'Homeless Jesus' Sculpture to be Installed in June

“Homeless Jesus” has provoked sentiments from charity to criticism in the cities where it’s been installed. (Photo: Pjposullivan via Wikipedia / Creative Commons)

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“Homeless Jesus,” the controversial bronze sculpture loved in some locations and loathed in others, will be installed near a Detroit church whose outreach programs serve the homeless late next month.

“It’s going to be a great symbol for our city,” the Rev. Gary Wright, pastor of SS. Pete & Paul Jesuit Catholic Church, told the Detroit Free Press.

He said the life-sized work is a “major art piece” that “really communicates the Gospel.”

“The message is to raise up the dignity of those in need,” he told the Free Press. “The sculpture is a consolation and a blessing to the guests that we serve in our warming center. They can see their reflection in Jesus, and it calls to the rest of us to respond and to support the work.”

A dedication ceremony for sculpture, created by Toronto artist Timothy Schmalz, will be held at noon on Sunday, June 28, after the 11 a.m. Mass. The church is located downtown across from the Renaissance Center.

The 7-foot statue of a life-sized man huddled under a blanket on a park bench could be any homeless man, but for the marks on his bare feet that show the wounds of his crucifixion. It has been installed several cities in the United States, Europe and Canada, and has been met by mixed response.

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• ‘Homeless Jesus’ Sculpture May Have Home in Detroit Metro

Pope Francis blessed a small model of the sculpture at Vatican City in 2013 and called it a “beautiful and excellent” representation of Jesus, but not everyone has had such nice things to say about “Homeless Jesus.”

In North Carolina, startled residents of the wealthy community of Davidson called the cops on Jesus after mistaking him for a vagrant. Someone else complained that “Homeless Jesus” literally looks like a bum in the sculpture and it’s demeaning. In a letter to DavidsonNews.net editor David Brooks, a guy who lived near the installation said the depiction of Jesus “creeps him out.”

Schmalz told the Free Press earlier this year the sculpture is intended as a call to action among Christians.

“It’s putting it really within the grasp of everyone. Most representations of Jesus are unattainable,” Schmalz, who is Catholic, said. “But it’s a sculpture you can merge with, something you can experience.”

An anonymous donor who grew up in Grosse Pointe has stepped forward with an offer of $32,000 to pay for the installation fee.

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