(LifeSiteNews) — A Catholic YouTube channel has been removed by the platform for allegedly violating its “deceptive practices and scams” policy. The channel was best known for streaming an incredibly popular documentary film about an Irish nun.
The English channel of HM Television was shut down without advance notice on November 3, according to a November 10 statement from the EUK Mamie Foundation, the evangelization arm of the Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother. The statement explains that the sisters “had received none” of the standard three notices in the 90 days leading up to the channel’s removal. The community only learned of the removal after realizing the videos were no longer active.
“EUK Mamie found an email in its spam informing of the immediate closure of their channel in English, arbitrarily accused of spam,” the statement reads. “The foundation appealed at once demonstrating that their videos at no time had committed this crime. Its content does not violate the YouTube policy.”
“It has not used its videos to deceive or defraud anyone — they are not even monetized, because HM Television-EUK Mami never had the intention of obtaining economic benefit, but rather to evangelize, entrusting the future of the channel to God’s Providence.”
YouTube reportedly answered “immediate[ly],” saying that it “confirmed that it violates our policy on spam, deceptive practices and scams.” The platform maintained that it “must ensure that YouTube is a safe place for all users.” Its response also stated that “we will not restore your YouTube channel.”
The platform’s “spam, deceptive practices and scam policies” state that content creators are prohibited from “excessively post[ing]” or putting out “repetitive or untargeted” content, which is classified as “video spam.” Under the same category, content creators are barred from misleading viewers, redirecting to “harmful software” sites and luring traffic to a channel by promising monetary compensation.
YouTube also prohibits the use of “incentivization spam” and “comments spam” for ulterior motives related to misleading and violating the privacy rights of viewers.
The EUK Mamie statement encouraged the public to voice opposition to the move by the Google-owned YouTube, pointing out that some of its other channels have previously been “restored” after an initial censorship for “their clearly Catholic content.”
A new YouTube channel in English has been launched by EUK Mamie “to continue evangelizing.” It can be accessed here.
Though not the only video on the original channel, the most popular — and one that the EUK Mamie Foundation was “saddest to lose” — is a documentary titled “All or Nothing: Sr. Clare Crockett.”
“The elimination of our English channel has renewed our desires to evangelize and to get Christ’s Word out there,” Sr. Kristen Gardner, SHM told LifeSiteNews via email. “It’s obvious that we’re in the midst of a battle and that the enemy doesn’t want us to use the media for God’s cause.”
“We are not discouraged, and we will continue to do all that we can,” she continued. “The first thing we did was re-upload Sr. Clare’s movie and other important videos to a new channel. We also have the videos on other platforms, such as Vimeo, in case YouTube blocks us again.”
Sr. Clare Crockett
The popular documentary tells the inspiring story of Clare Crockett from Northern Ireland, who, despite being raised Catholic, was set on a career as an actress and fell into various temptations and sins that kept God at arm’s length. As a 17-year-old, she attended a retreat in Spain — hosted by the Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother — which she did not plan to be the beginning of her reconversion.
After an intimate realization that Christ’s death on the cross was as much for her individual soul as it was for the whole world, Clare struggled to turn to Him fully. She returned from the retreat for an acting gig and fell back into sinful habits. Soon after, she understood that she must give her life to God if she was ever to find the fulfilment and happiness she was seeking. On August 11, 2001, Clare became a candidate for the same order that offered the retreat that sparked her personal relationship with God.
Taking the name Sr. Clare Maria of the Trinity and the Heart of Mary, she made her first vows in 2006 and perpetual vows in 2010. During her formation and the years that followed, Sr. Clare served in the order’s various communities around the world, including in Spain and Ecuador as well as Jacksonville, Florida. She particularly embraced evangelization to the young and often used a guitar and her God-given musical talents to share the Gospel.
On April 16, 2016, Sr. Clare was among the four sisters and seven girls inside the community’s school in Playa Prieta, Ecuador when an earthquake hit, causing the building to collapse on top of them. Only five of them survived the tragedy.
But Sr. Clare’s story proved to live on, as the Sisters quickly began receiving testimonies from Catholics about how the troubled youth turned devoted religious had inspired them to return to the faith. The order now has a website dedicated to Sr. Clare, including her writings, photos and videos reflecting her journey back to God. The site also shares similar resources about the five young women who died in the same earthquake, who were just starting the formation process in the order.
More information about the Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother can be found on their website.
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