Catholic Sports Camps: https://www.catholicsportscamps.org

Theme song: “Rock Star” by John Ehrich. Used with permission.

Father Oliver Curran, who served in the Diocese of Gallup for many years, passed away peacefully on Thursday, June 4, 2026 surrounded by the love & prayers of the Northern Nevada Catholic Community.

The following arrangements have been made. All are welcome:

• A funeral Mass will be celebrated by Bishop Mueggenborg at Our Lady of Tahoe in Zephyr Cove, NV, at 10:00am on July 31^st

• In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Diocese of Reno Seminarian Fund

• The family is making arrangements for early October, in Ireland, where Father will be laid to rest with his parents & siblings. If you would like details when they become available please email cristi@cocadence.com with subject line ‘Curran Ireland’

In the Diocese of Gallup, Fr. Curran served from 1976 to 2004 in many assignments, including Farmington, Holbrook, Quemado, San Mateo, and Winslow.

He had recently celebrated his Golden Jubilee:

Arizona Catholic Conference Legislative Wrap-Up

“In total, over 2,100 pieces of legislation were introduced which is the most in state history. 264 bills were signed into law and 151 of them vetoed.

“The political situation at the Capitol continues to be divided, especially in what could be a pivotal election year. For its part, the Arizona Catholic Conference (ACC) is grateful that the most problematic bills again failed to pass, while several positive measures were approved into law.”

Read the full story here

St. Kateri Feast Day Mass

All are invited to the annual St. Kateri Feast Day Mass, celebrated by Bishop Wall!

The Mass will be held on Tuesday, July 14, 2026, 6:30 PM, MDT at Mary, Mother of Mankind Parish in St. Michaels, AZ. A reception will follow in the parish hall.

V8s for Vocations Raffle Ending Soon

Don’t forget to purchase your raffle tickets to win the 1962 Chevy Corvette convertible and support this important mission! The winning ticket will be hand drawn on Saturday, July 25, 2026 in Gallup, NM.

Proceeds support seminarian education in the Diocese of Gallup. See photos, get more information, and purchase tickets online at www.v8sforvocations.org.

If you or someone at your parish are interested in donating a classic V8 car or truck to support this program, please contact the Catholic Peoples Foundation at (505) 726-8295.

Have an event, announcement, or news item you’d like promoted throughout the Diocese? Email media@dioceseofgallup.org or call 505-863-4406.

“I don’t remember the last time I prayed. I don’t know if anybody was listening, but I was just like, ‘be there for those people that lost their babies’”, she recalls. “It breaks my heart - I just think about the pain [they] were going through. And that was the catalyst - like, I prayed, and then my baby’s here, and she’s safe. And now I get to take her.”

Later that year, Jones and her family began taking classes to enter the Catholic Church.

They are just a few of the new surge of converts across the United States who are entering the Church in numbers not seen in many years - and Jones’s reasons for entering are similar to many other converts in the Diocese of Gallup, which is also experiencing a huge conversion upswell.

In 2024, there were 38 new converts across all parishes in the Diocese - this year, there were 50 from Sacred Heart Cathedral alone; Sacred Heart Parish in Farmington and parishes in the White Mountains of Arizona also reported large increases. Many rural Diocesan parishes had one or two or four, when there had been none in previous years.

This swell of interest in the Catholic Church is making headlines all across the country, with many wanting to know - why now? Why are so many people suddenly turning up at the doors of their local parish, wanting to become Catholic?

The ten converts and catechumens spoken to for this story are a small sample size of the hundreds who entered the Church this Easter, but many of them give similar answers. Some, like Jones, began thinking about big human questions and challenges - why am I here? Is there any point to life if we all die? - after a major life event.

Jackie Chavira of Grants, NM, who grew up as a Jehovah’s Witness and then followed no religion for many years, began to explore Catholicism after meeting her Catholic fiance.

“Things feel like they’re getting more permanent, like, I’m gonna be getting married this year. We’re blending our family. And I opened a business, so I’m running a business now. I want God to be at the center of everything that we’re building.”

Others, like Courtney Elkins of Grants, NM, began to go to Mass because their children attend a local Catholic School.

“My kids have gone to St. Teresa [School] since they were in first grade and Kindergarten. And so they really wanted to become baptized into the church. And I started going every Thursday because they read and they sing in the choir on Thursdays for Mass. I think it’s brought us closer together as a family.”

But why Catholicism in particular, as opposed to a Protestant church or non-Christian religion?

Many of the converts said they had attended a Catholic Church at some point when they were young and then stopped going, or they had a family member who was Catholic.

“I was baptized Catholic, a long time ago, and when I was a kid I was doing the First Communion classes with my aunt,” Jones said. “My parents were cradle Catholic, and I think they left the religion for personal reasons, and it just didn’t seem like they wanted me to be a Catholic. It really felt like there was a pull between what my aunt wanted, and what my parents wanted for me, and I ended up not going, and for a long time just didn’t want to be very religious at all.”

After the birth of her daughter, Catholicism was the religion that called to her.

“I have been to different kinds of churches. And I just never felt the way that I felt in the Catholic Church in any of the other ones,” she said. “I remembered how I was just calm and peaceful going to church with my aunt, and I looked at my husband, and said I would love to go to Mass, He looked at me like I was crazy, but he was fully supportive, kind of like, ‘who are you, what have you done with my wife?’” she laughs. “And I went, and I have those same feelings - peace, love - and the next day I called the office, and said I want to get my sacraments.”

William and Natalie Morris and their children are entering the Church - with little to no experience of Catholicism prior to their conversion. William, an attorney who also attended training to become a member of the Army’s Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps, was impressed by his Catholic classmates.

“In August of ‘24 I started in the JAG pipeline. My roommate was Catholic - he had previously gone to seminary before he left and ended up in the Army. I just watched a lot of the other members of the class that happened to be Catholic, and I saw that they weren’t who I was, but they were who I would want my kid to think I was.”

After training, his roommate encouraged him to go to Mass at the Cathedral in Gallup.

“So I talked to my wife about it. And we drove down there, sat in the car together and talked about it. And called [about classes] from the parking lot of the Cathedral,” he remembers. “I’m also working on the reservation. I saw a lot of what was happening on the reservation and with federal funding. And I thought - between my experience with the Catholic members of my class, and the federal withdrawal of funding and the need for social services - it seemed like the only way to meaningfully be a part of that conversation was to join the Church.”

His wife Natalie remembers feeling a bit intimidated to go to Mass for the first time.

“I think I had a lot of preconceived notions about what the Catholic Church was - priests, nuns - and I was like, it’s kind of scary. I was scared, and I walked into the [Cathedral] entryway right there, and I could not [go further]. I was just like, tears, the whole time. I couldn’t stop crying. I just felt overwhelmed and maybe not worthy. I think it is a good sign. And even to this day I still cry a lot at the Mass. I’m like, when does this stop?” she laughs.

Their two daughters have now been baptized and are attending Catholic school.

“That’s just amazing, too. I never thought I’d be raising them in a faith. It just wasn’t a thing that I could see in the future. And now I’m like, I can’t believe we weren’t going to do this! We might not have done this!”

Betsy Perez of Shiprock, NM, also feels a sense of calm and peace when she attends Mass. She attended church when she was young but had never been baptized - a step she’s now rectifying.

“I feel really good coming back out of there. The Holy Spirit’s in the church and the angels are in there, too. So I love the feeling of what goes over my body [in Church].”

She started attending again after feeling distress at news headlines.

“Everything is happening around us and I think it’s better to go back to church now to be on the safe side - like the war, everything. I just want to be in the good Lord’s hands.”

Another large draw to Catholicism for the new converts are the Church’s ancient traditions and teachings.

Janice Welch of Gallup, NM, was formerly a member of the Episcopal Church.

“But lately, the Episcopal Church is going in a direction I don’t really like. So I decided to convert, [to Catholicism]” she said. “And then the big thing was, I went to Italy, went to the Vatican. I mean, history, you know? My family’s Italian. So it just felt right.”

She has also grown to love the Catholic Church’s veneration of Mary - something Jackie Chavira also cites.

“Like, there’s all kinds of saints! You know, Jehovah’s Witnesses, they don’t [have that]. It’s one God and that’s it. But Catholicism, you have the Virgin Mary - people adore her. She’s Jesus’ mom! And then you have Saint Michael. Saint Michael has a lot of fans. I’ve been reading up on him. I found it beautiful, you know, that you can believe in a saint, that you can pray to the saints to just kind of get you a little bit closer to God.”

Calvigh Jones often finds herself turning to Mary as well.

“I think the biggest thing for me that pulled me into the Catholic Church was Mary and being able to pray the rosary. I started going to Mass in October and then very shortly after that, looked up how to pray the rosary and started praying it. I think it’s a beautiful thing to have this heavenly mother that you can talk to and you can go to,” she said. “When I would read about her, it would say that she sits with Jesus and she talks to him about us and speaks about us on our behalf. And that was just a beautiful thing to me, to be able to come to her and cry to her. I keep a little rosary in my car and when my kids are screaming and we have ten minutes until we go, I’ll just take that and start praying, like ‘Mary, help me!’” She laughs, recalling these common instances of quick prayer.

Finally, several of the new converts mentioned that their fellow Catholics community are a huge benefit.

“Being in the church praying, being accepted into a community - I feel like the world has just gotten a little bit crazy, unpredictable. And I feel like, you know, at the end of everything, you always want to go back to your faith,” Elkins said.

“We’ve only lived here for about six years. And the first half of it was all COVID. So I really only feel like I’ve been branching out and meeting people for the last like two, three years,” said Natalie Morris. “And it’s gone from this very small pool to all of a sudden, just like, dozens of people. A lot of people don’t want to actually be the village, but they want the village. But I feel like these people actually want to be part of the village.”

Her husband William is also incredibly grateful for his fellow parishioners at the Cathedral.

“It makes a substantial difference. Whether it’s the school and the church or just the church, the community is strong. I think there are very few problems that you can’t address with the help of the people around you.”

And at the end of the day, all have found the consolation, the peace, and the purpose they have been seeking - perhaps their entire lives.

“It’s been really amazing because I would always say, well, I’m more spiritual, I’m not religious, this that and the other,” said Natalie Morris. “But I never believed that you believe in nothing. Like even if you believe in nothing, you believe in something. I feel like just being in the presence of the church, there’s just something about that. You know, they talk about that. You can feel a difference when you walk in. From being outside, just walking and sitting down and you’re just sort of in awe, if you really pay attention. And then my kids are pretty funny because when they’re doing the incense, they’re like, ‘the angels are here. Jesus is in here!’”

“Without religion, what gives you purpose? What gives you the strength to keep living and loving?” Chavira asks. “And if it’s one thing God teaches, it’s love: love your neighbor, love yourself, love God. If you don’t believe in God or if you don’t have a religion, what is there to believe in, then? What’s left?”

A Closer Look At the Numbers

By Suzanne Hammons

For this story, I spoke to ten converts and around 20 parish catechists and staff. One of the big Catholic stories of 2026 is the large increase in people seeking to become Catholic, and everyone - from bishops to secular media outlets - wants to know why. After all, if we can figure out the reason, in hard data, maybe we can point to certain evangelization efforts that will help us to convert more people in the future.

But, after a bit of digging - and I want to make it clear that I am no statistician or evangelist, just a reporter - I would argue that there is no “new” reason that people are seeking to convert - human nature has not changed since the days of Christ and the early Apostles, and the same hunger of the human heart for the Divine drives people to the Catholicism in modern times as it did when the Church was young.

In the New Testament, people are driven to repentance and conversion through the grace of the Holy Spirit and an encounter with Jesus Himself. Later, the Holy Spirit and Christ in the Eucharist remain, but it is the Apostles and disciples who go out to all corners of the world.

Most of the converts I spoke to for this story noted - maybe without realizing it - this dual encounter with the human and the divine. Many of them first learned of Catholicism at some point in their lives from another person - a friend, relative, staff at the Catholic School their children attend, etc. It’s notable that the Catholics they knew were not silent and passive about their faith, but proud of it and willing to evangelize. This initial contact was what first cracked open the door. Then, it is Christ who knocks (Rev. 3:20) and the Holy Spirit who pours out consolation and peace.

Humans are prideful, and the pleasures of the world are many, so it is all too easy to become complacent and to tell ourselves that we are happy - St. Thomas Aquinas noted that wealth, honor, fame, and glory are common subsitutes for God. But none of us, despite our best efforts, can escape illness, suffering, and death.

Many of those I spoke to described a major life event, such as the birth of a child, a divorce, or death of a loved one, that left them grappling with very real, eternal questions - why does any of this matter? Why do we have to suffer? What’s the point, if we all due and then experience oblivion?

They then recall the Catholics they know or once knew - how they were joyous, fulfilled, or virtuous. And I was surprised at how many of the converts described an almost immediate sense of overwhelming peace and consolation upon entering a Catholic Church for the first time, or attending Mass.

Really, as a lifelong Catholic - I shouldn’t be surprised. It’s very easy to take this great gift of the faith for granted, to daydream, to downplay our faith to others. But in speaking to these converts -and, I hope, in reading their stories - we can all be reminded of the incredible, beautiful reality that the Creator of the universe loves us, deeply and completely, and that whether we were born into the Faith or came into it in 2026, He awaits us and is present to us, ready to give our lives peace and meaning.

Theme song: "Rock Star" by John Ehrich. Used with permission.

Catholics of the Diocese are welcome to join us at about 7:00pm in Gallup at the Cathedral, following Solemn Vespers, in person or in spirit. The consecration prayer is as follows:

O Most Sacred Heart of Jesus:

You know the longings of our hearts, and you desire that we enjoy friendship with you.

From your pierced side, you have poured out the wellspring of life, for which we thirst.

Your heart burns with a love for all people to return to a right relationship with you.

We celebrate the abundant gifts you have given this nation, founded on the self-evident truths that our Creator has endowed all people with the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

We make reparation for the offenses against you and against human dignity that have taken place in this nation.

May our hearts be united to yours, so that our families and communities enjoy peace and happiness; may broken relationships be reconciled, injustices repaired, and the wounds of our land be healed.

May your holy Catholic Church serve as a sign, pointing all people to your infinite love.

O Desire of Nations and Center of History, we ask you to bless these United States of America.

Who live and reign with God the Father

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!

Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!

Voice: Let’s talk about the Spanish Market first. Can you give an overview of its history?

Jerry Montoya: Basically, what I was trying to do was to reintroduce or to educate people about the traditional Spanish Colonial art that is our tradition. Most of the people that are in New Mexico of Hispanic [descent], basically came from the North, from Santa Fe and that area. Since then they’ve spread out through the state. And a lot of them, from what I can see, were losing our culture because we moved away from the area where our families first grew up. The majority of us were Catholics. And the santeros and the saints were a big part of our culture.

What inspired you to start a Spanish Market over in the west part of New Mexico?

Well, at first, I had started out as just a regular artist. I was not a Spanish artist or Hispanic artist. Through some of the art shows that I had been participating in, I reconnected with some of my friends that were doing the santero work. And I really got into it. At one point, here in Grants, 30 years ago, they wanted to have a celebration. And they wanted some Hispanic artists to show, but there were only like two or three Hispanic artists here in Grants. And so I decided, okay, I’ll go for it. They wanted to make this an ongoing thing.

But the next year, they said, “well, we’re not going to do it anymore, because there’s a lack of interest”. And I’m going, “lack of interest? What do you mean?” One of the people said, well, if you want a Hispanic art show, then you do it. I called up a few Santero artists that I’d been in touch with and made friends with, and they decided, heck yeah, we will come over [to Gallup].

Most of the artists that I was talking to were [Santa Fe] Spanish Market artists. As far as being a Spanish Market artist, you have to do traditional Spanish Colonial art. Now, there are books written about the traditional art, you know, in the Spanish Colonial Period, and we try to follow those rules and the way things were done as close as possible.

That’s basically what the Spanish Market’s about. It’s a very unique art. It’s one of a kind. There’s nothing like it around anywhere. So I try to continue that tradition.

How did you first discover that you wanted to be an artist?

My father was a musician. And I think his grandfather was a musician. They were artists. Most of this stuff is art that’s been passed down from generation to generation. The history is what kind of intrigued me about this.

How did you come to settle on the santero art versus some other subject?

I used to do a couple of shows out of Santa Fe and Albuquerque. They were Hispanic and they were contemporary. And at that point, I met a couple of artists who did the santero work. And at that point, I thought, “oh, I kind of like this”. I really, really liked in school, studying the Renaissance. Most of the art that started back in the day came from the Church - Michelangelo and Da Vinci, they all did church art.

And then, studying the history, I figured out, this is my history, this is not something from a distant land. This is the history of my people, of my family. So that kind of struck home.

How would you say that your faith informs your art?

Well, from generation to generation, and even visiting my family back in Las Vegas and Pecos, they always followed the culture that they had, and it was mainly in the Catholic church. Being Catholic back in the north - that’s the culture. It’s all rooted in Catholicism.

Renaissance artists often had favorite Bible stories and favorite saints. Do you have a particular favorite?

Well, my middle name is Francis. In Spanish it’s Francisco. So St. Francis has always been my patron saint. To this day, you know, the prayer to St. Francis, you know, “Make me an instrument of Your peace.” I’ve always kind of followed that. Even when I go to squash a bug or something, I think, “Oh, wait a minute. Don’t do that!” laughs “That’s a living thing”, you know.

And then of course, Our Lady of Guadalupe. I’m really a big fan. I do a lot of Our Lady of Guadalupe. She’s very popular. Mainly because she is the patron saint of Hispanic and Indigenous peoples. And of the Americas, really.

You work a lot with tin - is that your favorite medium to use?

In the Spanish Market, we have to jury into a category. And there are, oh, I don’t even know how many categories - you have bultos, retablos, tin, straw, jewelry. Right now I am juried into five. Which is quite a bit, really. But I’ve always thought, being an artist, you should be able to do everything.

I started out like everybody else - drawing and painting. And then from there, I was a sculpture student in college.

I used to have a friend from Santa Fe. He was a very good tin smith - one of the best in Santa Fe. And he would sit there and he would demonstrate. And he said, you might need to know this, to want to do some tin someday.

Actually, with my retablos, I wanted something to frame them, something traditional. So that’s when I first started doing the tinwork. And it just grew from there. I had other friends who were doing the tinwork, but all their tinwork looked the same. And I thought, well, I want to do something different.

I didn’t discover it, but I reinvented, I guess, the process of repoussé - in Spanish it’s called repujado - which is basically embossing. After I learned how to emboss it, I thought, it’s too shiny - it’s taking away from the retablos, from the paint. I had to come up with a way to tone it down, so I came up with a patina that I use to make it look old, really.

Later on, I learned that there are artists that used to paint and patina their tinwork. When you’re in the Spanish Market, if you come up with something new, you have to prove to the market that it is traditional.

Yeah, that makes sense.

And you have to show them in writing or research that this is a traditional art form. So I basically did that. I don’t really do, you know, the type of tinwork that people use every day - like tin cups, or sconces, or mirrors or things like that. My stuff I consider mainly artwork.

And I’ve always wanted to move on into other metal forms like silver, jewelry. Eventually a friend of mine who was a jeweler got me started with the jewelry. And I taught myself how to repoussé on the jewelry, on the silver, which is actually a traditional art form from Spanish colonial days also. So my silver work or my jewelry, in the market, it’s called “Precious Metals”. It’s the art form.

And then after that, my wife was sick. My wife died of cancer about five years ago, and I had to take care of her. I was visiting one of my santero friends from Old Town in Albuquerque and we were talking about what we were doing. And I said, well, I can’t really do a bunch because I’m taking care of my wife. And he said, “if you show me how to do a little bit of your tin work, I’ll show you how to carve”. He was a very good carver of bultos.

He said, “the reason it would be good for you is because you could sit there and carve on a piece of wood”, because most of my time was basically just sitting with my wife.

After that, it kind of took off. I really enjoyed carving because it’s kind of a form of meditation. It does take a while.

Plus, you’re learning about the iconography of all the saints that were popular in New Mexico, so you’re still in the culture, you’re studying about the saints, and praying to them while you’re carving.

I don’t know if you’ve ever been to Santa Fe or Taos, where you see the bultos, they’re in all the old churches.

I didn’t realize tin was something that was localized - you could find it here in New Mexico?

Actually, the tinwork really isn’t a colonial art. It was after the colonization, when the Army first started going through New Mexico, they were eating their rations in tin cans. They would throw their tin cans alongside the road.

And then the poor Indigenous people and the Hispanic people, they would pick up the tins and say, “wow, what can you do with this?”

And the first thing they did was, they would stick a candle in it because at nighttime, it was kind of hard to hold a candle - it would melt the hot wax on your hands. They would poke holes in the can for more light, and eventually they would poke a design on it. And that’s how that started.

But it did have its roots in New Mexico and the tin, it actually came from Mexico, along the New Mexico border in El Paso and Juarez. In that area, there were a bunch of tin mines.

They used to use tin for a lot of different things back in the day, because it was a fairly easy material to get and you could construct things out of it.

So that’s where that art form came from.

What’s one of your favorite pieces you’ve ever made?

Oh, wow, that’s kind of hard. I guess one of the ones that really sticks out all the time to me is, I did a four foot cross with tin on it that was painted like a retablo that was a commission for a church in Texas. I had never done anything like that before. The town is half in Texas and half in Mexico. [Laredo]

I got to use pretty much all the skills that I had learned in tin work and painting retablos and sculpture, because it was a three dimensional piece.

Right now I’m doing a processional cross, which has got a carved Cristo on it, for Gallup, for the Cathedral.

And also right now I was asked to do the Stations of the Cross for a little church in Tomé.

Anything else you wanted to add?

I’ve really enjoyed doing this type of work. I always try to tell people that it’s like a trifecta of art. This is history, tradition, culture.

The Sacred Heart Spanish Market will run on Friday, June 6th from 6-9:00 PM, and on Saturday, June 7th from 10am-4:00pm. The location is the family center at 555 S. Woodrow Dr., next to Sacred Heart Cathedral in Gallup.

“Look at that! That’s the greatest light since the Star of Bethlehem! That’s the light of freedom! Remember that. Freedom.”

Francesco, better known today as Frank Capra, would grow up to become one of the most influential filmmakers of all time - almost everyone is familiar with his 1946 movie It’s a Wonderful Life.

But Capra’s films merit a much deeper appreciation than background reruns around the Christmas season. Like his own life story, they represent the best of American optimism.

I admit that I’ve been feeling quite down about the state of the world lately, and especially our country. The news is filled with stories of unjust wars, corrupt politicians, a swift rise in the prioritization of machines and A.I. over human well-being, and political polarization. But these issues are not new. Americans throughout all generations have grappled with evils from their own countrymen - slavery, genocide of Indigenous peoples, and segregation, to name a few - and faced existential threats from within and without. And time after time, it is people of conscience and courage who have faced and fought these threats.

Born dirt-poor in Italy in 1897 and growing up working numerous rough odd jobs in America as an immigrant, Capra would have been well aware of how hard life could be for the common man, and eventually, after breaking into the motion picture business, his most famous films would come to depict and extol everyday American optimism and virtue. He was once told by a friend:

“The talents you have, Mr. Capra, are not your own, not self-acquired. God gave you those talents; they are his gifts to you, to use for his purpose.”

And use them he did. Consider Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, where a young, optimistic scout leader named Jefferson Smith is selected as a replacement for a U.S. Senator, because powerful political donors believe he’ll be easy to manipulate. Ultimately, Smith is successful in exposing political corruption and backdoor dealing - a happy ending, but one that sadly seems unlikely in reality. In You Can’t Take It With You, a movie about a happy-go-lucky family who consider themselves like the “lilies of the field”, a wealthy Wall Street banker ultimately fails in his plot to form a munitions monopoly after the family successfully unite their neighbors in refusing to sell their land. Here again, the antagonist experiences a full change of heart -a happy if slightly unbelievable ending.

Following the end of World War 2, Capra would make his most famous film - It’s a Wonderful Life. Perhaps because of the atrocities he witnessed - Capra would direct many propaganda shorts for the United States military - this film feels like his most thoughtful and mature work. Here, notably, there is no change of heart from the film’s antagonist, the wealthy Mr. Potter, who remains stubborn and sinful. But Capra’s inherent belief in goodness remains. Main character George Bailey is a decent man, and with the aid of a benevolent God and the humble support of his family and neighbors, this decency and integrity is what prevails.

It is human nature for power and wealth to corrupt, and for our hallowed halls of government to be ruled by those who incline towards tyranny and oppression. But great art can remind us of great truths - namely, that honesty, piety, compassion, and love for one’s neighbor are the true ideals we should celebrate, especially as our country nears its 250th birthday.

“The poor you will always have with you”, Jesus tells us, and these words are reflected by great American artists like Capra, who, as he matured, would take his Catholic faith more and more seriously.

“The more uncertain are the people of the world, the more their hard-won freedoms are scattered and lost in the winds of chance, the more they need a ringing statement of America’s democratic ideals,” he once said. “Mankind needed dramatizations of the truth that man is essentially good, a living atom of divinity; that compassion for others, friend or foe, is the noblest of all virtues. Films must be made to say these things, to counteract the violence and the meanness, to buy time to demobilize the hatreds.”

If you, like me, love the America that invented baseball, that established National Parks, that sent the first men to the moon, that liberated the death camps of World War 2 and marched in the streets for the Civil Rights movement, then I urge you to visit or revisit movies like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington or You Can’t Take It With You or It Happened One Night. As actor and director John Cassavetes one noted:

“Maybe there really wasn’t an America, it was only Frank Capra.”

“The Typical American”

Moving now to paintings and drawings, any discussion of great American art must include. Norman Rockwell. I can’t understand those who dismiss his artwork as “kitsch” or “banal”, as Vladimir Nobokov once wrote.

Like Capra, Rockwell’s work often captures the idealistic version of America that we share as a sort of common myth - he illustrated editions of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, was commissioned for portraits of presidents including Dwight Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy, and contributed paintings for the annual Boy Scouts’ calendar.

But also like Capra, Rockwell merits a second, deeper look - because he was an artist who was unafraid to depict the evils and struggles faced by everyday Americans: racism, poverty, war, and so on. Consider his painting The Problem We All Live With, which depicts 6-year-old African-American girl Ruby Bridges being escorted to school by U.S. Marshals in 1960, due to threats from her neighbors who opposed desegregation. Or Murder in Mississippi, a painting of the murders of Civil Rights activists (for a further look at this event, I highly recommend the movie Mississippi Burning).

His portraits of normal people, too, are deeply moving. One of my favorites shows a farmer, trying to hide his emotions, awaiting the train that will take his son to college and away from home for the first time.

“Without thinking too much about it in specific terms, I was showing the America I knew and observed to others who might not have noticed. My fundamental purpose is to interpret the typical American. I am a story teller,” Rockwell once said.

The “typical Americans” embodied in the paintings of Rockwell and in the films of Capra are fundamentally noble and worth promoting, and it is through art like theirs that we are urged to remember our common virtues, and to live out Christ’s command to love one another.

Sister Mary’s parents were James and Genevieve Fisher, Sister Mary grew up in New York attending St. Mary’s grade school, Guardian Angel School, and graduated from high school in 1959, from Catholic Central High in Troy, NY. She was always proud of her interest in nursing and received a Nursing diploma from the St. Mary’s Hospital School of Nursing in 1962.

Sister Mary would recall that one of her favorite sports was the Ski Patrol. Once at the end of the day when the ski lifts were shut down, there was a distant voice that she heard, two kids were lost, down the mountain. She and her partner were able to talk them up the mountain. The parents were called and were so thankful. Sister Mary was totally relieved.

Her travels were many; in fact, all over the world: Rome, Fatima, Portugal, Great Britain, Australia, Tanzania, Africa, Mexico, California, Hawaii, Washington, DC.

Her journey of monastic life began with Holy Trinity Monastery in Arizona, for eight years, which is now Holy Trinity Diocesan Retreat Center.

Sister Mary then met Sister Benedicta Serna at the Monastic Institute at St. John’s Abbey, Collegeville, Minnesota, and subsequently, joined Sister Benedicta in Santa Cruz, NM, on March 8, 1993, only three years after the founding of Our Lady of the Desert. Those early years meant many trips back and forth to the Monastery of Christ in the Desert, Abiquiu, NM, to learn about Benedictine formation. Their life together was graced with perseverance and hope. Even Sister Mary’s cats, Moses and Jerry, seemed to thrive. There was a story about how Jerry got lost and believe it or not, after a few weeks he found his way back to the monastery, happy and healthy.

During the early history of the Monastery of Our Lady of the Desert, Sister Mary was the pillar and basic love of living the monastic life amidst the challenges of beginning a new monastery with Sister Benedicta.

They both survived those early years and maintained their living by weaving. Throughout the years, Sister Mary served as Liturgist (always loved the psalms), Secretary to Chapter and Council, formation, archivist, Newsletter contributions, Nursing, and responded to prayer requests. Her love of crafts included making yarn Christmas angels, jewelry, cards, Rosary bracelets, and most recently, iconography and bead embroidery.

Together with Mother Julianne (transfer of vows), Sister Benedicta and Sister Hilda, Sister Mary made perpetual monastic profession on February 2, 2005. When the sisters moved from the property of Christ in the Desert, to Gobernador, NM, in 2009, it was Sister Mary who initiated all the details of setting up the utilities of the property.

Sister Mary is survived by her biological brother, Budd diStefano, and her niece, Lisa and husband Doug Wiggers.

Throughout her time in hospice, Sister Mary continued to express her deep love for her sisters and found great comfort in our visits, especially when we gathered to pray the Divine Office together. Her faith remained steadfast, her special love of the Blessed Virgin Mary and her gentle presence was a source of inspiration to all who knew her. We rejoice with Sister Mary as she now enjoys living in God’s department for eternity with God.

- From Our Lady of the Desert Monastery

These initiatives are being undertaken as a partnership between the Pueblo of Acoma and New Mexico-based cultural heritage preservation group Nuevo Mexico Profundo.

Frank Graziano, one of NMP’s founders, described how the organization was first established in 2019. While conducting research for a book on New Mexico’s historic churches, he noticed how many pueblo churches were falling into disrepair, and how many of the villagers and parishioners had few resources for preservation.

“Little by little, we’ve grown. We do tours to cultural heritage sites - most of them churches. And we restore historic churches and also moradas, and we do art conservation of santero artworks that are in the churches.”

A morada is a type of informal chapel or religious gathering-place, often used in places where visits from a priest were few and far between. And santero art (see our story on Page 10) is a method of depicting the saints which is totally unique to the state of New Mexico.

But for Graziano - and many of the Pueblos he works with - the importance of historic preservation goes beyond religious significance.

“If you look at the culture around us, it’s like, there’s this process of homogenization going on - it goes to the lowest common denominator of vanilla and plastic,” he said. “That church is the centerpiece of the village. If you knock down that church, it’s like a scar or a void. I mean, it would destroy the visual sense of the village. But in addition to that, the churches are like repositories of cultural heritage for hundreds of years. And there’s so much emotional attachment to them by people in the villages.”

One project currently underway is the cloister and courtyard at San Esteban del Rey in Acoma Pueblo. Much of the funding has been provided by the Pueblo, which has committed to preserving many of Acoma’s historic buildings, and fundraising from Nuevo Mexico Profundo.

During the research phase, Graziano discovered that the inside of the cloister has hidden layers of murals.

“An archaeologist went out there in 1976 and he did some tests on the walls. And there are layers of murals on all the walls around the gallery. And who knows what state they’re in because, you know, even in ‘76 when he saw them, that was 50 years ago.”

If there is a possibility of restoring the murals, Graziano hopes to include them in the project.

Mark Thompson, a tribal member of Acoma Pueblo with an extensive education background in construction and development, is the project manager for the restoration work at San Esteban and other projects in the villages at McCartys and Acomita.

“When the tribal council and the tribal administration approached me, the tribal council had allocated some funds to help in the restoration of the two churches,” he recalls. “And then we came across New Mexico profundo and Frank Graziano. We leveraged both his fundraising and the tribe’s funding to get the project done. I was already contracted pro bono to be the project manager for several historic structures within the community.”

Thompson didn’t feel that it was his place to speak for the Pueblo as a whole, but noted that as a Catholic and tribal member of Acoma, he feels responsible for helping to preserve all aspects of tribal spirituality.

“They’re historic structures obviously, but they’re more than that. It represents our faith. I think it’s who we are. They’re critical parts of the community and part of our core values and belief in Christ, and having some place to call home when we want to worship.”

He also emphasized the greater efforts of the local church council and restoration committee.

“It just wasn’t me, Mark Thompson…the church council and the church restoration committee that are made up of parishioners and members within the community all contributed to the restoration effort. It was a team effort. That’s important.”

For the local Acoma community, for Thompson, and for Graziano, the work is all part of a greater effort to preserve the unique spiritual, cultural, and historical heritage of New Mexico villages.

“There’s a lot of people who see it in historic preservation terms. I see it more in like cultural heritage terms,” Graziano said. “I mean, the building is important, but the building is a symbol. You know what I mean? It’s great to preserve the building like it were, I don’t know, a fort or a historic building. But the churches also have so much meaning attached to them.”

Theme song: "Rock Star" by John Ehrich. Used with permission.

Theme song: "Rock Star" by John Ehrich. Used with permission.

Theme song: "Rock Star" by John Ehrich. Used with permission.