Sermons via TikTok pulpit

Tech-savvy: Father Paul Woo (second from right) performing a TikTok dance with youth members of his parish in Navotas City, suburban Manila. Woo and Pareja (inset) are among priests who have turned to TikTok to connect with young believers. — AFP

AFTER delivering sermons and visiting slums, Philippine priest Fiel Pareja tends to his Gen-Z flock on TikTok, creating videos of himself praying, dancing and lip-syncing Christian pop music for 1.6 million followers.

As the coronavirus pandemic forced places of worship to close across the Catholic-majority country, tech-savvy priests like Pareja turned the popular video-sharing platform into a virtual pulpit to connect with young believers.