- Sister Lisa H. is a nun who has gained a large following on TikTok.
- During the pandemic, a religious brother suggested she use the app for her ministry outreach.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Sister Lisa H. It has been edited for length and clarity.
I'm a nun, and I'm on TikTok. Yes, I'm allowed to be there. I want to pull back the curtain on religious life so that people can see sisters — and those who dedicate their lives to God — in the way I do.
So often, people ask, "Are you allowed to do this? Are you allowed to post freely? Does the church hold any power over that?" Some orders have different rules regarding those things, but religious life should always be a freewill choice. The church doesn't hold any power over what I post. That said, as a Catholic, I do take very seriously what I post and how I represent myself, my community, other religious communities, and the church.
Before I entered religious life, I was a director of retention at my alma mater, a Christian college in Portland. I had so many misconceptions about Catholicism and religious life. But all those misconceptions fell away when I started to get to know people who were Catholic and nuns. By putting myself out there, I'm trying to put a human face to nunship and meet people where they are: on social media.
I'm just one influencer in the religious world. But this is my story and how I got here.
My path to 150,000 followers was fairly organic.
@sisterlisah Reply to @vjcampbell1 The deeper meaning behind my simple attire. #christian #catholic #religiouslife ♬ You - Petit Biscuit
In 2020, like everyone else, I got on TikTok during the pandemic — but before entering religious life. I posted videos for fun about music and being Catholic. But once I entered religious life, I realized it was a good way of reaching out to people and seeing what others in the world were doing.
In 2020, I brought my cell phone and my other possessions to a small convent in Southern California where I had been asked to found an order of women within an established order. It was during the start of the COVID-19 lockdown, so it was even more difficult to interact with people one-on-one.
I'd check TikTok as a temperature gauge for how people were doing in the world: What are their needs? What was everyone's mental state? And then I'd relay that to my community, saying, "These are the challenges people are facing right now."
My Formator (a religious brother in the men's order whom I was working with) said that he thought it would be a good idea for me to get on the app and make videos. At first, I said, "What? No." I had stepped away from a more public life to focus on God and learning to become a nun, so going online was the last thing I wanted to do. But he told me at that time that since we can't do ministry in person anymore, I should start connecting with people online.
The order had me keep a log of all the videos I was doing and the kind of responses I was receiving. Then I would write a spiritual reflection on what I was learning in the process. Putting my religious life out there became educational and formational for me. When I started doing Q&A sessions about religious life, the follower numbers started pouring in. As much as I was learning about the secular world, they were equally fascinated by my beliefs and lifestyle.
In July 2021, I moved to Arizona to found a new order, but so far, no sisters have joined me. I have a group of brothers who live about 20 minutes away that I interact with often. These days, I check TikTok every day, but I try to post a video a week if time permits. All my other duties take priority, so I fit TikTok in when I can.
Sometimes I get recognized in public.
I try to keep myself grounded when I get that much attention. It can be very easy to have it go straight to your ego. That's the opposite of what you want to do when you enter religion.
I've had brands reach out to me through the last couple of years and ask if I can promote things, but it's not that kind of account.
When I was the director of student retention, I worked with a lot of student complaints, just listening and trying to help the administration do a better job of serving them. I think that's helped keep my focus on really caring about people.
I'm on social media most days, but it doesn't interfere with my mission.
@sisterlisah Little 21-year old Protestant Lisa thought she wasn’t smart enough for College and only ever wanted to serve Jesus with her life. Welp…that happened..
♬ come into my arms - november ultra
As much time as I'm on TikTok, my day revolves around prayer. I pray seven times a day. Then I have a Holy Hour in the afternoon. When I'm not praying, I'm getting everything else done. I'm substitute teaching or writing articles for our community (I have a degree in journalism). Or, I'm serving at the local Catholic churches.
Between all that, I check TikTok notifications to see if anyone is reaching out. For example, I got a message last night saying, "Hey sister, is there any easier version of the Bible to read? Because it's confusing." I like to get to those messages and respond as soon as possible because I like helping people. Since we have a farm out here, I often watch DIY and informational videos from farmers, gardeners, and food preservers.
Videos can take quite a bit of time to do because of the editing. So unless I get a wild and crazy or harebrained idea in the moment, I usually mull an idea over for a couple of days and think about my next window of opportunity to film. Then I'll work it into my schedule. When I start a video, I think, "What's the comment section going to be like? What's the reception going to be? Do I need to block trolls?"
Like any other creators who share their lives online, I get flak, too. I pray for every single troll. I call it a spiritual troll service. I also know they're doing it because they have a lot of pain in their heart. If it's really offensive and inappropriate, I block them immediately, which took some time to get used to because, by nature, I'm not one to shut people down.
I consider TikTok as part of my work in my outreach. To monitor my usage, I use an alarm on my phone. It goes off if I've been on the app for an hour. Sometimes that hour is at 10 am in the morning, and other times it's at bedtime. The alarm reminds me that there are a lot of other things I need to be doing. I can spend 15 minutes to an hour a day checking my messages and looking at videos.
As cool as it is to be somewhat famous, my goal is to build a community.
@sisterlisah Bro. Vincent and I had a model show-down...check out his video to see who did it best: @signovince #modelface #whodiditbest #religiouslife #fyp ♬ original sound - Jeremy Marinas
Someone once asked me how it felt that some people might consider me a celebrity. It's extremely humbling. I see the pain in people who have been hurt by the Catholic church. I know I could either harm someone's faith or potentially help it. I'm compelled to do the latter, but the weight of that mission that I'm reminded of every time I turn on the camera is a bit overwhelming.
People often reach out to me and use me as a sounding board to work through their journeys with Catholicism. Some say, "I'm thinking about becoming Catholic. How do I get started?" Or, "I want to come back to the Church, but I haven't been in a long time," or, "I'm going to confession for the first time in 30 years. How will that look?"
I want to be there for people because it's a huge part of why I entered religious life in the first place — to offer myself to others and to serve. In the meantime, I'll be scrolling through my usual feed of farming and DIY content. As much as I aim to serve my community, TikTok — and all of its entertainment and quirks — gives a lot back.