YouTube star talks about her new Catholic faith
YouTube star Lizzie Reezay, 23, has more than 200,000 subscribers, and her 400 videos have been viewed more than 35 million times.
Under the name LizziesAnswers she blogs about religion, relationships advice and mental health.
Reezay does not consider herself a "Christian YouTuber" but does believe that it is the job of Christian millennials to "show God" to people who do not believe.
Brought up in a Protestant community, she planned on moving to Thailand to spend some years there as a missionary. Instead, she was drawn to the study of the Catholic faith, and finally was received into the Church last Easter.
In an interview with the Catholic Register she spoke about her journey to Rome, the reaction of her followers, and the joy her faith has brought her.
She had expected to lose lots of Protestant subscribers but the opposite happened.
"It’s been amazing getting to read so many messages from people who are also converts or looking into Catholicism for the first time and say that my story is so motivating for them to keep researching," she said.
Believing that the best way to help others was to show them God, she always intertwined Christianity in everything she talked about on her channel.
When she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in college she began blogging about that. "Depression is hell, and mania an addiction," she says, "but there are spectrums within it that make me more creative and passionate and emotionally alive!"
For the last couple of years she has been making theology videos.
At college
Although she had many Catholic followers, it was only at college she began to research the Church. "I had so much negative energy, hatred even, toward Catholicism because I saw it as ruining and changing what Jesus had created.
"I saw the priests and all the tradition as blocking you from having a relationship with God." Then she began to study Church history, to read about people like Polycarp and Athanasius whom she had never heard of before.
This terrified her at first, "I was so scared of the power of the Catholic Church." But she was getting to know the early Christians, and wanted more.
She started going to the Orthodox worship every week. "I thought I could be Orthodox and not Catholic and I wouldn’t have to accept all the dogmas," she said. Then she started going to weekly Mass.
"Even in 2016 I was receiving comments saying, 'You’re a future Catholic; welcome home in advance'.” But she didn’t think any of her beliefs fitted Catholic theology. However, she added, "I think that people who have converted can see a convert from so far away."
Catholic teaching on the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist was a major difficulty for her until she realised that this was what the gospels and the early Church actually believed.
Then she began to long for Holy Communion. "That was the hardest part: I went to Mass every week for a year and wasn’t able to take the Eucharist", she said.
Friends
Many of her Protestant and atheist friends turned up for her reception into the Church. "They have been part of this journey with me, even though they don’t believe."
Reezay explained that she never tries to be a "Christian YouTuber.” She is just being herself, "but God is a part of that; that’s how I organically incorporate faith into YouTube and into all the relationships in my life."
Recently she met one subscriber who has followed her for six years. "She became Christian because of my videos and then became Catholic herself, and began praying for me to become Catholic."
A lot of people who watch her videos don’t go to church and have a “spiritual-not-religious” attitude. But she encourages them to become a part of the Church and not see religion as a negative thing. "I think it’s a great way to reach out to people," she says.
She encourages people to really research the Church, to read experts in Church history even if they are not Christian, and not to be "led away from truth by horrible, relativistic arguments."
For her, sharing parts of her life is the best way to awaken faith in others. "I converted to Catholicism because so many of my Catholic friends were stellar people, excellent, so intelligent, kind and compassionate," she says.
"Seeing that part of their lives, but then also knowing they were Catholic, made it very attractive to me."
Under the name LizziesAnswers she blogs about religion, relationships advice and mental health.
Reezay does not consider herself a "Christian YouTuber" but does believe that it is the job of Christian millennials to "show God" to people who do not believe.
Brought up in a Protestant community, she planned on moving to Thailand to spend some years there as a missionary. Instead, she was drawn to the study of the Catholic faith, and finally was received into the Church last Easter.
In an interview with the Catholic Register she spoke about her journey to Rome, the reaction of her followers, and the joy her faith has brought her.
She had expected to lose lots of Protestant subscribers but the opposite happened.
"It’s been amazing getting to read so many messages from people who are also converts or looking into Catholicism for the first time and say that my story is so motivating for them to keep researching," she said.
Believing that the best way to help others was to show them God, she always intertwined Christianity in everything she talked about on her channel.
When she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in college she began blogging about that. "Depression is hell, and mania an addiction," she says, "but there are spectrums within it that make me more creative and passionate and emotionally alive!"
For the last couple of years she has been making theology videos.
At college
Although she had many Catholic followers, it was only at college she began to research the Church. "I had so much negative energy, hatred even, toward Catholicism because I saw it as ruining and changing what Jesus had created.
"I saw the priests and all the tradition as blocking you from having a relationship with God." Then she began to study Church history, to read about people like Polycarp and Athanasius whom she had never heard of before.
This terrified her at first, "I was so scared of the power of the Catholic Church." But she was getting to know the early Christians, and wanted more.
She started going to the Orthodox worship every week. "I thought I could be Orthodox and not Catholic and I wouldn’t have to accept all the dogmas," she said. Then she started going to weekly Mass.
"Even in 2016 I was receiving comments saying, 'You’re a future Catholic; welcome home in advance'.” But she didn’t think any of her beliefs fitted Catholic theology. However, she added, "I think that people who have converted can see a convert from so far away."
Catholic teaching on the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist was a major difficulty for her until she realised that this was what the gospels and the early Church actually believed.
Then she began to long for Holy Communion. "That was the hardest part: I went to Mass every week for a year and wasn’t able to take the Eucharist", she said.
Friends
Many of her Protestant and atheist friends turned up for her reception into the Church. "They have been part of this journey with me, even though they don’t believe."
Reezay explained that she never tries to be a "Christian YouTuber.” She is just being herself, "but God is a part of that; that’s how I organically incorporate faith into YouTube and into all the relationships in my life."
Recently she met one subscriber who has followed her for six years. "She became Christian because of my videos and then became Catholic herself, and began praying for me to become Catholic."
A lot of people who watch her videos don’t go to church and have a “spiritual-not-religious” attitude. But she encourages them to become a part of the Church and not see religion as a negative thing. "I think it’s a great way to reach out to people," she says.
She encourages people to really research the Church, to read experts in Church history even if they are not Christian, and not to be "led away from truth by horrible, relativistic arguments."
For her, sharing parts of her life is the best way to awaken faith in others. "I converted to Catholicism because so many of my Catholic friends were stellar people, excellent, so intelligent, kind and compassionate," she says.
"Seeing that part of their lives, but then also knowing they were Catholic, made it very attractive to me."