A New LED Sign for Our Parish

In this weekend’s first reading, the Lord announces: “I put water in the desert and rivers in the wasteland for my chosen people to drink, the people whom I formed for myself, that they might announce my praise” (Isaiah 43:20-21). 

The Lord is calling us to help fulfill this prophecy.   Our parish is like water in the desert of our secular world.  Our ministries are like rivers flowing through us into the hearts of others who may be wandering in wasteland seeking meaning, hope, healing and love.  Jesus is the living water for which they thirst (cf. John 4:14), and he offers them a drink through us.    

But how will they know where the fountain of living water is?  They can choose to visit our fresh new website.  They may respond to a personal invitation from you.  But what if they don’t know you, and have no interest in our website?   What if they just happen to be driving by our church?  

According to annual traffic data from 2011 - 2022, the number of vehicles that pass by the intersection of Grant and Malley Drives is 34,249 per day, 1.1 million per month, and 13.6 million per year!  That’s why our Parish Mission Leadership Team discerned that we should take advantage of this potential audience by reaching out to them with a dynamic new sign.  
Thanks to financial support from the Knights of Columbus Council 7502, we have purchased and installed a new LED sign at the intersection of Grant and Malley.  It has incorporated some of the elements of the previous sign which was near the entrance to the parking lot on Malley Drive.  The new sign is 5'6" x 9'6” and can display LED images on both sides.   This is the optimal size designed to create the most impact and public awareness regarding our parish. 

This is a sign built to last:  It has a 7-year warranty which includes parts and on-site service including light & vandalism protection.  Based on similar signs elsewhere, this new sign should last at least ten years.   The sign is built for high resolution messages and graphics.  The images from its LED technology are similar to those of your smart screen TV, and can be seen easily by motorists from a distance.

Our new LED sign allows IHM to display multiple messages daily to two audiences:  parishioners and non-parishioners.  For parishioners, we can promote current events such as Mass times, Holy Days, Faith Formation and Youth Ministry programs, Knights of Columbus Fish Dinners, Stations of the Cross, and news about our ministries and organizations.   For non-parishioners, the sign will be able to evangelize with welcoming messages, scriptural passages, information about our liturgical seasons, trivia questions, and maybe even clean jokes!

If you have any ideas for possible messages on this sign, let our Communications team know through the LED Sign Content Idea

My hope is that our new sign will catch the eyes of those who are thirsty and invite them into our Church for a drink from Jesus, the Living Water.  Like our new logo which shows the open ends of the cross reaching out, our new sign will help us reach out to the peripheries and invite people to journey with us to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.  Then they can join with us in fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah, “that they might announce my praise.”  

Thanks to the Knights of Columbus and to all of you for helping us pursue our parish mission: “To proclaim the greatness of the Lord, and accompany our neighbors to the heart of Jesus.”