The social-media trend of this summer looks a little different than years past. Rather than a focus on swimsuit-ready bodies or the latest dance craze, summer 2026 has been dubbed “Nun Girl Summer” by Cosmopolitan magazine — thanks to the viral Dominican Sisters Open Mic podcast. 

The podcast, operated by Openlight Media, an apostolate run by the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, has now amassed more than 250,000 followers and 7 million “likes” on TikTok. The New York Times reported in March that the podcast had seen a 3,500% uptick in listeners since February 2026. 

This increase in viewership came with an onslaught of positive comments. People across the internet were struck by the joy and peace that the sisters exude. 

“The vibes here are amazing,” one Instagram user commented under a clip from the podcast. 

“This lowered my cortisol exponentially,” wrote another. 

The clips have left many viewers wondering how they, too, can be that happy. And according to the religious sisters, the answer is simple. 

The Podcast

The Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Dominican Sisters of Mary started their now-viral podcast in 2020, just before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, but stopped shortly after the show started. 

“We restarted it, really, just to have authentic conversations between two sisters and to show the joy of living the religious life, a life dedicated to Jesus Christ,” Dominican Sister John Dominic Rasmussen, the executive director of Openlight Media, told the Register. 

Openlight started the podcast again earlier this year, when Sister John Dominic personally selected Dominican Sister Miriam Holzman to be the host. 

“We’d been trying to do this for like a year,” Sister John Dominic said. “It was just the right person, the right place, at the right time.”

“I never thought I’d be podcasting,” Sister Miriam said, laughing, in conversation with the Register. She had been a pharmacist before she joined the order in 2006. Since then, she’s taught high-school science. Sister John Dominic said she knew that Sister Miriam’s personality made her right for the job. 

“She can’t say this about herself, but I can,” Sister John Dominic said while Sister Miriam laughed in the background. “She’s a person that’s gifted with an authenticity and a sincerity about her. When she has a conversation with anybody, with our sisters or anyone, that person feels like they’re seen and listened to, and they feel very comfortable in expressing themselves, and I think that comes out beautifully in the podcast and in the conversations that she’s having with sisters. It feels very natural and genuine.”

A Viral Sensation

But even Sister John Dominic had no idea the kind of reaction the show would generate. After a clip of Sister Miriam talking about Ultimate Frisbee went viral, the sisters were “internet famous.” 

“I was stunned,” Sister Miriam said, laughing. “I thought, ‘You know, praise God! May God be praised through this clip. May souls come to know God through this clip.’ I was surprised. I wasn’t expecting that to happen.”

For Sister Miriam, the minute-long clip was nothing more than regular conversation about playing frisbee, yet it amassed more than 58,000 likes on Instagram and nearly 350,000 on TikTok. 

Their interactions captured the hearts and attention of millions. “Sister, you are so good at that” became the phrase of the summer. 

“Nuns having a renaissance is my new favorite thing. I love these ladies,” said one Instagram commenter. 

“I’ve been an atheist for almost 30 years, left religion in my very early teens, but I get the same feeling when I see a nun,” said another. “It’s like ‘here is a nice person who sees the good in people and wants to help others and wishes the best for them and their endeavors.’ I just love y’all’s podcast and the good vibes you bring to every discussion.”

Though the sisters do not have social-media accounts of their own, the lay staff at Openlight often compile comments in a document and share them with the sisters.

“We’ve copied a number of them and put them in a prayer book to pray for the people,” Sister John Dominic explained. “People take the time to put a comment down; some of them are really beautiful and touching.”

Why So Joyful?

What users immediately latched onto is the pure, unadulterated joy that Sister Miriam and her guests exude. In a world full of podcasts dissecting everything from celebrity drama and messy love lives to gruesome murders, Dominican Sisters Open Mic’s little corner of the internet has been filled with genuine kindness and authentic happiness. 

According to Sister Miriam, that’s just everyday life for the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist. 

And they’re not the only religious community of sisters known for their joyful demeanor.

“As a religious sister, so many times when I’m out and about, people will just say, ‘You’re always smiling.’ Or they’ll see the sisters and they’ll say, ‘You’re all so joyful.’ And I often just respond, ‘We have so much to be happy about,’” Dominican Sister Michaela Martinez, the vocational director for the Dominicans of St. Cecilia in Nashville, Tennessee, explained to the Register. 

For Sister Michaela, that happiness comes from her relationships with God and with her fellow religious sisters. This joy in communion and authentically recognizing each other is something Sister John Dominic said they try to capture in Dominican Sisters Open Mic. 

“The great thing that we’ve hopefully been able to show people in these conversations is that each sister is unique and different, and they bring their particular gifts and interests to conversations,” Sister John Dominic said. “It’s not like we’re put in this cookie-cutter mold. That’s the beautiful thing about the Dominican charism. It’s who you are. We recognize those gifts and talents.” 

Benedictine Sister Scholastica Radel, the novice mistress at the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles, in Gower, Missouri, said that religious sisterhood is a joy in and of itself. 

“The vocation itself is a joy, and the Lord makes it attractive when He’s calling you,” Sister Scholastica told the Register.

That happiness can be found both in the quiet moments and in the big celebrations that take place in the convent, she said. One such moment was when she made her vows as she entered the order. She described looking up at an image of Christ looking up to heaven. 

“I thought, ‘Okay, here we go, Lord,’” Sister Scholastica said. “‘Make sure you take me. I want to go where you are. Take me home.’”

Cultivating Joy Through Community

Although it’s the virtues that religious life cultivates that make these women happy, they all agree that this calling isn’t for everyone. Sister Scholastica explained that many women will attend retreats at the order thinking they are destined for religious life, only to find out it’s not the right fit. 

“I say, ‘Okay, no biggie,’” Sister Scholastica said, laughing. “It means you’ve got to take this spirit and live it in the world.”

There are many different orders, each with their own spirituality, that approach the journey to holiness in different ways. Sister Scholastica said she often recommends women who discern out of religious life research the different spiritualities and see how they can best adapt their practices to everyday life. 

All of the sisters reflected on some of the ways that joy appears in their everyday lives. 

For Sister Michaela, one of the sweetest parts of religious sisterhood is authentic community. It’s also something that society is losing, she observed. 

“The human person is made for communion — ultimately with God, but we also find such joy in good friendship,” she said. “Because we’ve become more isolated, because people have turned more to technology as a medium for friendship, you’re missing that moment of encounter where joy is manifest.”

Sister Scholastica also reflected on the importance of good community. Even when everything seems to go wrong, she said, a sister still manages to lift her up and call her higher. 

“When you’re looking at a sister in one of those frustrated days, and trying not to cry, and then she’ll just smile and shrug, then you’ve got to smile back,” Sister Scholastica said. 

At the Benedictine monastery in Missouri, life is planned down to the hour, in keeping with the order’s motto, ora et labora (“pray and work”). 

“Pretty much every moment is occupied, which is a really beautiful thing,” Sister Scholastica explained.

The order wakes up at five in the morning and prays the Liturgy of the Hours every day of the year. They have farm chores, cooking, cleaning, bookkeeping and sewing to do in order to keep up their monastery. Sister Scholastica reflected on how this order and structure every day gives her a sense of purpose that brings her joy. 

“There’s a lot of joy in self-conquest; once you do overcome yourself, there’s the joy of victory,” Sister Scholastica said. “That, I think, can’t be underestimated because that’s God’s own joy.”

Secret to Joy: Rest

Each day, however, the sisters make sure to factor in time for recreation. This, Sister Scholastica explained, is a time for communion and leisure, to help sisters relax and reset. 

Sister Michaela said that intentional rest is one of the keys to cultivating joy. 

“In the United States, especially, we’re very goal-oriented,” she explained. “We like to set high goals and reach high goals, and that is good. In the midst of that, we also need to learn how to stop and rest.”

Part of this rest is having fun. As religious sisters who take a vow of poverty, Sister Michaela explained that she and her sisters get creative when looking for new ways to pass the time. She cited St. Thomas Aquinas talking about the virtue of playfulness. 

“I think an important part of finding joy is taking time to rest and to be playful and to return to the simple joys of childhood,” Sister Michaela said. “There’s something fun about writing with sidewalk chalk or blowing bubbles or going for a hike or just laughing with friends, looking at old pictures. It’s taking time to do the simple things.”

The backbone of any truly joyful life, all the sisters agree, is a devoted prayer life. 

“Ultimately, the source is a relationship with God, and that’s going to look a little bit different for everybody,” Sister John Dominic said. “It’s calling upon the Trinity — God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit — that drives us and that fills our souls.”