Somewhere in a Michigan recording studio, a group of Dominican sisters are making a podcast. Millions of people on TikTok have found it. The sisters themselves? They have almost no idea.
Members of the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist have gained viral attention after clips from their podcast “Dominican Sisters Open Mic” began circulating widely on TikTok, attracting millions of views from both Catholic and non-Catholic audiences. The twist that makes this story irresistible: the sisters don’t maintain individual social media accounts and don’t carry personal phones.
“Something that’s really beautiful about our life is we don’t have a lot of screen time,” Sister Miriam Holzman told the New York Times. “We don’t have personal phones unless we might need it for a work-related reason.”
The Viral ‘Sister, and You Are So Good at That’ Clip That Started It All
The podcast features Sister Miriam as a host interviewing other sisters about their lives, including education and personal conversion journeys. Sister John Dominic Rasmussen is also involved in the recordings. But one moment in particular captured the internet’s attention.
A widely shared clip features Sister Miriam complimenting another sister during a discussion about ultimate Frisbee. She said: “Sister, and you are so good at that,” a moment that gained traction online well beyond its original context. It’s the kind of genuine, unscripted warmth that tends to break through the noise of a crowded feed.
A Media Team Does the Scrolling for the Viral Catholic Sister Podcast
The podcast launched in January and is produced by Openlight Media, a production company connected to the sisters’ outreach efforts. The company also produces other content, including YouTube series such as “Manners Monday,” religious educational videos and a prayer app called Torch, which is described as an alternative to social media distractions.
The sisters rely entirely on their production team to manage content distribution and inform them of online engagement. Sister Miriam described the arrangement to the New York Times in a way that perfectly captures the divide between their contemplative life and the digital world propelling their fame.
“They want us to pray and to do the work and to prepare the content,” Sister Miriam said. “And then they say, ‘OK, go home, sisters, and do what you do best, which is praying and living your life, and we’ll do this for you.’”
Marketing director Paul Dailey told the New York Times: “I think that the novelty of two sisters doing a podcast is enough to hold people’s attention for a second, which is what you need for TikTok.”
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The Catholic Sister Podcast Are Not Nuns, They’re Sisters
One detail worth noting: the order refers to its members as sisters rather than nuns, as nuns are typically cloistered. These sisters are anything but cloistered — at least when there’s a microphone involved.
In a social media landscape saturated with polished influencers and calculated content strategies, the “Dominican Sisters Open Mic” clips offer something disarmingly different. The sisters aren’t performing for an algorithm. They’re having conversations about their lives in a Michigan studio, and a production team handles the rest.
