Catholic Radio Seeks to Promote Station and Year of Mercy with New Billboards

The Anchor - Serving the Diocese of Fall River, Massachusetts.

By Kenneth J. Souza
Anchor Staff

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — As a Franciscan, Friar John Mary, F.I., has witnessed signs of faith throughout his life.

Now he’s hoping others will notice one of the signs that recently went up in the Greater New Bedford area promoting WPMW Radio CorMariae and its mission to spread the Good News.

The “micro FM” Catholic radio station that broadcasts at 88.5 on the dial and originates from studios above Our Lady’s Chapel in downtown New Bedford recently contracted with Boston-based Clear Channel Entertainment to advertise its mission via large billboards in three key locations.

“The station has been doing OK financially, and we found we could afford to do another campaign, which is always good because we’re always trying to look for ways to increase our listenership,” Friar John recently told The Anchor. “I think this is one of the most effective ways, other than a bumper sticker campaign.”

The billboards prominently feature a beautiful stained-glass image of Our Lady next to a Scripture passage — “Mercy and Truth have met” (Ps 85:10) — and are located near the intersection of Cove Road and Rockdale Avenue in New Bedford; near St. Mary’s Cemetery on Route 6 across from Shaw’s Supermarket on the New Bedford-Dartmouth line; and on Route 6 (State Road) in Dartmouth, about halfway between Reed and Cross roads.

“The first two went up in mid-January and the third is (going up this week),” Friar John said. “I’m happy with the locations. The one (at Cove Road and Rockdale Avenue) is very conspicuous, near a pretty busy intersection. You can see it as you slow down for the stoplight — it’s very viewable.”

Friar John explained how the billboard on Route 6 in Dartmouth, which can be spotted driving from Westport heading towards New Bedford, was actually a replacement for one that had originally been planned for Coggeshall Street in New Bedford.

“There’s been ongoing construction there,” he said. “It did get put up, but when I went to see it, there was (construction) equipment parked in front of it — it wasn’t a good location. I talked to Clear Channel and told them about it and they found out from the construction crew that the area isn’t going to be cleaned up anytime soon, so they very graciously did the right thing and moved us to the Dartmouth location.”

Friar John said he likes the relocated site better.

“The station is heard pretty well between New Bedford and Westport, and that’s where our signal originates,” he said. “Those coming from Westport heading to the (Dartmouth) Mall will see it.”

Unbeknownst to Friar John, there is also a notorious strip club not far from where the new billboard is located.

“One of our volunteers said that was a good location because the area needs it,” he said. “So I guess they need the prayers and they need to see Our Lady up there.”

The story behind the eye-catching image of the Blessed Mother that dominates the new billboards is perhaps proof positive of Divine intervention in the radio station’s latest advertising campaign.

Friar John first noticed the depiction of Our Lady on the Facebook page of the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary — a group that did a recent recording session at Radio CorMariae.

“I contacted them to see if they had a high-resolution image of it and they said they found it on the Internet and they didn’t know much more about it,” he said. “They didn’t have the source to give me.”

  Stained Glass Window Photographed by Loci B. Lenar 

 

Thankfully, a graphic design artist named Mary Flannery who does work for the Franciscan Friars was able to do a little digital digging online and discovered that the image, entitled “Immaculate Heart of Mary,” was a photograph taken by Loci B. Lenar and was prominently featured on his Flickr page, blog and website (www.christian-miracles.com). She contacted him and he graciously gave WPMW permission to use it in the billboard campaign.

Ironically enough, Lenar has also been featured several times on the syndicated radio program “Sacred Treasures,” which currently airs on WPMW Radio CorMariae.

“He has all these websites and blogs about miracles and conversion stories,” Friar John said. “The thing that got me is this image could have been from anywhere in the world, but the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart found it, used it, which got me to see it, and then it all led back to someone with a connection to our radio station. I really believe it was Divine providence that it’s now being used on our billboard.”

Since we are in the midst of the Year of Mercy as proclaimed by Pope Francis, Friar John said he also wanted to connect that with what the radio station was doing.

“In our last (advertising) campaign, we used the phrase: ‘Behold your mother,’” he said. “I know Our Lady can work with her own image — she doesn’t need words — but I just didn’t want us to have a blank billboard on one side, so I was looking for a good Scripture quote.”

Friar John did a quick Bible search for quotes relating to mercy and came across the line “Mercy and Truth have met” from the Book of Psalms.

For him, it was the perfect quote to include alongside the woman praised in “Hail Holy Queen” as the “Mother of Mercy.”

“I believe that in Pope Francis calling for the Year of Mercy to start on December 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, he had Our Lady in mind,” Friar John said. “Of course, we always talk about mercy, but we have to accompany it with truth — the truth being our faith, the Church, the Sacraments, and Our Lord Himself.

“So we have a merciful, motherly figure in Our Lady and then the Church being the truth — so God knew what He was doing when He put the two together. They go hand-in-hand.”

Friar John said the plan is to keep the billboards up at least throughout the month, but hopefully with additional funding they might be able to extend the campaign even further.

“We want to have the billboards up as long as possible while the funds are coming in,” he said. “On our website we have a page specifically for making donations to support the billboard campaign. People can either use a credit/debit card on the website, or send us a check.”

Since Radio CorMariae doesn’t subscribe to the costly Arbitron ratings system to gauge how many listeners they have, Friar John said it’s important to get feedback via advertising campaigns like this and through word-of-mouth.

“For a station like ours we wouldn’t be involved in the techniques they use and we wouldn’t be able to pay for those services,” he said. “They say if you receive one call during a show, that means there are probably another 99 listeners out there. It’s always pleasant to hear when someone does give you feedback, because then you know someone is getting something out of it. This is why we meet on a regular basis with our volunteers to help publicize the station.”

Tax-deductible donations to support the billboard campaign may be sent to: Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, P.O. Box 3003, New Bedford, Mass. 02741-3003. Please write “Billboard Campaign” on the memo line of the check or money order.

For more information about the campaign or to make a donation online, visit www.radiocormariae.com.

First published on February 17, 2016 by The Anchor.
(Reprinted with Permission)

Miracles abound in the life of Sister Mila

Sister Maria Milagros Dela Cruz - photo courtesy of Linda Andrade Rodrigues

The Anchor - Official Catholic Weekly Newspaper of the Fall River Diocese, Massachusetts

By Linda Andrade Rodrigues, Anchor Correspondent

ATTLEBORO, Mass. — In the wake of Typhoon Yolanda in the Philippines, the world watched the apostolic visit of Pope Francis, including Mother Superior at the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette.

Sister Maria Milagros Dela Cruz, SNDS, was born and raised in Ramon, Isabela, in the far north of the Philippines.

A visit by the pope is a great blessing to the Filipino people, according to the vibrant, animated nun, affectionately known as Sister Mila, 65.

“I watched the Mass in Manila, and it was raining,” she said. “We Filipinos don’t get discouraged when it rains. The old people would say it is a blessing from God.”

Sister Mila came from a very large family of 17 children, including eight girls and nine boys. Her parents would also adopt another son.

“I was number 10 and a blue baby,” she said. “The doctor told my aunt that they did their best, but the baby was dead. The doctor left, and then my aunt said I started crying. My aunt reported to the doctor that the baby came alive.”

Consequently, the doctor baptized the preemie Maria Milagros (Miracles).

Her siblings walked to school, which was two miles away; but Sister Mila was too weak to walk a long distance.

“My father would come with us, and he put me on his shoulders,” she said.

He also gave her a small dog so that she would never be alone. She named him Pepsi.

“I had him for 16 years,” she said.

Learning to write her long name in first grade was a trial. Her classmates’ names were short, and they would tease her, “Mary Miracles!”

“I would come home crying,” she said.

Many years later when she went to college, she was asked to translate her name into English.

“Your name is very beautiful,” said the professor. “Your name is ‘Miracles of the Cross.’”

“That teacher was very stern, but I loved him,” she said. “He was the only one who was able to tell me the meaning of my name.”

Growing up in a very poor family on a small tract of farmland, Sister Mila remembers the long years of drought.

“The La Salette Fathers came to my area and did a Novena at the farm,” she said. “They carried the cross and sang songs in Latin. We saw cracks in the soil, and you know in those cracks we found edible frogs. We could not plant rice, but God gave us frogs. We brought them to the market and sold them.”

One of the La Salette priests, Father Conrad Blanchet, gave the family a gas-powered well pump so that they could plant rice and irrigate the land. They also watered a neighbor’s field.

“We were very poor, but my mother and father always shared,” she said. “Lots of people who needed food came to our house for help, but we always had something to eat. It is a mystery.”

Sister Mila attended La Salette High School in Santiago, and that’s where she first saw a statue of Our Lady of La Salette. She learned about the weeping mother and received her calling.

“I told them I wanted to become a Sister of La Salette, even though we had none in our area,” she said.

Her formation was done in Manila at their regional house. In her fourth year, she received her veil. Through the years she served the apostolate in schools as Religious Education coordinator, guidance counselor, registrar and principal.

Three of her siblings also had vocations; two joined the La Salette missionaries and a third is a Maryknoll.

In October 2007, Sister Mila was assigned to the U.S. mission in Miami, where she served as school principal.

“The American culture was itself a challenge,” she said. “I was unprepared to deal with all the technical demands of my job, including using computers. Amazingly, I learned quickly how to do many things, and I was even able to teach others to do the same."

Now serving at the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette in Attleboro, Sister Mila works in the shrine church as Liturgical coordinator of their 80 volunteers — acolytes, lectors, extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion, altar servers and sacristans — and assists the priests.

Living in Cumberland, R.I.,  about 30 minutes from the shrine, the nuns leave their house early each morning to take part in Community Prayer and Mass at the Attleboro monastery. Two nuns, one from Madagascar and the other from Connecticut, work in the gift shop. Sister Mila’s day revolves around the 12:10 and 6:30 p.m. Masses. When the nuns return to their convent at the end of the day, they go directly to the chapel to pray.

Pilgrims from all over the world worship at the shrine church, where Sister Mila offers a special ministry. She set up a box for prayer petitions and also answers prayer requests online every day.

She recalls the first time she was approached by someone in need of prayers. “Sister, I want to talk to you,” said a young mother with three small children.

“We have priests,” Sister Mila replied. “I can get you a priest.”

“No, no, Sister,” the woman said. “I want to talk to you.”

“I just came from the doctor’s office, and I was diagnosed with breast cancer,” said the woman. “I have a short time to live.”

“Don’t worry,” said Sister Mila. “I will pray.”

A year later, the priest in charge of vocations came looking for Sister Mila.

“Do you remember a lady with three children who talked to you last year?” he asked. “She wanted me to tell you that her breast cancer is gone.”

“And she’s not the only one,” said Sister Mila beaming. “You cannot believe how many prayers have been answered.”

Still a farm girl at heart, Sister Mila also tends the many beautiful live flowers that thrive at the shrine even in winter.

“We need a beautiful place for people to come and experience the nearness of God,” she said.

***

This article is reprinted with permission of Linda Andrade Rodrigues, Anchor Correspondent, Fall River, Massachusetts. First published by The Anchor on Jan 30, 2015.

Anchor Website: http://www.anchornews.org