Popular Catholic podcaster and religious sister announces discernment of new community

Popular Catholic speaker, podcast host, and author Sister Miriam James Heidland, SOLT, announced on Sept. 21 that she is publicly discerning the establishment of a new religious community called Friends of the Bridegroom.

“After several years of private discernment, I would like to announce to you with great reverence and care that, with the blessing of my religious community the Sisters of the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity (SOLT) and the Archbishop of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, his Excellency Jeffrey S. Grob, I am officially entering into a time of public discernment of the foundation of a new religious community, Friends of the Bridegroom,” Heidland wrote in a post on X.

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The religious sister explained that her many years working in healing ministry  and working with other religious sisters, priests, and bishops has allowed her “to see and experience the need and ache for the ongoing healing and renewal of our clergy and religious sisters.”

Heidland has served as the executive director of Friends of the Bridegroom alongside Father John Burns of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. According to its website, it is an apostolate that seeks to renew the Church through the healing, renewal, and expansion of consecrated life and the priesthood.

She called her time working with the apostolate “a profoundly blessed time” and added that “the Lord has continually stirred a desire in all of us in the apostolate to discern the foundation of a new community of priests, religious sisters, and laity who would work toward this important renewal.”

“During this time of public discernment, the Friends of the Bridegroom ministry and my public activities connected with this discernment will remain under the pastoral care and oversight of Archbishop Jeffrey Grob, Archbishop of Milwaukee,” she explained. “I am deeply grateful for his willingness to accompany and guide this discernment during this important time.”

Heidland will remain a sister in good standing with SOLT and will continue to wear the order’s habit.

“I am truly grateful for the support of so many people over the years and I continue to count on your prayers and support as we discern this very important step … Once again, I extend my tremendous gratitude to Sister Mary Aloysius of Jesus, SOLT General Sister Servant, her General Council, and Archbishop Jeffrey Grob,” she wrote.

Heidland was placed for adoption by her 17-year-old unmarried biological parents. After spending some time in foster care, she was adopted by a Catholic couple and raised in Woodland, Washington.

It was her adoptive parents who gave her a foundation in the faith. However, at age 11 she was sexually assaulted and at 13 she was raped. She has never publicly named her abuser.

During her teenage years, Heidland focused her time on sports. When she was a senior in high school she was offered a full scholarship to play volleyball at the University of Nevada, Reno. While she remained an important part of the team, she was an alcoholic by the age of 21 and embraced the partying lifestyle.

Completely estranged from her faith and feeling broken, a priest entered into her life and made a lasting impact. Heidland’s mother also began to pray and fast for her daughter, asking the Lord to guider her becoming a nun.

In 1998, Heidland entered the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity after she felt Jesus calling her to become his bride. Today, she speaks openly about the healing and restoration Jesus has done in her life and shares her powerful testimony with others around the world.