A new campaign is underway to encourage people to partake of God’s mercy in the Sacrament of Reconciliation during this Holy Year of Mercy through the use of billboards, lawn signs, bumper stickers and other resources.
ExperienceMercy.com is an outreach campaign that was initially launched by the Knights of Columbus and the Men’s Fellowship groups at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church and School in New Brighton, Minnestota.
“A small group of men in our parish got together and were brainstorming about what we could do to respond to Pope Francis’ call on the Jubilee Year of Mercy to be a channel of mercy within our local communities,” said Jeff Davis of St. John the Baptist who is spearheading the campaign, to Relevant Radio host Drew Mariani.
“We came up with this idea of a billboard advertisement that would direct people to a website where they could watch a brief video and then have resources available that we hope will allow God to touch their hearts and call them back to the Sacrament of Reconciliation.”
Parishes across the country are invited to join the campaign and bring God’s message of mercy to others by becoming a co-sponsor of the Experience Mercy campaign. To participate, a sponsoring parish agrees to purchase a co-branded billboard in their local community which typically costs anywhere from $2,000 to $5,000 a month in a metropolitan area. The group also provides many resources such as lawn signs and bumper stickers.
For those parishes who might struggle with the cost, they could do what the men did at St. John’s and turn to their Knights of Columbus chapter to help get the campaign started.
In exchange for underwriting a billboard, a parish will be listed as a sponsor on the ExperienceMercy.com website along with their Confession schedule and directions to the parish.
The beauty of the program is that the whole parish can get involved in the effort by posting lawn signs and bumper stickers and handing out invitations to friends and family to experience mercy in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
“The Catholic Church has got one of the most important things available in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. It’s a life-saving service but most people are just not aware of it or its not top-of-mind,” Davis said.
Hopefully, this new campaign will change that by enabling us all to become Missionaries of Mercy who will bring many more souls back to Christ during this special year dedicated to experiencing God’s merciful touch.
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