The monastic life can be packed with a healthy dose of humor. Sister Hannah of the Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Vogelenzang in the Netherlands is attracting hundreds of thousands of viewers with her funny videos on TikTok, a popular social media platform.
Sister Hannah posts short videos on the TikTok account of the Dutch Carmelite Sisters (www.tiktok.com/@carmeldcj). In one of these she displays her own monastic version of a video of influencer Sabrina Lopez, also known as @sasabylopez, showing various fashionable outfits:
http://www.tiktok.com/@carmeldcj/video/6799915917150145797
More than 450,000 people watched the video and the Sisters TikTok account now has almost 14,000 followers.
Sister Hannah told Dutch newspaper AD what inspired her to make these videos: “I was in a silly mood and came across this video of an influencer showing all kinds of outfits for different occasions. Of course in the monastery we don’t have to choose what we put on every day.”
It may have started out as a bit of fun, but the Carmelite sisters are very serious about why they are using the social media app: They try to reach people, especially the young who are very active on social media.
“I try to tell the world that we still exist, to reach out to people and to convey a message to them. We want to stay true to ourselves, but we also want to reach young people and show them who we are. To do that, you also need to be where they are,” Sister Hannah said.
https://www.tiktok.com/@carmeldcj/video/6817717490794155269
In the end, the only thing that matters to them is the Lord, the sisters say on their website: “We try to keep up with the times. Modern technology connects us to others. But our connection with the Lord is what matters, of course.”
“I think you can reach and touch a lot of people if your message is packed with a bit of humor. Then conversation and questions about Jesus and God will naturally follow,” Sister Hannah said.
This news article was translated for Crux by Susanne Kurstjens-van den Berk.
