Vermont Catholic Bishop Christopher Coyne’s online videos usually serve up such morsels as his mahogany chicken recipe of soy and chile sauce, molasses, honey, ginger and garlic. But one of his recent posts about often less-than-Christian social media comments targeting the state’s largest religious denomination offers something even spicier.
“People forget they’re actually talking about a person or to a person,” Coyne said after reading occasionally unprintable opposition to his diocese’s since-relaxed COVID-19 rules. “So all of a sudden I’m ‘Satan’s Spawn.’ ”
The bishop isn’t a stranger to the internet, having worked as Pope Francis’ media aide when the pontiff met with national and world leaders in the United States in 2015. But Coyne’s skills have been tested this year after a Windsor County pastor launched a public fight against the diocese’s call for vaccinations, masks and other pandemic precautions.
“Being more of the ilk of a patriot,” the Rev. Peter Williams, since removed from his position and no longer speaking publicly, said in a YouTube video that has been viewed nearly 20,000 times, “I balk at any incursion into my rights as a human being and certainly a U.S. citizen.”
At first, the bishop chose not to respond, he said, “in order to protect the good name and reputation of all involved.” But in a recent episode of his “Coffee with Bishop Coyne” online video series, he opened up about the larger challenges of social media.
“I get a lot of really good, positive messages,” Coyne said. “But I also get letters that make me think, ‘What have I ever done to you that you want to say this to me and you want to wish these bad things on me?’ ”
The diocese has received many such comments privately or has removed them from public pages. But others, often signed with pseudonyms from as far as Australia, remain under Williams’ video.
“What an absolute wimp of a Bishop,” said one of the more printable posts.
“Don’t make me drive up there Bishop tyrant!!!!” said a second.
“The mental health of the Bishop is what should be investigated,” said a third.
Coyne recalled a previous approach of replying, “Dear sir, you need to know that some person got ahold of your account and is writing me emails that nobody who claims to be a Christian should write to anyone.” But he discovered that only fueled the fire.
“Most of these situations, if you respond, it just gets worse,” Coyne said. “So you just say, ‘We’ve received and read your message, God bless.’ ”
The bishop stressed the “periphery” doesn’t speak for the larger Vermont Catholic population, which numbers some 110,000 members in nearly 70 parishes.
“It’s like having 10 children in the room. One of them is screaming the loudest, but there’s another nine there who are just going along and getting along,” Coyne said at a recent online program by the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University.
A number of Williams’ former parishioners at Holy Family churches in Springfield and neighboring Chester have taken to Facebook to post conciliatory comments such as “sorry situation all around” and “I pray that fences can be mended in Christ’s name.”
But others are continuing to criticize and charge censorship.
“We have people now who are thinking themselves in many ways more Catholic than the pope,” Coyne said of the most vocal opponents. “And, to me, the most interesting thing is that they rail against modernism, but they’re using the most modern of all means — digital media — in order to get their message out.”
The criticism hasn’t stopped the diocese from promoting its website and Facebook page. One recent post shared a link titled, “Accurate information is a human right, pope tells Catholic communicators.”
“We should work to help provide correct and truthful information about COVID-19 and vaccines, without digging trenches or creating ghettos,” the story quotes Pope Francis as saying. Taking precautions is “an act of love,” the pontiff has said. “The pandemic invites us to open our eyes to what is essential, what is truly important, and the need for us to be saved together.”
The current challenge is a long way from Coyne’s first bishop assignment in Indiana, where he got a taste for tweeting by reporting his discovery of deep-fried butter sticks at the Jennings County Fair.
“Digital media itself is neutral,” he said. “What we’re talking about here is not the means, but the behaviors. Social media has its real positives and also has its downsides. The way I approach it is by saying, ‘Lord, to quote the song, let me be a channel of your peace.’ And I try not to take it personally.”