‘Kindness campaign’ part of National Catholic Sisters Week March 8-14
Billboards featuring an image of a homeless person being handed a cup of coffee will be displayed n six communities from the Quad Cities and Clinton, Iowa, to La Crosse, Wisconsin as part of the "Kindness campaign." (Provided photo)
ROCK ISLAND — “Kindness: Get in the Habit” is the theme for a campaign that will be shared on billboards, in movie theater ads, through social media and in Catholic school classrooms during March in celebration of National Catholic Sisters Week. The fourth annual observance is March 8-14.
The initiative is sponsored by the Catholic Sisters of the Upper Mississippi River Valley, which includes the Benedictine Sisters of St. Mary Monastery in Rock Island.
“The ‘Kindness campaign’ is inspired by our Christian call to treat one another as we would hope to be treated,” said Sister Sandra Brunenn, OSB, prioress. “It’s both a response to the incivility that continues to permeate talk shows and social media, and a call to Gospel values such as caring for the poor.”
“It’s both a response to the incivility that continues to permeate talk shows and social media, and a call to Gospel values such as caring for the poor.” Sister Sandra Brunenn, OSB, Prioress, St. Mary Monastery, Rock Island
Billboards for the “Kindness campaign” will be displayed in six communities from the Quad Cities and Clinton, Iowa, to La Crosse, Wisconsin. It features an image of a homeless person being handed a cup of coffee.
Six similar images, all illustrating the campaign theme, will be featured on social media and on the big screen in local movie theaters, including Moline and Davenport and Clinton, Iowa.
Those attending a movie at the Rave Cinemas Davenport 53 and Imax Theater, 3601 E. 53rd St., in Davenport will receive a Kindness Welcome from Catholic Sisters next Saturday, March 4. They will greet movie patrons from noon to 6:30 p.m. at the west entrance of the movie theater.
The event also will feature a Kindness Table, which will offer opportunities for people to slip prayer requests into a box, and the Sisters will give away Kindness Mints and prayer cards.
To follow the “Kindness campaign” on social media, go to Facebook.com/catholicsisters.
The Catholic Sisters of the Upper Mississippi River Valley represent 12 congregations, with the collective mission of spreading the Gospel message in the 21st century. In addition to the Benedictines in Rock Island, they include: Congregation of the Humility of Mary, Davenport; Sisters of St. Francis, Clinton; Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Dubuque; Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Sisters of St. Francis, and Sisters of the Visitation, all in Dubuque; Sinsinawa Dominicans, Sinsinawa, Wisconsin; Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, La Crosse, Wisconsin; Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey; Carmelite Sisters, Eldridge, Iowa; and Sisters of Mercy-West Midwest Community.
