"I'm Not Sure Anyone Likes the Felt Banners," USCCB Writes in Hilariously Witty Tweet

Did the USCCB’s Twitter account suddenly develop a witty personality?

In a thread of tweets, the USCCB engaged in an interesting, but unusual conversation with Twitter users about felt banners.

The first tweet came from the USCCB, asking why young Catholics stay Catholic.

Here’s the first post below:

Accompanied by a photo of Bishop Robert Barron, the first tweet reads, “If you are a young Catholic who is still Catholic, what has made you stay?” The photo then reads, “Fifty percent of young people leaving the Church become unaffiliated. / #USCCB19 / Bishop Robert Barron.”

Taylor Patrick O’Neill then responded in a tweet that generated an interesting response from the USCCB’s account.

He said “the thing that made” him “stay (or rather return)” “was finding out that there was a rich intellectual and spiritual reason (or logos) behind the felt banners and superficial platitudes which initially pushed me away.”

Here’s his tweet below:

O’Neill’s full tweet reads, “Not sure if I am young anymore, but when I was young, the thing that made me stay (or rather return), was finding out that there was a rich intellectual and spiritual REASON (or Logos) behind the felt banners and superficial platitudes which initially pushed me away.”

The USCCB then gave this out-of-the-ordinary response:

The USCCB’s tweet reads, “Beautifully said. / I’m…not sure anyone likes the felt banners.”

Multiple users engaged with the tweet, also explaining their displeasure with the felt banners.

Here’s what some people said:

Fr. Ian VanHeusen wrote, “Something that could unite us…we all admit the felt banners have to go.”

This user also responded, “Fact Check: True / No one likes felt banners.”

With a much more serious response, Andrew P. Cernota tweeted, “Seriously, the 80s 90s obsession with felt and folk Masses gave the impression that the Church and Faith were profoundly un-serious, and frankly secular culture does frivolous much better.

“Only parents and one-year high school religion class that was not trite saved my faith.”

Blogger Simcha Fisher also added her opinion of the USCCB’s tweet:

“To be fair, this was just a throwaway joke in the midst of a long stream of tweets. I don’t think anyone is actually focusing on felt banners,” Fisher tweeted.

It seems as if not many expected the USCCB to personally respond in this manner. This has actually been a recent pattern for the account, as the social media manager seemingly responds to users in an unusually witty manner.

Here’s how people reacted to the USCCB’s new personality:

“Did someone hack the @USCCB account,” Thomas Peters responded.

Fr. Goyo Hidalgo also mentioned the USCCB’s unusual response.

“Is it me or is this (one of) the first time I see the @USCCB actually responding to tweets? Now I am just trying to figure out who is the bishop behind this 🤔🤔,” Fr. Goyo said in his first tweet in this thread.

He then explained that he’s “never seen ‘them’ respond to anything before.”

“I have never seen ‘them’ respond to anything before. Not to me at least. I was wondering if it was a machine tweeting for their account. Now I am wondering if it is an ‘intern’🤷🏻‍♂️,” Fr. Goyo explained,

C. C. Pecknold also chimed in, mentioning the social media manager.

“I don’t know who is running the @usccb account right now, but they are doing it right.” Pecknold tweeted. “The replies are great.”