Most of us don’t think of ourselves as protestors. The word conjures up an image of an angry mob with signs and scary chants. As an introvert, going to a public march is about the last thing I can imagine doing.

And yet, it seems that American Catholics (and I would say all traditionally-minded Christians) may need to see themselves increasingly as protestors. After all, we face some serious issues: secularism, tepid response to religion, anti-religious legislation, and the literal destruction of the traditional family. To make matters worse, many leadership voices within the Church are nearly silent when it comes to these things, often siding with culture as if to apologize for bad behavior. It’s mind-boggling.

How should you protest these things? You want to speak up and say “that’s not right! I don’t believe that!” but you’re not sure how. Facebook will likely censor you if you post anything traditionally-minded. Twitter is just too noisy to bother. Culture will cancel you in the event that you question anything with a grey area. If you’re a layman with a mortgage and a family (not in that order), you’re even more likely to keep quiet.

So what should you do?

I don’t actually know. This is an issue that I’m actively working on and working out. I would say that social media is unlikely to be the answer (there’s just too much garbage). Building your own platform is one response. Ignoring it all is another but might veer into a lack of evangelization. Finding a place of calm that includes active involvement in issues is likely to be the sweet spot. How to get there, now that’s the hard part. 

I’m really not sure but I’d love to hear your thoughts. Today, I can only offer a question, “how should you protest?”