Portrait of Christ created from thumbprints of Kansas City Catholics

Published: 2005-03-24

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (CNS) -- The portrait of Christ that hangs in front of the choir loft of St. Patrick Parish in Kansas City is a familiar portrayal of the face of Our Lord. Familiar, that is, until you view it up close, and see the hundreds of thumbprints that combine to create it. A small sign in the portrait's lower-left-hand corner explains its history. A member of the St. Patrick liturgy committee, artist Julie Rice, believed that asking parishioners to join together in the creation of a spiritual artwork would get them more involved in the Mass. And she was right. A total of 250 people volunteered their thumbs to assist in this unusual process. For two weekends running, at each Mass, Rice sat at a table near the main entrance to the church and positioned parishioners' thumbprints onto the painting, following a faint pencil outline she had drawn on the white paper surface of the foam core.

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