Huge Stash of Divine Mercy Holycards: Ideas to Distribute?

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I was thinking about how to spread the Divine Mercy devotion, and I sent away for some small holy cards. They took a long time to come–I kind of forgot about it–but today I got the package and it is a HUGE order, plus they “threw in” some larger size Divine Mercy prints.

I read a lot on a large variety of subjects (history, architecture, politics, art, etc), and then usually donate my used books to the many Little Free Libraries once I finish. My thought was to discreetly slip one of these very small holy cards in each book. But now that I have literally hundreds of these holy cards, I want to think about other creative ways to get them out there. I’d like to try to reach non-Catholics; that is, I don’t want to simply put them in the back of Catholic churches cause God-knows we have so much of such things already.

Many, many years ago, long before I took the Catholic faith seriously, I was touched by such things as coming upon a random medal, or holy card, or even evangelical pamphlet. That’s my impetus for this small act of evangelization. So, any creative ideas? I am in a heavily urban setting, if that helps.
 
I like the idea of putting them in books. And those Little Free Libraries are awesome!

I ended up with a bunch of holy cards, too - mostly Divine Mercy. I donated them to the Catholic Daughters group in our parish. I have no idea how they’ve used them.
 
You could just leave them in the back of other churches, not Catholic ones. Leave one with the tip when you eat out. Leave one on the seat if you take a bus or train. Pass one on to a homeless person. Donate a stack to the local Catholic school with one of the larger prints.
 
Irishmom2 said:
You could just leave them in the back of other churches, not Catholic ones.
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Not a good idea - you need permission from the pastor to do that. It’s too much like the people who leave Jack Chick tracts in Catholic churches.
 
Many libraries, coffee shops, record stores, music venues, restaurants, and small businesses have a place to leave flyers and postcards promoting upcoming events or other small businesses, usually near the front door of the place. I wouldn’t leave a whole bunch of holy cards there as from time to time they will throw all the old flyers away, but maybe leave one or two. Someone browsing the flyers might pick it up.

Another place to stick one is in the magazine rack at a convenience store, or under the wiper blade of someone’s car. I’ve seen Chick tracts left in these places, why not Jesus?
 
Bonnie said:
Not a good idea - you need permission from the pastor to do that. It’s too much like the people who leave Jack Chick tracts in Catholic churches.
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I disagree, because Divine Mercy prayer cards are not speaking badly of another religion, it is merely a prayer they are sharing. That is not the purpose of the Jack Chick tracts. No one asks permission to evangelize, you just take a chance when the opportunity arises. 🙂
 
Irishmom2 said:
I disagree, because Divine Mercy prayer cards are not speaking badly of another religion, it is merely a prayer they are sharing. That is not the purpose of the Jack Chick tracts. No one asks permission to evangelize, you just take a chance when the opportunity arises. 🙂
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But how much good would leaving an obviously Catholic card in an obviously non-Catholic church really do? Sure maybe one person might become interested, but how many would be pushed away due to a, at least perceived, microagression?
And someone mentioned leaving them with tips, same thing to a degree. A waiter/waitress at work isn’t looking to get evangelized when they’re working. It’s more likely to annoy them than move them.

Personally, the idea that seems best to me is leaving them with the flyers based on the understanding that it would be permitted to leave them there and that anyone who came across them would come across them by their own choosing to look at the stacks. That, to me, is a much better way to do it as then a person who finds one, if they take one, is actually open to the prayer and wanting the card.
 
Bonnie said:
Not a good idea - you need permission from the pastor to do that. It’s too much like the people who leave Jack Chick tracts in Catholic churches.
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People do that? I’d think that the folks who take Chick seriously would likewise think lightning would strike them if they entered a Catholic church.
 
I would send them to a mission overseas; they always can use extra material
 
Any DRE in any parish would love them.
They are a teaching tool and great for teaching students the devotion.
Sunday school teachers put them int he prize box, middle school catechists teach from them, and LifeTeen Core member give them out as take homes at the end of class for their prayer tables at home.
 
Don’r leave them in a place where the person in charge might throw them all out.
I like the idea of leaving some in the vestibule of Catholic churches. Or leaving them with sisters to pass out, or with DREs.
Don’t just leave them in Protestant churches, the people there might see this as an assault by another religion.
 
I would put some in the Adoration chapel if your church has one. You could leave some in the office for people to take when they visit the office.
I wouldn’t leave them in retail stores. When I worked retail and we found religious
items they were tossed in the trash.
How about nursing homes or hospital chapels?
Catholic schools?
 
7_Sorrows said:
I would put some in the Adoration chapel if your church has one. You could leave some in the office for people to take when they visit the office.
I wouldn’t leave them in retail stores. When I worked retail and we found religious
items they were tossed in the trash.
How about nursing homes or hospital chapels?
Catholic schools?
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👍 Exactly. And, the OP could also leave a few Rosaries, if they have some spares.
 
po18guy said:
👍 Exactly. And, the OP could also leave a few Rosaries, if they have some spares.
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YES! Rosaries are especially welcome at Funeral Homes.
When Catholic wakes are held and people pray the rosary, many don’t carry one with them, as they have not been practicing, and it’s nice to have a few laying out for people to pray on, and take with them. The Funeral Directors around here consider it a boon to have a stash on hand.
 
Take a supply in your car and carry some on your pocket and give them to anyone you meet. Leave them in the check book when you pay for a meal or on the table.

Enclose them in your outgoing bills when you pay them.

Leave a supply in the narthex at Mass for anyone to help themselves to…

Contact you diocesan Prison Ministry and donate a supply for them to send to inmates.

Join St. Paul Street Evangelism and help them distribute them to people on the street.
 
Don’t forget to leave some in the many waiting rooms.
Doctors, Dentists, Hospitals etc…
(Just ask first)

:tiphat:
 
pianistclare said:
Any DRE in any parish would love them.
They are a teaching tool and great for teaching students the devotion.
Sunday school teachers put them int he prize box, middle school catechists teach from them, and LifeTeen Core member give them out as take homes at the end of class for their prayer tables at home.
Click to expand...
👍 I would recommend doing this over leaving them unattended in random places. I know the idea can be appealing that someone we will never meet will come along and be moved by coming across it, but I think it is far more likely to get thrown out or simply ignored and inadvertently trampled underfoot.

I think it’s better to be intentional. If you want to give them to people you meet, that’s one thing. Simply leaving them in odd places to be discovered is not likely to work well.

Now, I don’t discount the possibility that God can use holy cards left in different places to “speak” to someone who needs it. However, I think it would be more effective to use them in an intentional way with a personal connection to the person receiving it.
 
You know how it is when you send a check to one charity— you suddenly end up on the mailing list of a hundred. And each of them send in prayer cards and other little things in the envelopes, and soon you’re swamped with prayer cards…

I had wanted to get a nice Divine Mercy prayer card, and I started paying attention to the cards that came in the mail. And not one of them was a Divine Mercy prayer card… and then it occurred to me, the reason was that the Divine Mercy image was under copyright laws in the US, so it’s not as easy or cheap to distribute in mass-mailings as, say, your classic 14th-17th c. Great Masters, or your in-house artists.

Eventually, a nice lady at church gave each of my boys a Divine Mercy prayer card, out of the blue. So that was really cool. But the point of the anecdote was— if you set them in the back of a Catholic church, there well may be someone who was looking for just that thing, and it’s very hard for them to stumble across one by accident, since the imagery isn’t public domain.

Another anecdote, in passing— I had gone to a film/lecture about the original Divine Mercy image, and all the history surrounding the Vilnius image/Kazimirowski painting. The Priest/Prophet/King imagery was stressed in the talk. If you’ll look at his original hand, you see that it doesn’t rise above his shoulder. Back in pre-Vatican II days, a priest did not raise his hand above the shoulder to conduct a blessing. Likewise, you see the purple halo, where the purple is indicative of royalty/majesty. And you see how the rays cut off at the knees-- because the painting was described from St. Faustina’s kneeling perspective, the rays were going beyond her, so she couldn’t see those rays. So now, whenever I look at a Divine Mercy image, I look at how the artists treat those elements. The Hyla and Skemp images each have things to recommend them as well---- but I hadn’t appreciated the symbolism until it was pointed out to me.
 
midori said:
But the point of the anecdote was— if you set them in the back of a Catholic church, there well may be someone who was looking for just that thing, and it’s very hard for them to stumble across one by accident, since the imagery isn’t public domain.
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Do ask your priest for permission! We had a priest a few years ago who really hated the Divine Mercy devotion & picture. My husband & a friend were handing out cards after mass on Divine Mercy Sunday & they got a royal chewing out by the priest.
 
midori said:
Another anecdote, in passing— I had gone to a film/lecture about the original Divine Mercy image, and all the history surrounding the Vilnius image/Kazimirowski painting. The Priest/Prophet/King imagery was stressed in the talk. If you’ll look at his original hand, you see that it doesn’t rise above his shoulder. Back in pre-Vatican II days, a priest did not raise his hand above the shoulder to conduct a blessing. Likewise, you see the purple halo, where the purple is indicative of royalty/majesty. And you see how the rays cut off at the knees-- because the painting was described from St. Faustina’s kneeling perspective, the rays were going beyond her, so she couldn’t see those rays. So now, whenever I look at a Divine Mercy image, I look at how the artists treat those elements. The Hyla and Skemp images each have things to recommend them as well---- but I hadn’t appreciated the symbolism until it was pointed out to me.
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Thanks for the link to that Divine Mercy film, it looks really interesting.
 
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