Parishioners text, tweet and e-mail mercy pledges at Marian Jubilee event

Agenia Hurrle, a member of St. Barnabas Parish in Indianapolis, uses a smart phone to share a “mercy pledge” on Oct. 8 during the Marian Jubilee at St. Bartholomew Church in Columbus. (Photo by Sean Gallagher)

Criterion staff report

During the Marian Jubilee event, participants and those watching via live-stream were asked to reflect on actions that they as individuals or families could take to extend mercy beyond the Holy Year of Mercy, which ends on Nov. 20.

They were then asked to text, e-mail or tweet their ideas, or to write their ideas on a pledge card. The archdiocese received 67 text messages, 46 pledge cards, 44 e-mails and 15 tweets. Below is a list of just a few of those ideas:

• An offering of the Eucharist/rosary/Divine Mercy chaplet/adoration hour for family members away from the Church.
• Praying the rosary once a month for prisoners.
• Volunteer for Beggars for the Poor in Indianapolis.
• Send a note to a dysfunctional drug abuse family monthly to tell them I’m thinking of and praying for them.
• Volunteer once a month at the Cathedral Kitchen.
• Volunteer as a family for the
• St. Vincent de Paul Society.
• Pray one rosary a month for a family who does not know Christ.
• Serve as an extraordinary minister of holy Communion to shut-ins.
• Offer Communion once a month for refugees.
• Attend First Friday adoration.
• To always remember you cannot tell what someone is going through on the outside, you have to look on the inside to find Jesus and the wounds they carry.
• Make quilts for people in a nursing home.
• Pray rosary for my husband.
• Evangelizing with the St. Paul Street Evangelization in Indianapolis.
• To investigate implementing a systematic change initiative in Columbus/ Bartholomew County using the
• St. Vincent de Paul Indianapolis model.
• My promise of living God’s mercy after the conclusion of the Holy Year of Mercy is to be patient with others when my expectations of them are not met
• Return to doing St. Ignatius of Loyola’s daily examen.
• To pray the rosary as a family.
• Be a mentor for the Changing Lives Forever program through the St. Vincent de Paul Society at Annunciation Parish.
• Pray at Planned Parenthood in Bloomington.
• Go to First Saturday Mass and holy hour praying for family.
• Call parents more often.
• Say a decade of the rosary each day for those who annoy me rather than complain or hold grudges.
• Get more involved in the Encourage group for family members who have family members who struggle with same-sex attraction.
• Volunteer for the Gabriel Project ministry and pro-life ministry.

Related story: Catholics from across the archdiocese celebrate Mary and mercy at jubilee