With Trump being suspended, I’ve got to say the Catholic Church, who I worked for in journalism and social media for 11 years, has to realize they are not immune to what happened this week. Catholic social media has mobilized rabid disrespect for people in the Church for years.

This is all interconnected. Society’s social media problem is in the Church online. The institutional Church is generally bad at engagement and catechesis online. In the vacuum, negative forces have mobilized followings on YouTube, here on Twitter, Insta and elsewhere.

The institutional Church has abdicated its place and negative forces have seized on it, developing their own authority. The time to address the issue, double down on the quality of online offerings and catechesis. There is far too much at risk. Get off the sidelines.

Above all, souls are being lost to a swell of negativity. It’s not too late to change hearts. I still believe that.