Priest's video blog inspires laughs, faith
By Hannan Adely
The Journal News
(Original Publication: February 6, 2007)
On the Web
To visit the Rev. Matthew Moretz's video blog, visit www.youtube.com/user/FatherMatthew.
For more on religion and faith, visit the "On Religion" blog at http://religion.lohudblogs.com
YONKERS
Changing a rust-covered church sign may not sound like a particularly interesting task. But in the hands of the Rev. Matthew Moretz, such a mundane activity is transformed into a film moment that is both funny and inspirational.
In the various installments of "Father Matthew Presents," a video blog on YouTube.com, the Yonkers priest dishes religious and social commentary in humor-wrapped video shorts set to a backdrop of edgy rock music. While he goes about entertaining people, Moretz hopes to spread faith teachings and draw people back to St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Yonkers.
"We're trying to share who we are and why we think the church should matter with some lightheartedness and some seriousness," the 27-year-old priest said.
St. Paul's Episcopal Church on Palisade Avenue closed in February 2005 because it had few remaining congregants, and has since gone through reorganization. It opened again in September, with the recently ordained Moretz on board as an assistant priest to help revitalize the church.
St. Paul's has held concerts and festivals to draw neighborhood residents to the church, and it has started youth programs. But Moretz wanted to do more in the realm of the Internet to appeal to a younger generation. He said he thought, why not use YouTube to open doors?
"One of the things I look at all the time is YouTube. It's something that is trendy, alive and interesting," he said.
Moretz invested in camera equipment and a tripod and, drawing on his theater experience from college, started "Father Matthew Presents."
Plenty of churches have turned to the Internet to publicize their work by launching Web sites and posting sermons and speeches in video form on the Web.
"On a national level, we are seeing more priests who are in the millennial and Gen X age who are taking advantage of this mode of communication," said Robert Williams, communications director for the Episcopal Church National Office, who had learned about "Father Matthew Presents" from a colleague.
But Moretz's work is unique in its fusion of faith and humor. In his weekly videos, Moretz can be found chomping on a dog biscuit while doing outreach at Yonkers' Riverfest, or explaining faith and reason by using hand puppets, or playing the Super Mario Brothers theme song on the church bell system.
In "Episcopal Sign Switch," one of his most popular video shorts, Moretz vows to hide the old church sign in a place no one will ever find it, and swoops down darkened stairwells and past boilers to a suspense-building orchestral tune from an Indiana Jones movie.
Hastings-on-Hudson resident James O'Connor was looking for a new church when he found St. Paul's Web site and the link to Moretz's YouTube page. The videos spotlighted topics that he wanted to hear about and were brilliantly constructed and funny, he said.
He joined the church in September with his girlfriend.
"I decided that's the church I want to be in because it spoke to a younger audience, my generation," said 20-year-old O'Connor.
O'Connor is one of a growing group of congregants at St. Paul's who have joined since its reopening. Sunday service at the church now draws some 25 people, up from just five when it closed. Part of that audience comes from a supporting parish in Manhattan that sent congregants to Yonkers to help revive the church.
Moretz's video blog has drawn fan e-mails from throughout the United States and abroad, and at least two other churches have tried to duplicate his efforts.
Moretz likes that other priests want to follow his lead and that he has achieved a bit of fame in the Episcopal world, with his videos being posted on popular spiritual Web sites and forwarded among friends. He said he hopes the messages he delivers will help the Episcopalian church revitalize its ranks.
"It's like a perfect match for our church that is of limited resources," he said. "You get out a message and all you need is creativity."
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