Homeless Jesus sleeping on a bench statue to be installed where homeless aren’t allowed to sleep on benches
‘First Presbyterian Church of Orlando is about equidistant between Orlando Public Library and Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. A few blocks north, the homeless pass the library with their bedrolls, backpacks and shopping carts. A few blocks to the south, patrons of the arts congregate in their high heels, tuxedos and tickets to Broadway plays.On the corner of Jackson Street and Rosalind Avenue, where those two groups intersect at First Presbyterian, is the future site of “Homeless Jesus” — a life-size sculpture of a Jesus as a homeless man sleeping on a park bench.
The bronze sculpture, by Canadian artist Timothy P. Schmalz, has sparked outrage and praise in the nine cities throughout the world where it has been installed. Churches in Toronto rejected it. Pope Francis blessed it.’
Leave a Reply