A Parish Without Boundaries
When is a picture truly worth a thousand words? According to Father Edmund Nadolny, it’s when the picture is on a highway.
Father Nadolny has been sponsoring bold highway billboards that mix spiritual encouragement with pro-life messages for over 43 years. These signs – funded through his “Good News Fund” – have dotted Connecticut’s roads, carrying religious slogans, calls to prayer, and pleas on behalf of the unborn.
Born in 1933 in New Britain, the priesthood was not on Father Edmund’s mindwhen he entered high school at St. Thomas Seminary in Bloomfield. In fact, the only reason he was there was because at that time, there were no Catholic high schools in Connecticut. So teenage Edmund had to commute from New Britain, traveling on two buses and a train to get to school.
Vocation came slowly to him (he says jokingly that he is still discerning it), but eventually he realized that God was calling him to His priesthood. He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Hartford, and over the years served in various parishes throughout the Diocese. At 93, years after his retirement, Father Nadolny still maintains a vigorous daily schedule, which he says is powered by “prayer and a treadmill.”
Some forty years ago, it occurred to him that “At that time, maybe fifty percent of Catholics were going to Church, but 100% of the people were on the highways.” So he saw an opportunity to reach out to and evangelize a greater number of people. Father Edmund’s idea of the Church is “A parish without boundaries. The highways are my parish.” So what better way to reach parishioners, or potential ones, than with a picture on the highways that they travel every day?
A Ministry That Never Sleeps
And now in the age of social media, his parish has grown to over 20 million “parishioners” on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and Blue Sky. On these platforms, Father Edmund sends encouraging messages like “You are God’s Tabernacle, Jesus dwells in you, you are really special.”
What makes Father Nadolny’s outreach on billboards and social media unique is that his messages always include his personal phone number. Spend any time with him, and your visit will be punctuated by a stream of phone calls from “parishioners” from literally around the world. A typical day could include someone calling from France, Chicago, or Nigeria seeking solace, guidance, or just spiritual affirmation. He laughingly says, “If I could hear confessions on the phone, I would be on it all day.”
Inspiration for his messages often come to him during his morning Holy Hour, after he has celebrated daily Mass. No matter what media he utilizes, his messages are always short, crisp, and to the point. He believes that the shorter the message, the more effective, and more people see it.
In this age of sound bites, he realizes that attention spans are limited, and besides, when going 70 miles per hour on a highway, it's hard to read the fine print. But you can certainly read, “I Love You Jesus,” or “Jesus Will Forgive You,” at any speed. In fact, the billboard that has garnered the most reaction has been the one that just says, “JESUS,” and allows the viewer to fill in the rest of the sentence.
What gives Father Edmund’s billboards spiritual significance is that he believes they are actually “big sacramentals,” because just like a holy card or rosary, the billboard messages cause the viewer to become conscious of God. For him, even his car, which is emblazoned with an image of Jesus, is a sacramental. “I often get honks and signs of affirmation; in fact, over the years, I can only recall one negative gesture.”
A Lifetime of Pro-Life Witness
For the past 43 years, “sacramental” billboards have sprung up on Interstates, State routes, as well as local roads throughout Connecticut. The spiritual themes of the billboard messages are wide and varied, and they always highlight the sacredness of every human life, which is created and loved by God. This message is especially emphasized in his pro-life messaging.
Father Nadolny has been, in his own words, “fighting abortion for 63 years.” He approaches the abortion issue from multiple angles – “scientific… legal… and spiritual” – educating people about fetal development, arguing for the unborn’s rights under law, and appealing to conscience. By broadcasting facts like the early heartbeat and messages like “Life Starts in the Womb – Choose Life,” he aims to change hearts and minds on abortion, or at least plant a seed of doubt. He says that he does not know the impact of these pro-life messages. “I have never gotten a call from someone stating that she changed her mind about having an abortion, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.”
He rues the fact that as many Catholics as non-Catholics approve of abortion: “We have a community that’s pro-death – once you don’t respect the beginning of life, you don’t respect the end, and what’s in between.” He sees increased murders and suicides as the result of treating humans as expendable. “An abortion mentality takes out all respect for life. When you lose respect for life, life has no value. Abortion opens the door for killing in every degree.”
Father Edmund insists, however, that he is “Pro-Choice.” He believes that there is always a choice, and it doesn’t have to be abortion. But he also realizes that many who become pregnant are ill-equipped for motherhood. So there must be more effort made to assist those in this situation: “They need education, support, to build up their self-esteem.”
His ministry has not been without controversy and pushback. With a smile, he states, “I’m here to calm the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” He has had people call and protest a billboard or social media message, but he sees that also as an opportunity to evangelize. For instance, an irate man called complaining about a billboard. Fr. Edmund asked, “What did that billboard say?” The man answered, “Jesus, I Trust In You.” Father Edmund answered, “There you see, that just got you to pray.”
As for his Pro-Life messages, he has had people call and accuse him of trying to make people feel bad or guilty about having an abortion. He insists that, “I’m not trying to make people feel bad, I’m trying to make them feel good about having children.”
But most of the calls he receives are positive. Many people have had their faith renewed by what they read on the road. Recently, the same billboard message, Jesus, I Trust In You, which angered one viewer, inspired another to donate $38,000 to keep it on the billboard for one more year.
In fact, the message, “Jesus, I Trust In You,” is at the heart of Father Nadolny’s recent campaign to place Divine Mercy images on churches throughout Connecticut. Two years ago, during a trip to Krakow, Poland, he attended a Mass along with 100,000 people on the feast of the Divine Mercy. There, he was inspired to begin promoting the Divine Mercy message. To date, Divine Mercy images have been mounted on 88 churches throughout the Dioceses of Hartford, Norwich, Springfield, Rhode Island, Worcester, and Fall River. Look for one at your parish church soon.
Father Edmund emphasizes that all of these achievements could not have been accomplished without the grace of God and the team of people who assist with his Good News Fund. “I’ve been blessed to find people smarter than me who know what they are doing.”
By Deacon Ben LoCasto