‘He was just always there, always watching’

Some things are simply a fixture in your daily life, always there, comforting somehow, but never truly given the respect required. As long as I can remember, the statue of Jesus has been there. Standing tall, at the top of the staircase at VI on Madison Avenue when I was in high school. Every morning, the open arms and benevolent smile would greet me as I walked to my classes. A prank or two may have centered around the statue but I’m pretty sure Jesus didn’t mind. Stolen girls’ gym uniforms, which were these blue- and white-striped fashion statements that no one enjoyed, were sometimes hung from His hands. He was just always there, always watching, always keeping students and faculty in His heart.

When I began work at BMHS in 1998, there He was. At the Slingerlands location, Jesus stood in the front hallway. The first thing I’d see every morning. Always there. Always watching, always keeping students and faculty in His heart.

I remember the principal, Joe Grasso. If he was worried or stressed about someone or something, I’d find him in the hallway with his palm to the palm of Jesus. “We are just thinking it through!” he’d say with that, it-can’t-hurt look on his face.
When we moved to what would be the final location of BMHS on Park Avenue, Jesus again stood in the front hallway. Often in the early morning when it was quiet, we would have a conversation, Jesus and I. We would talk about the concerns of the day. Well, I would talk and Jesus would listen.

We had a partnership with a local children’s program. The kids would come after school to use the gym or play basketball with our players. Being a state-funded program, of course, there should be no talk of religion. Kids being kids, a couple of the children told the others that that was Jesus and he was “cool.” Somewhere around that time, the statue became “High Five Jesus” to those kids. On their way in and on their way out, they touched the hand of Jesus and said simply, “High five!”  Again, I think Jesus smiled.

When I learned we’d be closing our doors in June, I was worried about the fate of the statue. I was absolutely delighted to learn that Jesus would find a new home at St. Thomas the Apostle, a school filled with love and compassion. Another batch of students, staff, faculty and family. This I know, Jesus will be there, always watching!

Sue Silverstein-Gilligan was the director of Campus Ministry and Community Service and the Theology Department Chair at Bishop Maginn High School. In the fall, she will be working at Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons in the art department and community service.