The following comes from an October 8 Orange County Catholic article:
The newest figure on the grounds of St. Edward the Confessor Church has been the object of double- and even triple-takes by passersby and even parishioners, but his effect has been striking and unmistakable.
The Jesus in this incarnation is a casting of the original “Homeless Jesus” bronze sculpture by Canadian artist Timothy Schmalz, depicting the figure of Christ as a homeless person sleeping on a park bench, covered nearly head to foot in a blanket. His face and hands are obscured by the blanket but the wounds on his exposed feet reveal his identity.
“It’s a powerful image and you have to draw close to it to see the nail wounds,” said St. Edward’s pastor Father Brendan Manson. “It’s a reminder that we’re a house of prayer and a house of the poor, and also that we’re called to draw closer to Jesus Christ, and the least among us.”
The sculpture was donated by a parishioner, said Father Brendan, who called it “beautiful and somewhat unsettling. It’s a visual reminder that Jesus is not only found, loved and served within the walls of…the church, but we are called and sent to recognize, love and serve Jesus in one another, particularly the poor and marginalized. We enter the church to pray, and we leave to serve.”
The un-crowning of Christ once again…..
If this working carpenter was Homeless it must have been Ronald Reagan’s fault. s/
This is silly and ridiculous ! The main people who are homeless have alcohol or drug problems, or have mental issues. Because of the welfare state, many Americans will not work. There are probably a few who do not fit into these areas, but the majority have placed themselves where they are.
So what does the compassion of Christ impel you to do for those with alcohol or drug or mental health issues? Sit on a website and bemoan them Is that what Christ calls us to do?
Pilar, you need to read up on the problem of homelessness in America. Many are mentally challenged, but with nowhere to go. The hospitals have been closed and there are not enough therapist. Many have drug and alcohol problems, but that takes years to overcome. Many are working poor, making less than $20 per hour, with no money for first and last month’s rent and unable to pay $1,200-2,000 per month for a one bedroom apartment. Many lost their jobs, and then lost their home and can’t make car payments. They go to shelters to sleep at night or sleep on the street. Who helps them with their kid’s education, to find a job, to get straight, etc. Homelessness is the silent scourge of America.
I thought Churches were to comfort the afflicted and afflict the [overly] comfortable.
44% of the homeless in the US have jobs.
Which don’t pay enough to rent an apartment.
Utter nonsense, most of the homeless in NYC are drug addicted or just complete losers who do not wish to hold a job… they are getting more violent as well. Over the summer a man was stabbed in throat by one while walking through the Upper East side… I do not see Christ in most of these people as they are con artists and dangerous.
A horrific depiction of Our God and King. He will return in majesty. But the modernists/heretics hate to think of Him as triumphant.
This statue is EXCELLENT! Most people do not have the grace, to see Christ in all people, rich or poor, sinner or saint! But what would Christ lovingly and RESPONSIBLY do, for the sick, injured, and mentally ill people, roaming the streets? Collet them all, and place them securely, in hospitals, with good care!! Even the city Animal Care and Control agencies collect homeless animals, daily, give them medical care, and place them in good, loving homes! Homelessness for humans, is an IRRESPONSIBLE and IMMORAL product of the filthy, lawless, “HIPPIE FREEDOM” DOPE era!
So I guess in your mind, it follows therefore that Christ should be depicted as a filthy, lawless, hippie doper? Sorry, this is blasphemy.
To Ralph and others– Please read the Gospel of St. Matthew, Chapter 25, vs. 34-46!! Don’t you all know this teaching?? Yes, we originally were all made in God’s beautiful Divine Image! But we lost this, through the Fall of Adam and Eve! Then, Christ was sent by God, to redeem us all, and restore us to Him! On Earth, we suffer so much, due to the filth and ignorance of Original Sin, and our personal defects! But sin and ignorance, is not who we really are! Through Faith, we see the Christ in ourselves, and in our neighbors– not just human flesh, and defects! As Christians, we are all called to love and help Christ, in our neighbors!
Blessed Mother Teresa had plenty to say, about her lifelong vocation, to help the “poorest of the poor,” the “Homeless Jesus” of the suffering world! So did all the other saints!
Bl. Mother Teresa, who served the “poorest of the poor,” as her true religious vocation– and many other Saints of our Church, had plenty to say, about the figure of the “Homeless Jesus!”
Sorry, but my computer goofed up a little, so I ended up with two posts, above, instead of just one! Hope you all will find it worthwhile, to explore the beautiful literature of the Saints, regarding poor, suffering, “Homeless Jesus!” This is the truest essence of our Catholic Faith!!
That’s all fine, but it still is blasphemy to depict Christ as a drugged-out drop-out. Canisius said it best above, as the “uncrowning of Christ once again.” This “art” is for the subtle deception of pawns in the war on Christ. You’ve fallen prey.
You see a drugged-out drop-out in the statue? Least of my brethren?
You don’t understand, Ralph, the real purpose of the “homeless Jesus” statue is to demonstrate the higher moral consciousness and superiority of the progressive crowd—certainly superior to you, of course (ex. the simultaneously smug and snide, “Least of my brethren” comment), even though that progressive self-congratulatory crowd are actually do-nothings—unless of course someone is watching them.
“This statue is EXCELLENT! Most people do not have the grace, to see Christ in all people, rich or poor, sinner or saint! ” = Yes, and most people are trusting and some are very gullible or they don’t have the intellect to understand that the only thing missing from that agenda/bench is the visible big sign that reads….VOTE DEMOCRAT or you’ll end up homeless just like this!
I work in Dana Point … I don’t recall ever seeing homeless people down there. I wish we’d get away from the Francis-era political statements/agenda and get back to worshiping our Lord.
Ralph, you have missed Christ’s whole teaching! Go and read it, again, in the Gospels! “Whatsoever you do to the least of My brothers, that you do unto Me!” Christ needs to be given respect, love, and care, in those among us who are sick, dying, etc. etc. Why not volunteer with Bl. Mother Teresa’s nuns, and see what they have to teach you, about this? I, myself, have been a volunteer, in the past– very hard work, and very deeply spiritual, and rewarding! That is their whole life’s religious vocation, Ralph!
Ralph, when Christ was here, physically present among us, on earth, would you have walked by Him, at the ugly, filthy, horrible, criminal crucifixion scene, and thought He was just disgusting, all bloody, beaten up, probably the worst man ever, sentenced to a well-deserved, Roman capital punishment, amongst two other criminals, for His crimes?? You know– St. Paul talked a lot about “it is not I who live, but Christ who lives, in me!” after his conversion to Christ!! Why not read what St. Paul taught?? He went about converting other sinners, like himself!! Christ lives in us all, but we don’t realize it!
Vincent Kelch is correct in asking the question, “Yes, Christ had “nowhere to lay his head;” but was he mentally ill, an alcoholic, or refused to practice personal hygiene?” — but not politically so..
It is the constant agenda of the self-congratulatory socialist left (as well as progressive Catholics) to bemoan a matter like homelessness but also to effectively use the homeless as human shields and pawns in their larger agenda to guilt-attacks on traditional institutions (such as what the Catholic Church, at least what it used to be) and the middle class and to separate them from their money, their rights and their freedoms. And you know, the problem under their leadership never goes away, but always gets worse? Hmm.
Having attended so many of these social organizations’ get-togethers, where decisions regarding millions of $$ of wealth are squandered, and the homeless and their needs are maintained in effective (and useful) status-quo, one may see the socialist-progressive organizers nearly always spend most of their time congratulating each other on their achievements, and how much they have worked so hard (from the effects and outcomes, one would never know it)—and they then draw their salaries, their benefits, their paid-for junkets—and go home to their comfortable lives.
But the main thing to remember: is that they have a higher moral consciousness and care than you and I. Got it?
Brilliant posts Steve Phoenix and Canisius!
Many years of FLEECING the trusting sheep while feigning care for the poor AKA voter recruit. Look at the squandering of money when it comes to washing windows on a glass elephant masquerading as a Cathedral.
“I cannot tell a lie,” Quiroga reports: “It doesn’t take but a month or six weeks before the windows need cleaning again.”
Church officials have considered washing them more often, he says, but the job costs $85,000 a crack.
https://articles.latimes.com/2002/dec/09/local/me-peeled9
$85,000 for a single window-washing at the glass cathedral. The federal poverty level for a single person is about $15,500 (=annual income, approx.) I don’t see any incongruity at all (irony warning, Anonymous posters), Catherine.
The problem of the homeless under atheist socialist leadership never goes away, but always gets worse.
So more emotionally-manipulative guilt props, such as “homeless Jesus” have to be created, to dragoon those who might wake up and think, into submissive slavery, alongside their pawns, the homeless, the drug-addicted, the mentally ill and the psycho-socially unadjusted.
Everyone does know, correct, that Barbara Boxer, Dianne Feinstein, and Nancy Pelosi have wonderful and quite extravagant…
Everyone does know, correct, that Barbara Boxer, Dianne Feinstein, and Nancy Pelosi have wonderful and quite extravagant mansions (one of their many homes) in SF. Dianne Feinstein actually lives in a mansion better considered a consulate on Lyons St that was the old Jesuit provincialate in the 1950’s.
Yes, “Homeless Jesus”, everyone, while the commissariat wines and dines, and thrives off the corpse of the Great Socialist State.
I do not follow the leftist, Democrat, immature, “politically correct” baloney! I only follow the Church! I do not agree, that homeless people should have the babyish “right,” to wander the streets!! I believe they should all be placed in hospitals, for good care. I believe in tough laws against dope use, and also, laws against rock “music” concerts, which lead kids into this horrible life! We all have a Christian duty, to pray for, and to help those who are suffering, trapped in lives of poverty, illness, abuse, or sin! We are called to see Christ in all people!! Bl. Mother Teresa’s nuns, and other missionaries, are all tough– they want CONVERSIONS, as well as medical and material help, for these people! Good!
I will continue, with my post, above. Bl. Mother Teresa’s nuns, the Salvation Army, and many other missionary groups, of all faiths, all try to give help, and medical care, to the homeless people. Many eventually die, while in their care, or live only a brief time period, because they are already so close to death, due to their bad life, on the streets! Religion is a very strong element of the care, which all of these missionaries give. They are constantly trying to convert these people to Christ, and to get them to either heaven, at death– or else to a totally decent, responsible, and reformed life! It is very hard work! I bet prison ministry work, is extremely hard, too!
We all must remember, that each one of us is born with a precious IMMORTAL SOUL! Even those who have committed horrible crimes– still have a soul, and God still loves them!! Christ lives in all people, sinners and saints!! St. Therese of the Child Jesus prayed for a murderer’s conversion, and was happy to read in a newspaper, that he suddenly kissed the crucifix, right before his execution! She believed her prayers helped his sudden conversion!
Linda Maria, you are correct that we should pray for and actively work for the conversion and the physical well-being of all, including the homeless. As you point out, however, St Therese of Lisieux especially saw the spiritual capitivity of humanity, just as in the case of the condemned murderer for whom she prayed.
My observations were not in any way “aimed at” your comments, but an observation that often “props” such as “homeless Jesus” are emotionally manipulative propaganda that do nothing in actual fact to directly help the homeless (such as what St Vincent de Paul, Salvation Army, and St Anthony’s Dining Room organizations directly do). That is where the homeless are treated as human shields and pawns in the greater…
…greater game of obtaining more power and money, and displaying a “superior moral conscience”–by some.
So what’s the solution? Build a solid stone edifice which is never cleaned, except possibly by rain and snow??
You are so right, mike m, you are so right (“so what’s the solution?”) And God knows how much it snows in Orange County. Strain out the gnat and swallow the camel.
The solution is for the churches to teach good ol’ Judeo-Christian morality, to Americans, and a massive government program, to teach American citizens good behavior, dress, grooming, hygiene, speech, morality, and good social relating skills. Next, to have good codes of ethics, morality, and good dress, speech, and good behavior codes, taught and deeply ingrained, and written into our ways of life– legally, for some circumstances! All American kids should take a REQUIRED class, in American schools, each year, through high school— for good dress, speech, grooming, hygiene, good social behavior, ethics, and morality– very important, for our future, as a Nation! And NO ROCK “MUSIC!”
Are you 90?
Anonymous, how old do you have to be, to be MATURE?? In the Jewish culture, as in most traditional world cultures— young people were all expected to be mature, and ready for adult roles of responsibility, at an early age! The Blessed Mother was a very young girl, when she married St. Joseph, and miraculously conceived Jesus!
If our American government got solidly behind our original Judeo-Christian foundations, and actively supported faith in God, weekly attendance at your chosen church/synagogue, with promotion of the Traditional American Home and Family, (and ban abortions!) and extended kin and nuclear families all living together when needed, helping one another— we would soon see a better Nation! Also, we should outlaw deviant, subversive groups and behaviors– including rock “music” and its propaganda— and also, have good codes of speech, dress, grooming, hygiene, manners, and morals, REQUIRED, in public places! Soon– no more homeless problems!!
Well so much for the first amendment!