Giant Virgin Mary

Another oddity from my recent southern Arizona trip:

About 100 miles south of Tucson, in the town of Hereford, a 31-foot-tall statue of the Virgin Mary has been erected on the side of a hill. It's so close to the border that, if you stand in the right place, you can see both the Virgin Mary statue and the border wall in the valley below.

The statue was built by Pat and Jerry Chouinard in the 1990s. It stands alongside a 75-foot-tall Celtic cross. But giant crosses seem less odd than giant Virgin Marys. (Unless the crosses are really giant, see our previous post "The largest cross in the western hemisphere").





How does this giant Virgin Mary compare to other giant Virgin Marys around the world? It's not close to being the tallest. The record goes to the Mother of All Asia statue in the Philippines which stands 322 ft high. The American record (9th tallest in the world) goes to Our Lady of the Rockies (90-feet-tall) in Butte, Montana.

source: gcatholic.org

There's a 33-foot-tall statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Windsor, Ohio. That may be the second-tallest in America. Assuming that Our Lady of Guadalupe is the same as the Virgin Mary. I'm not sure if place-specific Marian apparitions are considered to be equivalent to the original Mary.

That would make the Virgin Mary in Arizona the third-tallest in the United States.

More info: Roadside America

Posted By: Alex - Thu Dec 19, 2024 - Comments (3)
Category: Religion, World Records, Statues and Monuments, Arizona

What About Thad?

Posted By: Paul - Sun Dec 15, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Family, PSA’s, Religion, Outsiders, Marginals, the Excluded and Low-castes, 1960s

RIP Fratello Metallo, Heavy Metal Monk

His Wikipedia page.

Posted By: Paul - Wed Nov 20, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Music, Religion, Europe

The Snowball Church

I scope out daily the list of deaths that Wikipedia curates, where I often see intriguing tidbits. Recently I came across a death notice for Apóstolo Rina (in Portuguese), and was intrigued to see that he was both the church founder and a surfer. ("Bola de Neve" translates to "Snow Ball," by the way, but I remain uncertain of its pertinence.)

Inquiring further, I learned from their entry on Portuguese Wikipedia:

Unlike most churches, it initially appealed to a young and informal audience. The church also seeks to maintain its image associated with extreme sports, such as surfing , skateboarding , running and cycling , and many of its temples have decorations based on these sports.... The first meetings took place in a surf shop and, with no pulpit or table available to support the Bible, the option was to use the surfboard , a trademark of the Bola de Neve Churches.

You can see their groovy surfboard altar in the video.

Posted By: Paul - Tue Nov 19, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Eccentrics, Religion, Sports, South America

Jackson Whitlow, the Mountain Faster

Jackson Whitlow made headlines in 1937 by fasting for 52 days. He did it because he said God had told him to. He broke his fast with elderberry wine and squirrel broth.

About a year later God told Whitlow to live in a cave. His condition rapidly deteriorated and by the start of 1939 he was dead. According to Whitlow, this was also "the Lord's will".

Atlanta Journal - Jan 2, 1939

Posted By: Alex - Thu Oct 03, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Religion, 1930s, Dieting and Weight Loss

AI Pastor

I'm assuming this is satire because the site doesn't actually share any AI-generated spiritual guidance. If you click the "Get Started" button it shows a pop-up that says "coming soon."

On the other hand, I wouldn't be surprised if AI could provide online spiritual help on a par with flesh-and-blood pastors.

More info: AI Pastor

Posted By: Alex - Tue Aug 13, 2024 - Comments (7)
Category: Religion, AI, Robots and Other Automatons, Satire

Sacred Seltzer

More info: SacredSeltzer.com

Posted By: Alex - Tue Jul 02, 2024 - Comments (5)
Category: Inebriation and Intoxicants, Religion

Minister Cancels Walk on Water

May 1972: Rev W.L. Jenkins of Mississippi advertised that he was going to walk across the surface of the Ross Barnett Reservoir. But he had to cancel the event when he was shot in the leg while driving to the reservoir. He said he still planned to walk across the reservoir sometime in the future, but wouldn't publicize the event beforehand.

It doesn't seem that Rev Jenkins's failure to walk on water put a dent in his popularity. He continued to have an active ministry, as documented on his website JenkinsMinistry.com.

Related post: When Yogi Rao walked on water

Quad-City Times - May 22, 1972

Posted By: Alex - Wed Jun 26, 2024 - Comments (3)
Category: Religion, 1970s

The Wayfarer’s Dole

From Gastro Obscura:

The Church's home page.

Posted By: Paul - Tue Jun 25, 2024 - Comments (1)
Category: Food, History, Religion, United Kingdom, Alcohol

Crying Artist

Controversy recently struck the General Theologial Seminary in New York after it invited an artist to perform in the college chapel. Details from Church Times:


I know some people can cry on command, but for five hours?

The Episcopalian community thought the event sounded way too weird, forcing the seminary to cancel the performance before it happened.

Posted By: Alex - Sun Apr 14, 2024 - Comments (2)
Category: Religion, Performance Art, Sadness