I think the fitness analogy is spot on. I have to check myself all the time, that buying a class pass is not the same as working out, and buying a devotional is not the same as praying more. Not to say that those things can't be genuinely helpful or good but it can be so hard to push past the "spend money, problem solved" mindset.
On the coach/self-marketed spiritual directors/etc- I would love a post around recommendations on how to find and assess a spiritual director for fit, if that’s something you’d be interested in writing about!
It seems like it’s often particularly difficult for women when I talk to friends, and I think that’s also where some of the market for dubious coaching comes from. Priests are great and I’ve had excellent spiritual direction from priests, but many (not all!) seem to sometimes have a hard time with challenges of single women, moms, and/or working parents. (I include dads who consider balance in that group too!) Also basic NFP-literacy, though I find younger priests often have a higher baseline awareness. (Bless the super well-meaning pre-Cana priest who said NFP usually has five days of abstinence…) Most people I know with good spiritual direction are either continuing something from a college/missionary phase or work for the church.
I think that the lack of accessible spiritual direction options feeds the market for grift very similarly to how cultures of SAHM emphasis and/or lack of flexible work options for women feed MLMs.
What makes me ask questions is that, apparently, none of them seem to really examine their conscience about how harmful some of their contents are because, although there are now many different people who are reflecting on the nature of these accounts and their effects, they always continue to work in the same way. In fact, maybe they even make you a post in which they too denounce this type of biased content and that they "never wanted to be a kind of influencer", but then they do exactly what they say they don't want to do. So either they really don't understand, or they pretend to be innocent to be more pleasant. Which makes them even more of a red flag in fact. Sorry, maybe my comment is harsher than it should be... Quoting a friend of mine, "these people are probably very in good faith, but our Faith is so beautiful that it doesn't need all of this".
I think that is exactly right, during covid I began to understand when someone wanted something from me they would always start with fear, it’s a powerful impulse to get people to follow you, I hated it then, but one good thing about that time is it taught me how to mute it, go outside for a walk and a chat with my neighbors and instantly I realized things would be fine
Amazing as always, Claire! I wholeheartedly agree and would add to this list the insane grifting that goes on with any vendor/ business owner that views the Catholic or Christian community more like a marketing list for their business. Wedding vendors, childcare providers, etc who use the faith to inspire trust in services they ultimately do not render or only partially deliver on even if you sign a legally-binding contract. They are not easy to spot if they have gotten their friends and family to leave a slew of five-star reviews for them. Thank you for the reminder to be careful with anyone using faith as a marketing tool!
On a related note, and I might get stoned for this, but I kind of get this vibe from the Hallow app... I think the Hallow app could be a great tool but I'm also uncomfortable with messaging that suggests you need the app to have the best prayer life possible for you. And the use of celebrities to attract customers just feels icky to me. Maybe I'm just an old fuddy-duddy thought...
I think the fitness analogy is spot on. I have to check myself all the time, that buying a class pass is not the same as working out, and buying a devotional is not the same as praying more. Not to say that those things can't be genuinely helpful or good but it can be so hard to push past the "spend money, problem solved" mindset.
On the coach/self-marketed spiritual directors/etc- I would love a post around recommendations on how to find and assess a spiritual director for fit, if that’s something you’d be interested in writing about!
It seems like it’s often particularly difficult for women when I talk to friends, and I think that’s also where some of the market for dubious coaching comes from. Priests are great and I’ve had excellent spiritual direction from priests, but many (not all!) seem to sometimes have a hard time with challenges of single women, moms, and/or working parents. (I include dads who consider balance in that group too!) Also basic NFP-literacy, though I find younger priests often have a higher baseline awareness. (Bless the super well-meaning pre-Cana priest who said NFP usually has five days of abstinence…) Most people I know with good spiritual direction are either continuing something from a college/missionary phase or work for the church.
I think that the lack of accessible spiritual direction options feeds the market for grift very similarly to how cultures of SAHM emphasis and/or lack of flexible work options for women feed MLMs.
What makes me ask questions is that, apparently, none of them seem to really examine their conscience about how harmful some of their contents are because, although there are now many different people who are reflecting on the nature of these accounts and their effects, they always continue to work in the same way. In fact, maybe they even make you a post in which they too denounce this type of biased content and that they "never wanted to be a kind of influencer", but then they do exactly what they say they don't want to do. So either they really don't understand, or they pretend to be innocent to be more pleasant. Which makes them even more of a red flag in fact. Sorry, maybe my comment is harsher than it should be... Quoting a friend of mine, "these people are probably very in good faith, but our Faith is so beautiful that it doesn't need all of this".
I think that is exactly right, during covid I began to understand when someone wanted something from me they would always start with fear, it’s a powerful impulse to get people to follow you, I hated it then, but one good thing about that time is it taught me how to mute it, go outside for a walk and a chat with my neighbors and instantly I realized things would be fine
Amazing as always, Claire! I wholeheartedly agree and would add to this list the insane grifting that goes on with any vendor/ business owner that views the Catholic or Christian community more like a marketing list for their business. Wedding vendors, childcare providers, etc who use the faith to inspire trust in services they ultimately do not render or only partially deliver on even if you sign a legally-binding contract. They are not easy to spot if they have gotten their friends and family to leave a slew of five-star reviews for them. Thank you for the reminder to be careful with anyone using faith as a marketing tool!
Loved this.
On a related note, and I might get stoned for this, but I kind of get this vibe from the Hallow app... I think the Hallow app could be a great tool but I'm also uncomfortable with messaging that suggests you need the app to have the best prayer life possible for you. And the use of celebrities to attract customers just feels icky to me. Maybe I'm just an old fuddy-duddy thought...
For how much I appreciate the Hallow app, I feel the same way about the constant addition of celebrities.