Have you met MY SISTERS?

If you follow me on other forms of social media, then you already know what we've been up to: the launch (as of a week ago today) of a new forms of media ministry, MY SISTERS. Already we have members from around the world!

MY SISTERS is a private membership group on Facebook which makes it possible for us to offer more in-depth presentations on aspects of faith and spiritual life, including weekly accompaniment sessions in real time, via Facebook video. There are four sisters who are the mentors for the group, taking turns by rotation to provide a weekly spiritual "planner" with suggestions for prayer and reflection, and who will facilitate the group online video chat, starting Monday with follow-up on Thursday (then continuing every Monday and Thursday).

Just a screenshot of what's inside!

Other features currently available include audio and video conferences by our sisters on topics related to spiritual growth, including Sr Kathryn Hermes' entire "HeartWork" video library (in my opinion, worth the monthly fee by itself--and even more when she starts her bi-weekly video conferences); guided prayer videos (we'll be making Holy Hour prayer guides available on a regular basis); the Rosary; guided retreats; an archive of movie reviews and an entire selection of conferences and prayers in Spanish. Coming soon: an on-line retreat house. (The first retreat will be offered on March 10.)

We went with a kind of subscription model on this so that we would be making a real commitment to "be there" to be met, to answer questions and to be a listening ear. And, truth to tell, we realized that asking a modest monthly fee also invites the members to make a commitment to their own spiritual growth. The introductory rate is $8.95 per month, but the first month's fee is just $1 so people can try it out at little risk. And I have secured a "Nunblogger" rate for my readers: even when the introductory offer has ended, people who sign up with the Nunblogger link will get the original $8.95/month offer. (The price you sign up with will never go up; it is a constant rate.)

Naturally, we will still make abundant material available for free, as we have been for years, through our Discover Hope newsletter and other channels. This is something we are taking on in addition to all that.

I have been working behind the scenes on this, mostly with Sister Margaret Joseph Obrovac, a Daughter of St Paul in Rome, to prepare the Lenten feature for MY SISTERS: a pilgrimage to the station churches of Rome via a daily e-magazine (see sample pages).  Actually, I'm still working on this; so far only 24 of the magazines are ready for a feature that runs from Ash Wednesday to Divine Mercy Sunday. (You can sign up for the Lenten series by itself, but it is included in the MY SISTERS membership.)

Both MY SISTERS and the Lenten series are Facebook-based, which is what makes this possible for us to do with so few sisters. We just could not manage the infrastructure of anything so complex on our own! This allows us to focus on the message, and on being available to people without being lost in the technological details (even though there are still lots of technological details that have us pulling our hair out underneath our veils!).

I have many exciting ideas of things I hope to contribute to MY SISTERS in the future (once this Lenten project is done!!!), so I look forward to meeting you in that new community space on Facebook. And I (and my sisters) are grateful for your prayers for this new initiative of ours.

Please consider joining MY SISTERS. With Lent starting on Wednesday, what could be a more fitting time to do something new for your spiritual life?