Christians believe Jesus Christ called them to welcome the stranger and to feed the hungry. A group of nuns says the opposite is happening now under the Trump administration, and they hope their billboard campaign this summer will make people think about it.
Six orders of nuns in Indiana and Michigan have united to buy the ad space, including the Sisters of the Holy Cross, who are based on the Saint Mary’s College campus. Their president, Sister Sharlet Wagner, explains why they decided to do their first billboard campaign.
“We see shockingly cruel treatment of newcomers to our country, aid to the hungry being cut, health care to the poor being cut … a majority of U.S. adults describe themselves as Christian and yet these actions are a betrayal of the fundamental teachings of Christ.”
Wagner says the nuns hope the billboards will make people who claim to be Christians think. They’ve received largely positive feedback so far, but she did recall a little pushback. Two of the billboards ask, “What would Jesus do?” That prompted an online commenter to ask whether Jesus would spend money on billboards or use it to feed the hungry.
”Jesus would and did use any means available to preach. To me, it’s not an either-or, either you use your money to feed the poor or you use billboards. We can do both.”
