I don't know how many of you have been following this story about artwork which had been taken from the walls of St. Joseph Apache Mission in Mescalero, NM, for unspecified reasons:
The good news is that the paintings have been returned, though some ceramic vessels are still missing. The disappearance of the artifacts was apparently an "inside job", perpetrated by the pastor, a deacon, and some K of C members..
An Indigenous image of Jesus Christ by an acclaimed iconographer has been removed from a New Mexico church for unspecified reasons, days after the U.S. bishops approved a pastoral framework for Indigenous ministry.
Painted by Franciscan Friar Robert Lentz, "Apache Christ" is an 8-foot icon depicting Jesus as a Mescalero holy man, with the inscription in Apache "giver of life." Since 1989, it had hung behind the altar of the church under a crucifix.
This image and a painting of Apache dancers by the late Apache artist Gervase Peso were taken down from the interior walls of St. Joseph Apache Mission in Mescalero, New Mexico, sometime during the evening of June 26 and the early morning hours of June 27.
The parish is located on the lands of the Mescalero Apache Tribe.
The discovery was made by parish staff and volunteers as they opened the church for use in catechetical activities on the morning of June 27, according to two parishioners with whom OSV News spoke. A St. Joseph Parish staffer who did not wish to be identified told OSV News the Peso painting had been mounted in the church's reconciliation room.
"In addition, the staffer said the icon's detailed frame, which had been crafted by New Mexico-based wood sculptor Roberto Lavadie, had been disassembled and left in a locked storage area of the church to which only the pastor, Fr. Peter Chudy Sixtus Simeon-Aguinam, had access.
Simeon-Aguinam, who is also pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Bent, New Mexico, told OSV News by telephone July 1 that he would comment next week — a statement he reiterated after OSV News asked if he could in the meantime provide any specific reason for the artworks' removal. An email sent by OSV News to the priest earlier that day went unanswered.
"A number of parishioners took to social media to report their astonishment and dismay over the sudden removal — among them, volunteer youth minister and catechist AnneMarie Brillante, who stated on a Google webpage she created for the mission parish that the icon "was taken in the middle of the night while community members recovered" from two major wildfires in mid-June that killed two and forced thousands to evacuate."
"...OSV News reached out to Deacon John Eric Munson, the chief operating officer and head of human resources for the Las Cruces Diocese who also oversees communications, but has not yet received a response to several phone and email inquiries."
"Anthony Salazar, state deputy of the New Mexico State Council of the Knights of Columbus, told OSV News by phone that regarding any Knights of Columbus who may have been involved in the icon's removal, "these gentlemen were acting on their own behalf" and "not ... in the capacity of a Knight of Columbus."
"As an organization, the Knights of Columbus — the largest Catholic fraternal organization in the world — has a Native Solidarity Initiative and is involved in promoting awareness about Native Catholics and their traditions through their "Enduring Faith" documentary and their support for the canonization of Nicholas Black Elk, a Lakota holy man and Catholic catechist. The Knights' Supreme Secretary Patrick Mason is a member of the Osage Nation."
"Brillante countered that "if [the icon] was taken off the reservation, off of federal land, without permission then that's called theft," and that the icon had been "given to the parishioners of the Mescalero Apache Tribe."
"Munson said in reply, "There is no such thing as the parishioners owning anything. The parish is a corporation ... and the parishioners are not stockholders in the corporation," and that "anything that is in that church is the church's ... and the building is the church's responsibility."
"...OSV News has contacted Lentz for comment on the icon's removal but has not yet received a response.
"However, the friar — who had previously posted a video to Facebook describing the creation of the icon, which included substantial consultation and collaboration with the Apache community — said in a statement posted on his behalf on X, formerly Twitter, that he "GAVE the icon to the Mescalero people, who then commissioned an elaborated hand-carved frame for it."
"According to this update from 'Apache Christ' returned to New Mexico church - Deacon Greg Kandra (thedeaconsbench.com) the icon has been returned. The source was OSV News."
"An Indigenous image of Jesus Christ has been returned to a New Mexico mission church, days after their sudden removal by the pastor and other individuals, according to tribe leaders and parishioners."
"The Mescalero Apache Tribe announced on its Facebook page July 3 that “it is with profound joy that we announce that the paintings take(n) from St. Joseph’s Apache Mission have been returned to the tribe and the paintings will be returned to their locations in the church.”
Reading between the lines, it sounds like the pastor and some others took it upon themselves to remove a Native American icon for being insufficiently Christian (even though it was actually an image of Christ).
But social media proved useful in the people of St. Joseph's getting the return of their pictures.
Katherine, I saw the story at the America website and was horrified. I made my comments there. I am very happy to know that the painting has been returned. The pastor’s remark that one can’t be an Apache and a Catholic was really offensive. The pastor’s name is unusual and it’s not possible to determine his cultural background from it very easily. But too many think that Jesus looked like a white European because that’s how he was painted by Europeans artists - to look like they did. Jesus was a middle- eastern Jew and it is very unlikely that he looked like a white European. Nor is it likely that Mary had pale skin and blonde hair and blue eyes. In the Christmas plays when I was a kid, one of the pretty blonde girls was always chosen to be Mary in the Christmas pageant. We brunettes ( even with pale skin and blue eyes like me) didn’t stand a chance. Yet the church accepts that Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared as an indigenous woman. Maybe this priest (in New Mexico!) has never seen an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe?
ReplyDeleteAs near as I can tell the pastor's name is Filipino. One of the articles linked a letter from the artist who painted the icon, Brother Robert Lentz, OFM.. He said he had modeled the image of Jesus after an Apache shaman or holy man. Also that he had given it to the tribe, not the parish, quite a long time ago, I think 35 years. Previous pastors had not had a problem with it, neither had bishops who had been there for Confirmations and such.
DeleteIt seems likely that the motivation was not racism, but arrogance and misguided zealotry to stamp out "paganism". Similar to the ones who chucked the Amazonian images into the Tiber a few years back.
I was glad to read that though a couple of K of C members had been involved, the organization had not been. In fact they have a Native Solidarity Initiative to promote awareness of Native Catholics and their customs.
Lentz is a pretty well-known painter. I expect that a painting of his that got stuck in a closet and forgotten about until after his death might have fetched a good price in time. I don't think making money was the intention of the pastor, but that is how art sometimes gets spirited out of churches, where it speaks to many, and into private collections, where it speaks to no one except as an investment.
ReplyDeleteI dimly recall the Chippewa Jesuit mission on the reservation up in the UP having to get some kind of special permission to hold an "Indian Mass." What all went on there was characterized by white Catholics in town as "pagan," but none of them actually went--it was discouraged on several levels--so they really couldn't honestly say. But the fact that Native people were known to hold pre-Christian spiritual beliefs (bearwalking) alongside Catholic ones led whites to freak out.
Pottery used for Communion sounds dicey unless the Bishop agreed that it was deemed "precious." The local parish here had a crystal chalice that was retired because it was not gold or silver.
I don't know that the pottery was used for Communion, might have been cruets or a lavabo bowl.
DeleteWe have a parish in the archdiocese that is a Winnebago mission. The priests who have served there asked for the assignment and consider it a privilege. I know that our previous Archbishop, Elden Curtiss, was named an honorary member of the tribe and has been very supportive of them.
It wasn't clear to me from the story how they were using the pottery.
DeleteI wasn't Catholic at the time I lived in the UP, but my boyfriend was and also worked for the tribe. He described the tribal chairman taking some little old white ladies on a tour of the cultural center one afternoon. Fairly unusual occurrence and turned out they were Methodist Ladies who had raised seed money for the center. As far as I could tell local white Catholics wanted nothing to do with the tribe.
Jean -“Pottery used for Communion sounds dicey unless the Bishop agreed that it was deemed "precious." The local parish here had a crystal chalice that was retired because it was not gold or silver.”
DeleteFor a number of years now I have been uncomfortable with the symbols of wealth and power used in the Catholic Church. Why gold? Why silver? Why silk, lace and ermine? Jesus didn’t use those things, nor did the poor fishermen and others who followed him.,
Whenever I see photos of over-gilded churches and cathedrals, or of clergy dressed like some kind of royalty I feel a bit sick inside. These things also remind me of this scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade ( skip past the ads)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGl9dBOJp9E
About 25 years ago I visited a parish in the Dominican Republic in the poorest part of the country. It had 30,000 parishioners spread out over miles of mountains. The main town was where the priest lived. It was very poor. It was connected by 30 miles of
rough road to another town where there was a small chapel. The priest said mass in both towns. He drove a big pickup with four wheel drive that could handle the road even when wet.The second town was really a village - it made the main town ( the poorest place I had ever been) look like middle class suburbia. Our Maryland parish had donated money to build a chapel in the second town.The people in some of the higher villages could more easily get to it there because it was closer to the more remote villages. Nobody had cars, or bikes, or horses or mules. (We visited one village where I rode a mule up the mountain trail) . All travel was on foot so most of then couldn’t get to mass very often . The priest would ride a horse or a mule to visit the most remote parishioners a few times each year.The chapel at the end of the thirty mile road was one of the most holy churches I’ve ever been in. Surrounded by the worst kind of poverty, - by pure squalor - it was a small jewel box of utter simplicity. No more than 15 people could be in it and they were so proud of their beautiful chapel honoring God, their own chapel. There were a few wonderful craftsmen who built it, and the chairs, altar etc. I cried when I was inside it. felt so close to God there. I never feel that in standard churches or in magnificent cathedrals. But I felt Gods presence in that tiny chapel so powerfully that tears came.
Glad to hear that both the American Bishops and the Knights have initiatives toward Native Americans. One could say too little and much, much too late, but progress is progress, i.e. going in the right direction.
ReplyDeleteSeems that the article is about the pettiness of clergy and lay leaders which we have with us always and everywhere, but hopefully not in eternity. How is God going to do that with creating either hell and/or purgatory?
So sorry to read that a deacon participated in this.
ReplyDelete