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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. Its parishioners are mostly members of the Mescalero Apache tribe.Deepa Bharath
Apache Christ icon controversy sparks debate over Indigenous Catholic faith practices
Associated Press (July 27, 2024).
The church was built upon the stone floor of a prehistoric Jornada Mogollon culture, Mogollon-culture ruin, estimated to date from 200 to 1400. It was designed in Gothic Revival architecture, Late Gothic Revival style by Philadelphia architect William C. Stanton. With Priest Albert Braun oversaw construction beginning in the 1920s.
The altar of the church features ''Apache Christ'', an 8-foot painting, executed by Franciscan friar Robert Lentz in 1989, that Depiction of Jesus, depicts Christ as a Mescalero holy man greeting the sun atop Sierra Blanca (New Mexico), Sierra Blanca; inscriptions around the painting are in both Apache language, Apache and Greek language, Greek. In 2024, the Diocese of Las Cruces removed the Religious icon, 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. The diocese restored the works after their removal angered Apache parishioners; after the works were reinstalled, Bishop Peter Baldacchino met with the Pastoral council, parish council.
Apache Christ icon controversy sparks debate over Indigenous Catholic faith practices
Associated Press (July 27, 2024).
The church was built upon the stone floor of a prehistoric Jornada Mogollon culture, Mogollon-culture ruin, estimated to date from 200 to 1400. It was designed in Gothic Revival architecture, Late Gothic Revival style by Philadelphia architect William C. Stanton. With Priest Albert Braun oversaw construction beginning in the 1920s.
The altar of the church features ''Apache Christ'', an 8-foot painting, executed by Franciscan friar Robert Lentz in 1989, that Depiction of Jesus, depicts Christ as a Mescalero holy man greeting the sun atop Sierra Blanca (New Mexico), Sierra Blanca; inscriptions around the painting are in both Apache language, Apache and Greek language, Greek. In 2024, the Diocese of Las Cruces removed the Religious icon, 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. The diocese restored the works after their removal angered Apache parishioners; after the works were reinstalled, Bishop Peter Baldacchino met with the Pastoral council, parish council.
See also
*National Register of Historic Places listings in Otero County, New MexicoReferences
External links
20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States Buildings and structures in Otero County, New Mexico Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in New Mexico Mescalero Apache National Register of Historic Places in Otero County, New Mexico Roman Catholic Diocese of Las Cruces Roman Catholic churches completed in 1939 Roman Catholic churches in New Mexico {{NewMexico-NRHP-stub