St. Joseph Apache Mission Church

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St. Joseph Apache Mission Church
St. Joseph's Mescalero.jpg
Altar of St. Joseph's Church, in 1975
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Location626 Mission Trail, Mescalero, New Mexico
Coordinates 33°9′24″N105°46′3″W / 33.15667°N 105.76750°W / 33.15667; -105.76750
Arealess than one acre
Built1920-39
ArchitectWilliam C. Stanton
Architectural style Late Gothic Revival
Website sites.google.com/stjosephapachemission.org/stjosephapachemission/about?authuser=0
NRHP reference No. 04001588 [1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHPFebruary 1, 2005
Designated NMSRCPJune 11, 2004

The St. Joseph Apache Mission Church is a historic Catholic parish church at 626 Mission Trail in Mescalero, New Mexico, United States. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005. [1] Its parishioners are mostly members of the Mescalero Apache tribe. [2]

Contents

Exterior in 2013 St. Joseph Apache Mission.jpg
Exterior in 2013

The church was built upon the stone floor of a prehistoric Jornada Mogollon-culture ruin, estimated to date from 200 to 1400. [3] It was designed in Late Gothic Revival style by Philadelphia architect William C. Stanton. [3] Priest Albert Braun oversaw construction beginning in the 1920s. [2]

The altar of the church features Apache Christ , an 8-foot painting, executed by Franciscan friar Robert Lentz in 1989, that depicts Christ as a Mescalero holy man greeting the sun atop Sierra Blanca; inscriptions around the painting are in both Apache and Greek. [2] In 2024, the Diocese of Las Cruces removed the icon, a smaller work showing Native dancers, and ceramic chalices and baskets donated by the local Pueblo community for use in serving the Eucharist. The removal touched off a debate within the Catholic Church regarding inculturation and the melding of Apache and Catholic traditions. [2] The diocese restored the works after their removal angered Apache parishioners; after the works were reinstalled, Bishop Peter Baldacchino met with the parish council. [2]

See also

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<i>Apache Christ</i> 1989 painting by Robert Lentz

Apache Christ is a painting depicting Jesus as a Mescalero holy man. Created in 1989 by American Franciscan friar Robert Lentz, the 8-foot (2.4 m) icon is displayed in the altar of the St. Joseph Apache Mission Church, a Catholic church in the U.S. state of New Mexico with parishioners who are mostly Mescalero Apache. In the painting, Jesus is depicted atop Sierra Blanca, a New Mexico mountain range, greeting the rising sun after performing a sacred puberty ritual.

References

  1. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Deepa Bharath, Apache Christ icon controversy sparks debate over Indigenous Catholic faith practices, Associated Press (July 27, 2024).
  3. 1 2 Mary M. Serna; James W. Steely (March 2004). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: St. Joseph Apache Mission Church / St. Joseph Apache Mission; LA 20723". National Park Service . Retrieved February 4, 2019. With accompanying six photos from 2004

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