Building Community Across the Miles with Beyond the Habit

At a time when Catholic sisters are less and less visible in the spaces where they were historically called to minister, Srs. Erin McDonald, CSJ and Colleen Gibson, SSJ have taken to the airwaves to spread the charism of their congregations. Through the power of modern day streaming, since November 2022 the voices of this dynamic duo can be found through the speakers in your car, earbuds, or living room as they interview various theologians, ministers, and other people of faith on real life issues in our world today. From anti-death penalty activist Sr. Helen Prejan to modern iconographer Kelly Latimore to transgender Catholic writer Max Kuzma, Sr. Erin and Sr. Colleen invite a wide range of guests to discuss questions of faith and to share about how their faith catalyzes their ministry. While the podcast has been growing in popularity, the co-hosts are very clear about the purpose of their ministry. “We’re not about being successful and popular,” Sr. Erin shared modestly. “It’s about creating meaningful content and expressing who we are. It’s about creating dynamic, meaningful dialogue that feels important and needed in this time.”

During each hour-long podcast, the co-hosts engage in authentic and unscripted dialogue with their guests. “It’s part of our core principles,” says Sr. Colleen, “to be candid, to be vulnerable, to be honest, to build community.” And sometimes, this means the co-hosts themselves become transfixed by the conversation. “There are times when I’m so engrossed in what someone is sharing,” admitted Sr. Erin. “And sometimes it brings up so many feelings, emotions, reactions or thoughts that I almost forget to ask a question!” And in the back-and-forth that seems to come so naturally to the duo, Sr. Colleen continued, “I’m also always aware that there’s a ‘fourth body’ in the room, which is the listener. […] And so I think it’s about balancing out what is of interest to me and facilitating a conversation for our listeners. We have to consider how to create content or facilitate a conversation that is for somebody who doesn’t have a voice in the conversation. What questions would they want to ask, what information would they like to get from this person? And so we do our best to try to give them voice in some way.” This is one of the ways that the co-hosts work to build community, despite the fact that their listeners are tuning in from across the country and around the world. In addition to being aware of that fourth listener “in the room,” Srs. Colleen and Erin encourage listeners to complete listener surveys and reach-out to them via email. The co-hosts are also buoyed by listeners who are inspired to form their own local communities in which to continue the conversation, whether it be parishes, classrooms, or groups of friends. While the ripple-effect of this encouragement is hard to measure, says Sr. Erin, they hope that “certainly to some degree, anecdotally, we know that what we’re doing is inspiring others to connect and to create interesting connections with other people.” Building community is a pillar of their work, and the sisters believe that through the conversations their listeners will remember that they aren’t alone in their questions of faith. Sr. Erin continued, “an ultimate hope is that this is content that is in some way inspires people to have hope, to see that there are other people in the Catholic Church who are grappling with these questions and tension points, that are rummaging around for God in all of this, and that together on this journey of unioning love and reconciliation there is hope for a better world.”

In addition to building community and providing a safe space for questions, through the conversations that are facilitated during each recording Sr. Colleen and Sr. Erin have a strong desire to help their listeners grow closer to the Divine. “Another ultimate hope,” shared Sr. Erin, “is that Beyond the Habit is creating moments where people are feeling perhaps a bit more connected to God and their faith journey and a bit more connected to others in their life, and that it inspires some sense of how each person might connect more deeply with God and with the dear neighbor.” In order to support their listeners on this faith journey, the co-hosts make a point of not straying from controversial topics, but rather engaging the real and authentic stories of individuals in order to put a human face— or rather, voice– to various issues. “Beautiful and perfect creations of God that we all are,” shared Erin, “I think there’s something sacred in hearing and holding someone’s story.” And it is in the sharing of these stories that Srs. Erin and Colleen invite listeners to grow closer to God and one another. “Our holiness and our wholeness,” adds Sr. Colleen, “is not dependent just on ourselves, and if you think that your relationship with God is just about you and God, then you’ve missed the third part of the triangle. You’ve missed other people. There’s the great grace of being able to hold the stories of the people who we interview, but I think even more so to be able to hold the stories, the ones we know and the ones we don’t know, of the people who listen.” Through honest dialogue, vulnerable story-telling, and frequent reminders of our connections to one another, the co-hosts of Beyond the Habit have joined a long line of women religious who spread the good news of the Gospel with love, companionship, and care. 

…and you can join them right from your living room. 

If you’ve been inspired by the mission of Beyond the Habit, you can find the latest episode on Spotify or at beyondthehabitpod.com.