Love for truth leads YouTube star to Catholic Church
24-year-old Lizzie Reezay is something of a star on YouTube with her LizziesAnswers channel, discussing issues from make-up, relationships and mental health (she was diagnosed as bipolar in 2016) to breakfast smoothies.
Mixed in with these she frequently posts upbeat 10-minute videos on Scripture and theology.
But a video she released on Ash Wednesday quickly went viral, receiving some 150,000 views within a few days.
In it she announced that her persistent search for the truth had led her to the Catholic Church and she would be received into the Church at Easter.
“I want everyone to know that I hated that this was happening,” she says in the video. “I fought so hard to get out of this intellectually. I did not want to be Catholic.
“Not only did I think Catholicism was wrong, I just didn’t like the vibe of Catholicism. I wanted to be anything but Catholic.”
She also tells how hard it was for her to make her video announcement because she knew many of her Protestant family and friends would see it as a betrayal.
Once she had announced her news, however, Lizzie’s enthusiasm for her new faith and her joy at being received into the Church came gushing out.
She was obliged to become Catholic, she said, by the force of one simple fact: it was true. She had become convinced that the Catholic faith was the true faith. Part of that journey included her struggle with depression.
Reezay grew up in a Protestant denomination, Churches of Christ (CoC). She started her YouTube channel eight years ago when she was just 16 years old and a few of her videos giving teenage relationship advice soon went viral.
From the beginning, though, she spoke openly about her Christian faith. For the past year, however, she has slowly been drawing closer to the Catholic faith. In recent times she started talking about Catholicism on her channel.
This resulted in videos like “10 Lies Protestants Believe About Catholicism! (From a Protestant)”, “Protestant visits Latin Mass! What I loved and hated”, and “Why ‘faith alone’ salvation is wrong! (From a Protestant).”
Her videos have been viewed over 34 million times. About a year ago she posted one entitled “What I Love and Hate about Catholicism”. Many Catholics responded, offering her encouragement and support.
“I was getting a lot of hate on some of my other videos at the time, so this video’s comments’ section was just so loving, so nice and so uplifting,” she said in a later video explaining her conversion.
People also recommended books, Scripture verses and links to internet articles on the faith.
One advised her to read through the Gospel accounts of the Last Supper. Doing so helped her to see that Catholic teaching on the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist was true.
Another recommended that she attend a traditional Latin Mass, which she loved. Most importantly of all, Reezay says, she knew that they were praying for her.
Lizzie studied philosophy and religion at university, and was planning on moving to Thailand to work as a Protestant missionary when her thinking began to change.
Reading the writings of the early Church Fathers had a particular impact on her since, she said, they were so clearly Catholic. She also realised that Catholic teaching about the Eucharist was more biblical than she thought.
Finally, she said she decided to become Catholic rather than Eastern Orthodox after being convinced of the truth of the papacy by Steve Ray’s book, Upon This Rock.
Reezay is the latest in a growing number of young people, particularly in the US, who are being drawn to the Catholic Church through the internet.
Leah Libresco, a convert from atheism, was probably being the best-known of them until now.
• LizziesAnswers can be viewed on YouTube.
Mixed in with these she frequently posts upbeat 10-minute videos on Scripture and theology.
But a video she released on Ash Wednesday quickly went viral, receiving some 150,000 views within a few days.
In it she announced that her persistent search for the truth had led her to the Catholic Church and she would be received into the Church at Easter.
“I want everyone to know that I hated that this was happening,” she says in the video. “I fought so hard to get out of this intellectually. I did not want to be Catholic.
“Not only did I think Catholicism was wrong, I just didn’t like the vibe of Catholicism. I wanted to be anything but Catholic.”
She also tells how hard it was for her to make her video announcement because she knew many of her Protestant family and friends would see it as a betrayal.
Once she had announced her news, however, Lizzie’s enthusiasm for her new faith and her joy at being received into the Church came gushing out.
She was obliged to become Catholic, she said, by the force of one simple fact: it was true. She had become convinced that the Catholic faith was the true faith. Part of that journey included her struggle with depression.
Reezay grew up in a Protestant denomination, Churches of Christ (CoC). She started her YouTube channel eight years ago when she was just 16 years old and a few of her videos giving teenage relationship advice soon went viral.
From the beginning, though, she spoke openly about her Christian faith. For the past year, however, she has slowly been drawing closer to the Catholic faith. In recent times she started talking about Catholicism on her channel.
This resulted in videos like “10 Lies Protestants Believe About Catholicism! (From a Protestant)”, “Protestant visits Latin Mass! What I loved and hated”, and “Why ‘faith alone’ salvation is wrong! (From a Protestant).”
Her videos have been viewed over 34 million times. About a year ago she posted one entitled “What I Love and Hate about Catholicism”. Many Catholics responded, offering her encouragement and support.
“I was getting a lot of hate on some of my other videos at the time, so this video’s comments’ section was just so loving, so nice and so uplifting,” she said in a later video explaining her conversion.
People also recommended books, Scripture verses and links to internet articles on the faith.
One advised her to read through the Gospel accounts of the Last Supper. Doing so helped her to see that Catholic teaching on the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist was true.
Another recommended that she attend a traditional Latin Mass, which she loved. Most importantly of all, Reezay says, she knew that they were praying for her.
Lizzie studied philosophy and religion at university, and was planning on moving to Thailand to work as a Protestant missionary when her thinking began to change.
Reading the writings of the early Church Fathers had a particular impact on her since, she said, they were so clearly Catholic. She also realised that Catholic teaching about the Eucharist was more biblical than she thought.
Finally, she said she decided to become Catholic rather than Eastern Orthodox after being convinced of the truth of the papacy by Steve Ray’s book, Upon This Rock.
Reezay is the latest in a growing number of young people, particularly in the US, who are being drawn to the Catholic Church through the internet.
Leah Libresco, a convert from atheism, was probably being the best-known of them until now.
• LizziesAnswers can be viewed on YouTube.
