THE
ARMS
OF
CHRIST
CRUCIFIX
INSTALLED
SEPTEMBER 3, 2025
Where are His Arms?
This holy Crucifix is not only breathtakingly beautiful but also filled with history and an important message for all of us. As we pass by and glance up, we instinctively wonder… where are His arms?
Led by the vision of Bishop J. Terry Steib, SVD; Dr. Mary McDonald, secretary of education and superintendent of schools for the Memphis diocese, undertook the task in the late 1990s to reopen inner-city Catholic schools that had been closed due to population changes over the years. All of the schools were located in underserved and disenfranchised non-Catholic areas of Memphis.
Bishop Steib named these schools the Memphis Jubilee Schools for the Jubilee Year 2000. They included St. Augustine, St. Joseph, St. Therese-Little Flower, De La Salle at Blessed Sacrament, St. John, Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, St. Patrick, Resurrection, and Our Lady of Sorrows. Memphis Catholic High School was later added as part of the Jubilee Schools to ensure students could continue their education through 12th grade.
Thanks to the generosity of non-Catholic donors who believed in the value of Catholic education, resources were eventually provided to fund these reopenings. At their height, the Memphis Jubilee Schools served students and families in these areas, offering renewed hope that the cycle of generational poverty could be broken through the quality of a private Catholic education. Over 90% of students were not Catholic, and when asked, Dr. McDonald simply replied, “We don’t teach these students because they are Catholic. We teach them because we are Catholic.” This reflected living out Christ’s Great Commission—being His arms in direct service to those in need of His love and mercy.
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At its peak, President George Bush and others credited the Memphis Jubilee Schools as a model for transforming education efforts in challenged areas across the United States. It became nationally known as the Miracle in Memphis. However, long before this success, and while still seeking ways to reverse national trends and reopen inner-city Catholic schools in Memphis, Dr. McDonald shared that she felt hopeless and prayed for God to surround the children with His protection. She felt as if God had no arms.
In 1998, while preparing to reopen Holy Names in downtown Memphis, Dr. McDonald came across this Crucifix. It had been stored in the attic of the school since its original closure many years earlier. When she looked up and saw this Crucifix with no arms, she believed she had found her miracle–a clear sign of her mission to lead and to embody Christ’s arms for all children in need.
The Jubilee Schools went on to graduate many young men and women, sending them on to high school and college, prepared for a successful future. The schools also offered many families hope and demonstrated that breaking the cycle of generational poverty was possible through a quality Catholic education.
This Crucifix was preserved by Holy Names principal Didier Aur and was kept at his new school, St. Ann Catholic School in Bartlett, TN. We are grateful to Bishop Steib, Dr. McDonald, Mr. Aur, the generous benefactors, and all who lived lives of service as Christ’s arms for these children and their families.
Today, we are honored to display the Crucifix at Our Lady Queen of Peace. It is prominently placed in our atrium as a reminder of this Great Commission. While we may enter a retreat period bearing the weight of the world, this visible symbol stays with us throughout our retreat. As we depart, we go back into the world refreshed, renewed, and equipped to be the arms of Christ for all His children in need.
