You might have seen them on TikTok, Instagram, or even on NBC’s TODAY show recently. They ask each other about hobbies, call each other “Sister,” and laugh deeply. They also talk about their faith, beliefs, and the rigors of religious life.
The “Dominican Sisters Open Mic” is a podcast hosted and produced by Catholic sisters from Ann Arbor, Michigan, that has gone viral across social media channels, racking up hundreds of thousands of likes. They have gone viral for good reason. They make faith fun and relatable.
For many, people of faith and conscience can seem mysterious, intimidating, or scary. Some associate people of faith with acts of violence or rejection of the modern world.
What can we learn from these nuns about communicating?
But it is not just people of faith that feel misunderstood. Everyone has probably felt misunderstood at some point – misunderstood about their political beliefs, values, desires, emotions, or intentions. So what can we learn from these nuns about communicating?
The nuns express themselves with a casual humility, without checking their identities at the door. They are not shy about their religious convictions, yet they do not force their beliefs on others. For us at Interfaith America, this model of communication is at the core of our idea of American pluralism. We see America as a “Potluck Nation,” where we all bring our identities to the table, together building a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts by respecting, relating, and cooperating across differences. Faith can be a bridge between us.
If we all communicated like these awesome nuns, we would be even closer to that vision.
May we all find ways to do so.
Amen to that, Sister.
