School’s bench honoring Pope Leo XIV is now in his childhood home

CHICAGO – Over the course of Thornton Township High School woodworking teacher Lamont Bibbie’s 39-year career, crafting and painting benches has become his trademark.

It started when he was in high school, Bibbie recalled recently, with him dumpster diving for construction materials.

“From that point, I connected with the art teacher and she was like, ‘I think this is going to be your journey,’ ” Bibbie said. “She’s deceased now, but she gathered me in that direction of art and woodworking and collecting works together.”

Bibbie, who is from Dixmoor, Illinois, said he struggled academically and transferred high schools several times before graduating from Thornton, the school where he now teaches other students interested in woodworking.

Almost immediately after learning last year that Robert Prevost, who grew up in Dolton, was the new pope, Bibbie said he was overwhelmed with a vision for a Pope Leo XIV bench.

“What this man has done for Dolton – he has literally put them on the map,” Bibbie said.

With the help of other Thornton Township District 205 students and teachers, Bibbie has brought his vision to life.

Two benches honoring the pope were donated to Dolton and were recently moved inside Prevost’s childhood home at 212 E. 141st Place.

“That’s almost like a miracle,” Bibbie said. “If you really want a stamp of approval, that’s it.”

Bibbie and students in his woodworking class constructed the benches from recycled wood and took design help from Amoz Wright’s graphic communications class.

The first bench shows both Pope Leo XIV and his childhood home, which was made with three-dimensional elements to indicate its importance to the pope’s story.

“The strong point of the first bench was the house,” Bibbie said.

Also symbolic to the bench was an array of dots in the background to represent the 1.4 billion Catholics the pope presides over, with red dots representing Catholic leaders in communities throughout the world.

Bibbie said he encouraged his students research Pope Leo XIV to learn more about the global relevance of his position. Bibbie himself is a spiritual leader at his church and said for inspiration, he visited Prevost’s childhood home and the nearby, now closed, church his family attended at 310 E. 137th St., Chicago.

Wright, in his second year of teaching at Thornton, said he was excited for his class to be brought onto the project. He’s a District 205 alumnus who as a professional artist creates murals that often reflect his journey with religious faith.

“For me, it was an opportunity to take a closer look at Dolton and just see some of the positivity that’s coming out of Dolton,” Wright said. “Not only being aware of the pope and how grand that title is, but allowing the students to see that something and someone so big could come from a place where we come from.”

Wright said the bench project also served as a positive introductory experience for students to collaborate not only with each other, but with another class.

“This project was one that really gave the students the opportunity to work with a client,” Wright said. “For the students to be able to prepare a piece of work for someone other than just myself, the teacher. Because in reality, if they take on this pathway as a career, it could be moments like these that just give them an edge in the working world.”

Wright’s class took the lead on painting a bench that realistically depicts the pope in the bullseye of a blue-and-white backdrop, colors that represent Dolton.

Eighteen-year-old Jamari Brumfield, one of Wright’s students, said he was proud to have painted details on the bench’s seat and legs and worked with his classmates to choose colors “to make it really stand out.”

“It’s really about getting to know different artists and learning that art isn’t just one person,” Brumfield said. “Many people come together to make art, to inspire other people who want to do art or just to inspire people in general.”

Wright said he painted the realistic depiction of Prevost’s face that was important for him to “document a moment in time,” something taught to him by his mother, who is also an artist.

“She always was big on letting us know how important it was to be a historian when you’re an artist,” Wright said. “I think this moment for me was an opportunity to reflect on … becoming a historian.”