When Cyndy Flores-Mocarski and her husband found their perfect house in 2015 located just three blocks from St. Francis Borgia Parish, where her husband serves as a deacon, she was overjoyed.

But unbeknownst to her, a statue of Jesus given to them as housewarming gift would launch a new side ministry.

The statue wasn’t new and needed a bit of work. So what did the woman with an art degree from North Central College do? She purchased some supplies and restored it.

“Everybody who comes over is like, ‘Oh my gosh! That’s the most beautiful statue.’ And I’m like, ‘Oh, I painted it,’” she said.

Not long after she restored the statue, family friend Deacon Gene Kummerer from the former St. Pascal Parish visited the Flores-Mocarski home and saw it. His parish had a statue of St. Joseph in desperate need of repair — and St. Joseph’s feast day and the annual St. Joseph’s Table was just around the corner. The deacon asked whether she would repair the statue.

“I said, ‘Ah, I guess. Bring it over.’ And that’s how it started,” Flores-Mocarski said.

Seeing her work on display at the St. Joseph Table brought much joy, she said. The statue was surrounded by flowers, ribbons and an elaborate spread of traditional breads and foods.

“It was just nice to see everyone walking in and touching his arm and touching his feet, something that I had worked on for so many hours, you know?” she said.

Next, her parish of St. Francis Borgia asked her to restore and repaint a statue of baby Jesus, then Mary and Joseph. And the requests keep coming. 

“It’s been nonstop,” she said. “Borgia keeps me busy. All their statues are like perfectly done. They only have a couple more that they need done.”

Flores-Mocarski doesn’t have a dedicated studio, so she works on her deck or in her basement.

Restoring statues is not a quick process and Flores-Mocarski does it for free; sometimes people will donate money to cover the cost of supplies.

When parts of the statue are broken off, it takes even more time. For example, on a statue of Jesus where the nose had broken off, she had to recreate the nose using clay and plaster, molding it with a wooden chisel, letting it dry and sanding it down. The process was repeated until the nose matched the form of the face

“It could take three to four days just for molding something like a finger or a nose,” she said.

Then comes painting, which involves mixing different colors to match the original paint or using multiple layers of color to recreate the variations in hair color or clothing.

Outdoor statues need more work, since they can be covered with dirt, algae or bird droppings and must be cleaned well first.

Flores-Mocarski does all this in the evenings or on weekends because she has a full-time job and a business as an event photographer.

“I believe that we’re all called to bring people to Christ. That’s what we’re here for,” Flores-Mocarski said of her ministry.

But it isn’t always easy.

“After I first start, I’m always nervous. Like I don’t want to start,” she said. “Once I get going, I love it. I can see it. I can feel it. I know what I’m going to do. Everything works out.”

She finds inspiration with her art and knows it has the power to inspire where words might not.

“Someone can look at a picture and fall in love with Jesus or fall in love with the cross or fall in love with the church and say, ‘I want to go here. I need to find this in my life,’” she said.

Flores-Mocarski also weaved her faith into the name of her photography business INSPIR3D Photography — the number three represents the Trinity.

“I think a lot of people are visual. They have to be looking at a picture of Jesus or looking at a statue of Jesus in order to feel his presence,” she said. “I think on a day-to-day basis, people walk through life and they don’t know or realize that Jesus is right next to them or right in their heart.”