Sr Simone (right) at work
Sr Simone Herrmann MMS was recently interviewed by German radio about the growing number of Religious who are on social media, in particular Twitter. They’ve developed the ‘brand’ name, or ‘hashtag’ #NunsofTwitter & #BruvsofTwitter. The transcript below is adapted from the interview, courtesy of @Deutschlandfunk:
"Just now in lockdown there have been many questions to the religious communities, in particular the monastic communities, which have always lived in a form of “lockdown” the cloister. Questions such as : “So how do you actually live?”
Simone Herrmann is an active NunofTwitter, but in fact, she is a religious sister, not a nun. She does not live in a cloistered convent, but in the city of London in the religious community of the Medical Mission Sisters. The 45-year-old comes from the Black Forest, in Germany, joined the order in Frankfurt and studied medicine. She works as a doctor in the emergency department of a hospital. Working shifts. Stranded homeless people, Corona patients, her hospital also cared for the victims after the terrorist attacks in central London. A religious sister who has both feet on the ground and sometimes goes to the pub with her colleagues after work.
Sr Simone says: "There are many people who have a certain idea what Religious are or what they are not. We are coming from various communities; we are also different, and we have the different charisms. Some wear a habit, some don’t - but at the end of the day we are all human beings like the other twitterers." The communities follow different charisms, so they are committed to different traditions. But in all their differences, Catholic and Anglican Religious unite under the hashtag #NunsofTwitter. They are focusing here - and this is atypical for social networks - on their similarities rather than their differences.
Sr Simone adds: "From time to time we watch a movie. When, a few months ago, there was The Life of a Nun with Audrey Hepburn on television, we were amused to see how religious life is presented - but which has nothing to do with our life." The film's topic, she said, inspired some of the "NunsofTwitter" to make their own vocation stories public. Many tweeted their personal journey - what led them to join a religious order. And what they value about this life:
"Most live in some form of community and in relationship with others. And that is not different on Twitter. It is on a smaller scale and you can only say shorter sentences. Which is sometimes an advantage, because then you can really focus on the essential. And the essence of what's important." The question still remains: how does life as a devout religious sister fit in with this at all? With Twitter - the stage of the self-promoters?
"That also fits with a religious order. So, I do not think that everything we do in social media has something to do with self promotion. But it's just simply sharing about what moves us."