Selfies and Twitter – how one Polish diocese is promoting life

Lublin, Poland, May 11, 2018 / 09:36 am

The Archdiocese of Lublin has launched a campaign urging Catholics to take to social media in defense of the unborn, using selfies as a way to voice gratitude for one's life and the right to be born.

"When we take a selfie we show ourselves, but in this case, we give a sign that we are committed to defending life and the family," Archbishop Stanislaw Budzik of Lublin said in a May 10 statement coinciding with the launch of the campaign.

"We want to show gratitude to God for the gift of life, to our parents for letting us come to this beautiful world and to all those who defend life, who speak with joy and gratitude about life," he said, adding that "it is worth devoting all our strength" to defending life and family.

The campaign, titled "Selfie for Life," was launched by the Lublin archdiocese ahead of Poland's national March for Life and Family June 10, and is intended to rally a worldwide defense of life and marriage. Marches will take place in 160 cities throughout Poland.

Participants are asked to take a selfie either alone or with a group, and post it to their social media accounts with the hashtag "#DziekujeZeZyje", roughly translating as "Thankful for my life."

Archbishop Budzik kicked off the campaign himself May 10 by posting a selfie on Twitter with the hashtag.

Each photo published with the hashtag will draw a donation of one Polish zloty (USD 0.28) to a fund called "It's good that you're alive."

At the end of the campaign, which will close with the June 10 march, a virtual heart will be created from all the photos published with the hashtag.

Fr. Pawel Rytel-Andrianik, spokesman for the Polish bishops' conference, said, "we use selfies to promote ourselves, while in this case it's about to promote the essential values" of marriage, family and the right to life, and that "everyone is invited to take part."