Father Fiel Pareja uses his platform to share the Good News.

Not a day goes by without Fr Fiel Pareja sharing a video with his TikTok subscribers. There are 1.9 million of them waiting for each new posting. From his diocese of San Fernando, northwest of Manila, the 30-something priest films short videos in which he takes on some of the challenges currently trending, or with which he comments a verse from the Bible. In English or in Tagalog, the priest uploads inspiring videos. In the posting which went viral and pushed his account to high visibility, we see Fr Fiel revisiting the ‘Wipteitdown challenge’. The popular challenge for 13-24 year olds on the social network is to film themselves in front of a mirror which is wiped clean, and with each wipe of the cloth, the user changes clothes.

The thousands of people who watched the video thus discovered liturgical vestments of different colours. There are also videos on his account, where he simply prays for his subscribers. He often calls out to those who stumble upon his profile: "Please don't zap out! Allow me to pray for you as you watch this short clip to the end".

On the 4^th July 2021, the priest became the first winner of the TikTok awards for his country in the “Best hope” category, alongside Asian music stars and comedians accustomed to ultra-sophisticated social media posts that Fr Fiel out-shone. In an interview with the Rappler site, the 30-year-old is delighted with the enthusiasm surrounding his account, without forgetting his objective.

“I am doing all of this so that young people might hear the Word of God,” he says. And his mission is not over! He has equipped himself with better recording equipment to continue to be on TikTok, a sign of God's loving presence.

- J-P Mauro - Posted on 07/18/21 on Aleteia