Archbishop Alarcon Urges Digital Missionaries to Feel Critically Before Reacting

Archbishop Rex Andrew C. Alarcon called upon digital missionaries to practice critical feeling before reacting to content in the digital world.

During a sermon at a Mass on September 12, 2026, the Archbishop addressed participants of the First Asian Catholic Digital Missionary Assembly. The event took place at the Pope John Paul II Auditorium within the Radio Veritas Asia complex in Quezon City.

Alarcon noted that social media is powerful in evoking emotions such as anger, fear, admiration, envy, amusement, and offense. He observed that content triggering the strongest emotional reactions often spreads the fastest. While people are often told to think critically before believing, Alarcon argued that digital missionaries must also feel critically before reacting.

Critical feeling is described as the ability to feel deeply while simultaneously examining those emotions. This process involves questioning why a feeling exists, whether it is justified, what it reveals, and what it might be hiding. Alarcon emphasized that a single click can lead to a comment, which can lead to a debate, and eventually to anger shared thousands of times.

He proposed a process moving from feeling to reaction, sharing feeling, reflection, evaluation, discernment, and finally action. He stated that there should be a space between feeling and reaction to stop, think, and ask questions. For Christian digital missionaries, the primary concern should be whether a post leads people toward truth, compassion, and repentance rather than simply evoking an emotion.

Alarcon concluded that digital missionaries are not merely creators of Catholic content. Instead, they are called to help people move from emotion to reflection, then to discernment, and finally to action. He asserted that digital evangelization is not about winning screen debates, but about winning human hearts for truth, love, and Christ.