Sisters’ Messaging Promotes Jesus’ Call for Compassion
The Sisters of the Holy Cross, with five other women’s religious congregations, are going big to proclaim Gospel messages. The group has launched a billboard campaign promoting Jesus’ call for compassion for those who are suffering and marginalized. The messaging specifically encourages the welcome and inclusion of immigrants and care of creation and people in poverty. The Sisters of the Holy Cross billboards are posted throughout South Bend, Mishawaka and Roseland, Indiana.
What Would Jesus Do?
The effort, says Sister Sharlet Ann Wagner, CSC, president of the Congregation, is one response to the moral failures on display daily in our country. Many of these demonstrate a shocking level of cruelty toward the most disadvantaged among us. “Jesus tells us in the Gospels that what we do to his brothers and sisters in need, we do to him,” she says. This campaign is an attempt to remind all of us of the Gospel demand for compassion and for action on behalf of those most in need.” Two of the signs read, “What Would Jesus Do,” and “I was a foreigner, and you welcomed me.”
Consider where or how you might integrate these Gospel messages into your life and relationships.
Affirming Dignity
The messaging stands in contrast to recent indiscriminate arrests, imprisonment and deportations of immigrants, cutting of aid to the most vulnerable, and weakening of environmental protections.
“Such actions deny people their dignity as beings created and loved by God,” says Sister Sharlet. “As Sisters of the Holy Cross we are called to proclaim God’s love for all creation and to show compassion to people who are suffering. These billboards are one more way to embody this message and to accompany our sisters and brothers.”
Blessed Through Caring Acts
The collective hopes the signage will encourage people to pause and see those who are vulnerable and marginalized in the United States and around the world through another lens. “We have the opportunity to be a blessing and to be blessed by following the Gospel imperative; by providing welcome to strangers, by feeding the hungry, by caring about those who are less fortunate than we are,” says Sister Sharlet. Supporting these individuals and families, the participating congregations say, benefits all people, as it contributes to the betterment of communities, society and our nation.
For a Just and Compassionate World
The messaging follows the release of the Congregation’s Response to Executive Actions. The statement calls on all government leaders and people of goodwill to work together to build a more just and compassionate world.
The leaders of the congregations collaborating on the initiative are members of the regional coalition of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR). The association comprises more than 1,260 leaders of Catholic women’s religious congregations. LCWR advances the mission of the Gospel by serving as a corporate voice for the most vulnerable and by promoting dialogue and collaboration among religious congregations and society. To that end, LCWR released “A Response from the Leadership Conference of Women Religious to These Times” in January 2025.
Messaging Unites Voices
Over the next two months, three Sisters of the Holy Cross billboards will pop up around the South Bend area. The messages will run between four to eight weeks, depending on the location. Meanwhile, the other participating congregations are placing billboards in their own geographic locations. The collaboration of taking Gospel messages to the streets, says Sister Sharlet, “amplifies all of our voices, as we together proclaim a Gospel message of compassion and inclusion.”
In the South Bend-Mishawaka area, look for the Gospel messages billboards at the following sites:
- Lincolnway East in South Bend, just before the railroad underpass, visible to those driving east on Lincolnway; July 14– September 7, 2025
- The corner of Sample Street and Michigan Street in South Bend, visible to those driving west on Sample; August 8– November 9, 2025
- Day Road in Mishawaka, between Grape Road and Main Street, visible to those driving east on Day;
August 8– September 14, 2025
Congregations Participating With Us
Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ
Plymouth, Indiana
Sisters of Providence of St. Mary-of-the-Woods
Terre Haute, Indiana
Dominican Sisters, Grand Rapids
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Adrian Dominican Sisters
Adrian, Michigan
Congregation of St. Joseph
Kalamazoo, Michigan