When she was just 7 years old to become a nun sister Monica Clare felt the calling. She became a nun when she was 46; however, realizing her destiny took decades. On social media that destiny now has her spreading faith.
“God wants us to be happy and that I believe that there is a loving God”, Sister Monica Clare said.
New Jersey, at the convent of St. John Baptist, she now lives modestly with other nuns in rural Mendham, an Episcopal religious order for women that dates back to 1913. The order’s website and social media she manages. In such a modern way some sisters resisted sharing their faith.
Especially in the Episcopal Church, the sisters were very wary of social media because of one thing about being brothers and sisters, Sister Monica Clare said “They’re very, very private”.
She felt social media might still be an effective tool for reaching out to others in need, and created a TikTok account called @nunsenseforthepeople.
“I really felt like a lot of people were lonely, and TikTok filled that void of having someone to talk to”, because during COVID I started the account Sister Monica Clare said in his statement. “You’ve got a person looking directly into the camera and talking to you, even though you’re not really talking to that person.”
From followers she fields many questions, including on benign topics such as her skincare routine. To that query her answer went viral.
She said in a video (She also doesn’t drink and doesn’t eat sugar.) that “If I go out in the sun, I constantly project that I have a sun shade or use an umbrella or something and of course that adds to the whole eccentric Mary Poppins- schoolmarm vibe”.
From her followers she also answers meaningful questions. “Like, ‘When there’s suffering in the world how can you believe in a loving god?’ she told FOX 5 NY, that’s a question everybody has”.
With Gen Z or Gen X when most women living in the convent are senior citizens so why did she pick a social media platform more popular?
“The younger generation is about preserving the environment, our life really dovetails with the values of the younger generation being good stewards of God’s creation,” Sister Monica Clare said. “It’s about having more compassion”.
By using social media the sisters are hoping that they may demystify religious life here and encourage others to consider it. Sister Monica Clare said “our existence is really a beautiful thing”. “Religious life is very beautiful and very joyful. I need people to know how wonderful this is.”
Sister Monica Clare said she really wants to share her faith and beliefs although her post of a wild turkey roaming the convent grounds attracted thousands of views.
The sister said that “I’m saying a lot of people who are not religious, not spiritual are responding because we all have the same struggles, we all have the same questions”. “With fellow human beings that is why we are here on this earth is to form loving connections.”
Many of her secular followers still seek spiritual help, indeed, even asking her to pray for them. “I’m not a believer but could you pray for me? ‘To see people, it’s very heartening to me, because I really think it’s wonderful that even when people don’t believe in God, they don’t believe in religion, they still believe in prayer.”
The sisters have great joy in praying for people, she told her followers, in a TikTok video, which is why they go into chapel six times a day. “A lot of us really do want this positive energy of love and compassion to spread — I want it to be contagious”, Sister Monica Clare said. “On social media I want people to spread as much positive love as they can.”
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