The Day USA TODAY Called

Yeah, I can honestly say that’s a first. Yesterday, I was minding my own business, all giddy because the Pope was tweeting. I sent him a question via the #askPontifex hashtag, took Luke to therapy, Scott to his colonoscopy (more on that later this week) when I decided to check my email.

Subject line: are you the busy mom who tweeted the pope

Um, what?! The gal who sent the email identified herself as the USA Today religion reporter, mentioned one of my blog posts over at Austin Catholic New Media and then asked if I could send her my cell so we could chat.

After a quick scramble to check her credentials (you know, Google, Twitter, etc.) I thought, “Oh why not?” and sent her my cell.

Three hours passed and I shrugged my shoulders. Eh, it was fun to think I might be quoted in one of my all-time favorite newspapers. Ever. You see, in my past life as a communications consultant for National FFA, we sat in on a few USA Today editorial meetings at their D.C. office as part of our work with the National FFA officers and the education reporters. It was completely fascinating.

I started some design work on my computer and then my cell rang. Virginia area code.

“Hello?”

“Kathryn! This is Cathy Grossman from USA Today. Did I catch you at a bad time?”

What? I’m sorry. I just dropped the phone.

She was quite lovely and clearly working on deadline. I could hear the tap-tap-tap of her computer keys. While I wasn’t the mom who tweeted the Pope about improving my prayer life (my question had to do with his fears and excitement about using Twitter), we did chat about the Pope, bikinis, motherhood and social media. Not necessarily in that order, though. After about six minutes, I thanked her for calling, told her I was honored and said goodbye.

And then I just stared at my computer screen for a good ten minutes and thought to myself, “Did that just happen?”

At 9pm last night, I got proof it did. Here’s the link to the story:  “Pope’s strategic tweets excite, engage, evangelize” Screenshots below courtesy of USAToday.com

I have high hopes for the Pontiff’s personal Twitter account. Like I said in the article, I AM excited about what this means for the Church and bringing people back to the faith. You have to meet people where they are and the Holy Father took a huge step forward in doing so this week. Brandon Vogt recently wrote an article about his five suggestions for a Tweeting Pope and I think they’re spot on.

All in all, it looks like I can cross one thing off my bucket list: to be quoted in my favorite newspaper. It was a tremendous honor to not just be quoted, but to be asked about the Pope, my faith and social media. More on that later this week, though. Until then, enjoy the read! And, if you’re on Twitter, let me know your handle, I’d love to follow you!