You’ve heard of Comic Con (probably). But have you heard of Doxacon?
If the Orthodox Church put on its own version of a Comic Con, it would be Doxacon. Sponsored by a local Orthodox Church and hosted at the Catholic University of America in Washington DC, Doxacon is a place where nerds of the Orthodox tradition, along with Catholics and other denominations, unite in faith, fandom, and fellowship.
And this past year, there were three Daughters of St. Paul among them!
I was excited and grateful to be part of our first trio to visit Doxacon, alongside Sr. Allison Regina and Sr. Sean Marie. But we weren’t just there because we qualify as nerds (although we certainly do). We were there as Daughters of St. Paul, consecrated Sisters dedicated to sharing Christ through the most effective means of communication and praying in reparation for the sins committed through these same means. And these means include storytelling.
The 2025 Doxacon main gathering room was decked out in banners from different fandoms, from Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings to Marvel Superhero comics and films; from the Star Wars universe to Anime series like Avatar and Fullmetal Alchemist; and beyond… stories that have touched and formed many from childhood into adulthood; stories through which many have found friends, found inspiration, and even found truths about themselves. The theme of the conference focused on “Catharsis,” as understood in the richness of philosophical and theological tradition. The various talks and workshops used fan-favorite stories to reveal the mark of God on the human heart, and to explore our call to repentance and freedom in Christ.
We had the honour of being part of that exploration.
Together, Sr. Allison Regina and I had the opportunity to give one of the break-out talks: Long-Term Cathartic Accompaniment Through Fiction. Drawing on the storytelling philosophies of Flannery O’Connor, C.S. Lewis, T.S. Eliot, and J.R.R. Tolkien, we explored examples of catharsis from K-Pop Demon Hunters, Star Wars, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, and the In Aeternum trilogy (Sr. Allison’s YA vampire trilogy), to break open something very important: how witnessing a character’s long-term struggles with grace can release interior bonds in readers as well.
God is the ultimate storyteller. Christ is the ultimate and perfect hero in the most real and raw story of our lives. There is a reason that hero stories fascinate us so consistently and resonate so deeply in our imaginations and hearts. These stories point us back to the ultimate one, the perfect one, the most epic and true one – the one we are actually a part of. This is why stories have a particular ability to bypass emotional defenses to truths we might otherwise fight or turn our backs on. As Sisters dedicated to sharing Christ through the most effective means of communication, fictional stories hold an important place in our mission as a gentle yet powerful way to introduce Jesus to hearts who may be grappling with him in very raw and intense ways.
Sharing this with our brothers and sisters in Christ in our talk, as well as through some books our Sisters publish at a vendor table manned by Sr. Sean Marie, was a real privilege. Being able to pray with and for fellow participants and speakers was a blessing as well.
After the close of the conference, we brought everyone: the attendees, speakers, vendors, authors, artists, organizers, and clergy, to prayer before Jesus in Adoration. Together we prayed for each one of them and their personal stories, still unfolding before God, and for the common chapter our stories are all called to reach in the end… a chapter that marks the beginning of a new, wondrous, and unending story that we have yet to truly imagine.