BOSTON — The Daughters of St. Paul have launched a “spiritual adoption” project as part of their #SpiritualCommunion online response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Spiritual adoption is a specific effort within #SpiritualCommunion for those on the front lines to be spiritually supported,” the Boston-based religious congregation said in an April 22 news release. “Spiritual adoption also is designed to bring meaning, connection and hope to those feeling the effects of isolation in lockdown.”

The release described the #SpiritualCommunion response overall as “an invitation sent out across the digital continent to reach and support the Catholic Church during the current pandemic.”

The congregation’s spiritual adoption project is aimed at COVID-19 patients, doctors, nurses, and other first responders on the front lines as well as those in lockdown.

There are three aspects: It allows participants to become spiritually adopted, to have their loved ones become spiritually adopted or to become “spiritual adopters” themselves. All participants can sign up online at www.tinyurl.com/SpirituallyAdopt. Then Daughters of St. Paul pair participants together and connect them virtually.

In initial trials, early participants in the spiritual adoption “have already begun sharing their gratitude, prayer intentions and inspirations to keep Christ at the center of their lives through the ongoing crisis response,” the congregation said. To date, early participants have recorded overwhelmingly positive responses to spiritual adoption.

“The Daughters of St. Paul anticipate an increasing demand for Spiritual Adoption throughout the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the news release noted.

Founded in 1915 in Italy, the religious congregation is part of the worldwide Pauline family, one of the 10 institutes founded by Blessed James Alberione, and operates in 50 countries around the world. Pauline Books & Media is an apostolic ministry of the Daughters of St. Paul and runs a dozen bookstores in locations in the United States and Canada.