Local billboard campaign spreads Gospel values, welcoming immigrants, environmental care, caring for impoverished

ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, Ind. -- The Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Cross, in partnership with five other women’s religious congregations in Indiana and Michigan, launched a billboard campaign promoting Gospel values, which include the welcoming and inclusion of immigrants and caring for the environment and people in poverty.

The group's billboards are posted throughout South Bend, Mishawaka, and Roseland.

Sister Sharlet Ann Wagner, CSC, president of the Congregation, said that the campaign is in response to what she describes as the "moral failures on display daily in our country."

Two of the signs read, “What Would Jesus Do?” and “I was a foreigner, and you welcomed me,” respectively.

The billboard messaging follows the release of the congregation’s response to the Trump Administration's Executive Actions.

The congregation's response 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 are members of the regional coalition of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious.

Billboard locations and durations in the South Bend-Mishawaka area:

• Lincolnway East in South Bend, just before the railroad underpass - July 14–Sept. 7
• The corner of Sample Street and Michigan Street in South Bend - Aug. 18–Nov. 9
• Day Road in Mishawaka, between Grape Road and Main Street - Aug. 18–Sept. 14

Sister Wagner stated, "Our hope is that people will just pause and think and reflect and reflect on how, 'If I'm seeing it, I, as an individual, am behaving? And how am I in keeping with the teachings of Christ? And how are we as a nation behaving?' You know, 62 percent of American adults describe themselves as Christian, and yet we see ourselves taking so many actions that are contrary to the teachings of Christ."