Sister Danielle Victoria, FSP, has been labeled as the “media nun” online because she's using TikTok and Instagram to bring a moment of joy to people all over the world.
“For us as a community, we create a safe place to be who you are, to bring what they have," shares Sister Danielle. "It doesn't necessarily mean that you are skilled in this area or even that you have a total interest in doing whatever it might be that you're in charge of to do, but you just give all of who you are and you say a prayer."
Video Transcript
Meet Sister Danielle Victoria: media nun
Boston, Massachusetts
(A TikTok video shows a religious sister walking into a room.)
Sister 1: Oh, you're washing my dishes. Sorry.
Sister 2: (pointing to a low cupboard) There's actually more mugs under there. Can you grab some?
Sister 1: Yeah, yeah. Sure.
(A third sister pops out of the cupboard with her rosary.)
Sister 3: Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women —
(The first sister howls with laughter.)
Sister Danielle Victoria: Before I entered, I didn't really have a social media presence at all, but being a Daughter of St. Paul and the coined, like, “media nun,” it really becomes an opportunity to share, through beauty, the Word of God.
We all kind of make a discernment of, like, really why are we on social media at all? Because it's easy for anyone to just get caught up in scrolling or whatever, you know? And just to be intentional about that doesn't mean we don't, but — My background's in documentary. I love storytelling, and I just feel like it's another way to be able to explore that.
(A group of sisters set up microphones, lighting, and cameras to film.)
My favorite social media platform is probably Instagram. It's not snarky like Twitter. I feel like I could very easily be canceled on Twitter or something like that, but I feel like Instagram is a bit more gentle in that way and more forgiving and more just about promoting the good. I've built a lot of relationships through the DMs, you know, supporting people, especially supporting artists because you can see how people can very easily get trolled and attacked, and it's nice to kind of swoop in, in the background, and just be a support to people who are doing beautiful work for the Church and need to be encouraged, but not always understood, you know?
(Two sisters recording a podcast)
Sister 4: Were they like the bugs that go underneath the skin? That was scary to me, and it freaked me out.
Sister Danielle Victoria: Why we started the Daughter's Project Podcast was to be able to offer that as a voice in the media world that sometimes feels like you can't be wrong about a thing, or you can't have just like an opinion that's in flux, or to have an idea that you’re like, “I don't know. I'm just thinking this thing,” you know? And for us as a community, we create a safe place to be who you are. Sisters bring what they have. It doesn't necessarily mean that you are skilled in this area or even that you have a total interest in doing whatever it might be that you're charged with to do, but you just give all of who you are and you say a prayer — we call it “the pact” — and it's basically just like, “Lord, I give you all that I am and am not and you're to multiply it.” He keeps his end of the deal of taking like our stinky fish. Like in the desert, the little boy who comes up with the stinky fish, and the Lord multiplies it to feed the 5,000.
(music)
