“We’re not just a church, we’re not just a religion – we have roots.”
CORDOVA, New Mexico — Ever since missionaries started building churches out of mud 400 years ago in what was the isolated frontier of the Spanish empire, tiny mountain communities like Cordova relied on their own resources to keep the faith going.
From the local dirt they’re made of to the generations of family memories they hold, these churches anchor a uniquely New Mexican way of life for their communities, many of which no longer have schools or stores, and struggle with chronic poverty and addiction. Fidel Trujillo is mayordomo of the pink-stuccoed San José church in the hamlet of Ledoux where he grew up. With his wife and other family members, he keeps it spotless even though only two Masses per year are celebrated here regularly.
In the small town of Bernalillo, Catholic faithful have kept a vow to St. Lawrence for more than 300 years that includes one family each year setting up an altar with his image in their home – and making it available 24/7 to anyone who wants to pray.Her home is near the historic adobe Santuario de San Lorenzo, which the community fought to keep even though a larger church was built next door.
“Saints are the spiritual go-to; they can be highly powerful,” said Victor Goler, a master santero who just completed conserving the altarpieces, or “reredos,” in Las Trampas’ mid-18th century church. “It’s important for the community to have a connection. Their feeling is a lot deeper and that’s what keeps it going.”
He also helped conserve the colorful, centuries-old reredos at the local church, where many children come back for traditional Christmas and Easter prayers – giving both Sandovals hope that the younger generations will learn to be attached to their church. The archdiocese’s Catholic Foundation provides small grants, and several organizations have been founded to help conservation efforts.
When volunteers started fundraising for the mission in Truchas, the community suspected it would be turned into an art gallery, said mayordoma Aggie Vigil. They came around when she shared the dream to make the old adobe church, then unstable and infested with gophers, viable for Mass again.
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Dust to dust? New Mexicans fight to save old adobe churchesWith congregations dwindling and villages emptying out, maintaining hundreds of historic adobe churches – made with mud and straw centuries ago – is a daunting challenge across rural New Mexico
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Dust to dust? New Mexicans fight to save old adobe churchesWith congregations dwindling and villages emptying out, maintaining hundreds of historic adobe churches – made with mud and straw centuries ago – is a daunting challenge across rural New Mexico
Baca lebih lajut »
Dust to dust? New Mexicans fight to save old adobe churchesWith congregations dwindling and villages emptying out, maintaining hundreds of historic adobe churches – made with mud and straw centuries ago – is a daunting challenge across rural New Mexico. Community leaders who are the churches’ caretakers in the absence of regular clergy are trying to save them because they represent a crucial center of faith, family and cultural traditions for their struggling hamlets. But as youth leave in droves, their ranks are thinning, putting a unique faith and social culture under threat.
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Dust to dust? New Mexicans fight to save old adobe churchesWith congregations dwindling and villages emptying out, maintaining hundreds of historic adobe churches – made with mud and straw centuries ago – is a daunting challenge across rural New Mexico.
Baca lebih lajut »
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