In 1969, screen-door Jesus incited religious fervor in Port Neches

[IndianFan]

In 1969, screen-door Jesus incited religious fervor in Port Neches

[...] almost 48 years ago, a reported image of Jesus on the house's screen door made the...

www.beaumontenterprise.com

 

[bandkid]

The Beaumont Enterprise did a front page story this week about a summer camp for PN-G’s journalism students.

Interesting how all of the sudden they’re rolling out positive coverage of PN-G.

 

[IndianFan]

The Surprise would do well to hire a multitude of students that go through PNG’s media program. As would the PA News. Never too many good and fair minded journalists on a local paper. Their readership is probably low thanks to their poor coverage of mid-county events. Too often when I visit the online versions I see too many mugshots of people wearing orange. Publish some positivity.

 

[bandkid]

I have to throw in a plug for the Port Arthur News. Their management is actually from Mid- and South County. They know the community and understand the locals.

The Enterprise is owned by Hearst. Hearst has a long history of hiring people from outside the area to work for the Enterprise, like the sports editor who published the editorial in 2021 calling on PN-G to change the mascot, who's from Pittsburgh. Hearst could give two sh*ts what the local community thinks - that is, until the locals start unsubscribing and calling for others to do the same on social media. Which may or may not be exactly what happened back in April.

 

[pngfanatic]

I was home from college for the summer of 1969. A couple of my buddies and I decided to check out the screen door. It was an interesting scene when we got there. It was crowded and everyone was trying to find a good position to see (and photograph) the image of Jesus. Some even climbed up in the trees in the backyard. The ground was littered with waste from Polaroid Instamatic film (the equivalent of cell phone cameras in those days). I remember one person saying he came all the way from Silsbee.

As I recall it, the Time article was a bit of a hit piece, focusing on some of the more outrageous comments. I also remember that local people were offended by the town being described as a "bleak, Gulf coast industrial town". I'm paraphrasing, but something like that.

Being irreverent college guys, we decided to make a joke. One of us (might have been me) said something about posing as screen door repairmen and taking the door in to repair the bulges in the screen. Needless to say that did NOT go over well with the people nearby who overheard us. Shortly thereafter, we decided it was a good time to leave.

For what it's worth, I only saw a lumpy screen.