Leave Tiktok to kids, urges priest who went viral
A PRIEST who became a viral sensation during lockdown has urged his fellow clergymen to leave Tiktok to young people.
Fr Pat Ward, from Arranmore Island in Co Donegal, was named an inspirational hero in the Gala and Virgin Media Inspiration Awards for his inventive online masses.
After he started livestreaming his masses back in March due to pandemic restrictions, Fr Pat quickly drew a large following from all over the world, with upwards of 2,000 people tuning in.
A video of him using an Alexa speaker to play Daniel O’donnell in St Columba’s chapel in Burtonport quickly became an online sensation.
But Fr Pat has urged his fellow priests to give young people their own online space, joking that the church has “flattened Facebook”.
He said: “I do feel that we’ve kind of flattened Facebook a wee bit for some people, because every Sunday mass is all over Facebook.”
He added: “I kind of feel that Tiktok is for young people. We shouldn’t invade their space.
We’ve driven them out of Facebook already.
“They find it boring because old people are on trying to be funny. Young people aren’t impressed by that kind of thing.
“I do have a Tiktok account. I think it’s hilarious, a lot of it.
“Some people are really, really inventive with the things that they do. I do like going through it and wasting time watching it.
“But I honestly think it should be left for young ones. They need a space that’s not invaded by oldies.”
Fr Pat gained a following from all over the world for his livestreamed masses, including viewers in Norway, Australia and the US.
“We actually had to change the mass time to accommodate viewers in America because it was a bit early for them,” he said.
Combining meditation and prayer with humour and musical numbers on his ukulele, he quickly became an online hit.
He said: “There was a lot of fear at that time too. I was trying to talk calmly to people about the situation we were in.
“I brought the ukulele just for company. People liked that too, and I made up a few songs.
“It was something that calmed them in a time of uncertainty and they felt it was something that they needed. I was quite happy with that.”