[Editor’s note: The following is an open letter from Father Larry Gosselin, OFM, former pastor of the St Joseph Apache Mission in Mescalero, New Mexico, to Bishop Peter Baldacchino of the Diocese of Las Cruces. This letter is concerning the removal and restoration of the image of the Apache Christ at St Joseph Apache Mission. Published with permission. —ML]
To our dear brother, Bishop Peter Baldacchino,
May the Lord give to you, and the people of Mescalero, peace!
I hold you in great reverence and respect for all that you are as our Shepherd in your pastoral leadership for the Church within the Diocese of Las Cruces. I equally hold the People of Saint Joseph Apache Mission, and all the Mescalero Apache People, in great loving reverence and respect for all that they are as truly faithful and devoted people of God.
Historically, the Apache People are revered leaders of courage, always upholding their own dignity even through suffering, both represented by their enduring legacy in Apache history, but now once again what is being revealed and manifested in their courageous stand with upholding all that they deeply believe in as exhibiting fidelity to their Catholic faith and staying true to their culture and belief as Apache People. The Mescalero Apache People have suffered greatly in these recent days and months through this controversy, and besides now in the aftermath of the recent destructive fires and flooding on the reservation lands and adjoining areas. I enjoin you to bring comfort, care, and healing to these beautiful Apache People.
Bishop, I love the Mescalero Apache People, and as I told you when I last saw you, I said, “I think I love the Apache People too much!” And you responded to me, “No, you can never love a people too much!” And so it is now, in love that I speak, with great respect to you, on behalf of the people whom I love deeply.
There is much to address here in this meeting where your attendance and leadership is so necessary. Thank you for calling together and coming to this meeting today. The issues are varied here, and cannot all be brought into light now in this one setting, but this meeting, as a process, is a step forward, and a start in humility and honestly to begin a healing of wounds today that have been opened now in this present situation, and also reopened from generational scars of the past. For my part, I would like to address just the one issue, and that is concerning the image of the Apache Christ, as this seems to have been the breaking point of this present conflict.
“Apache Christ” by Br. Robert Lentz, OFM
A religious Icon is considered to be “a soul window, an entrance into the the presence of the Holy.” Icons serve as invitations to keep ones’ eyes open while one prays. It is in prayer, that one just looks and gazes upon an icon, so as to let God speak to the soul. As Saint Clare of Assisi encouraged her sisters in prayer to the Lord Jesus, to “gaze upon Him, consider Him, contemplate Him, as your desire to imitate Him.”
Icons are an opportunity to gaze upon the “loveliness of the Lord” and to see, consider, contemplate, and imitate in some human form or representations the image of “the Word becoming flesh.” I believe that the image of the Apache Christ has become a sacred icon, as it has stood the test of time both in the sanctuary of St. Joseph Apache Mission, and in the hearts and soul of the Apache People, as well as, other faithful people who come to this Saint Joseph Apache Mission to enter into its sacred space.
I believe that this Icon of the Apache Christ, represents the enfleshment of Christ for, and in, the Apache People. This Icon makes the bold statement that Christ can and is found in the Apache People. Isn’t this what we are all called to do as disciples of Christ, to preach, teach, and conform ourselves, as people born anew, into the image and likeness of Christ. As we see ourselves in Christ, we become what we can envision through love and faith. This Icon of the Apache Christ is only as radical as the very radical call of conversion, to become as Christ who is presented and preached to us in the Gospels and becomes sacred and present in the Eucharist that we share.
I believe the people of Mescalero have spiritually suffered greatly in this recent demise of the sacred dignity and controversy over this Icon. The sacred image of a people, who seek to live in Christ as the Gospels challenge us to do in the faith and love and held in the Church, has been deeply violated and compromised. This restoration will take much time, prayer, diligence, and dialogue.
The return of the Apache Christ to its proper place in the sanctuary of the St. Joseph Apache Mission is unequivocal. Besides that necessary step, this placement needs to take place in a formal blessing, both from the traditional Apache leaders of the Mescalero community, and I believe from you, equally as Pastoral Shepherd of the Church and the People of God. A formal blessing of honoring in complete honesty and profound humility to the People of Mescalero needs to take place for reconciliation and restitution of the harm that this has caused, both in the displacement of an image, and even more so, in the spiritual displacement for a people of faith and trust in the Church. I believe that in offering apologies to the People of Mescalero and asking for their forgiveness is only the first step in this pastoral concern, you need to bless the people, and equally, I believe, that they should bless you in their traditional way of blessing, as has been done previously to the Bishop of the Diocese of Las Cruces. I also believe that the artist Br. Robert Lenz, OFM, should also be present at this blessing.
In addition to this, I exhort you to implement, within your realm of pastoral care, the most recent document of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (2024): “Keeping Christ’s Sacred Promise: A Pastoral Framework for Indigenous Ministry.” Let me quote from that document now:
“The survival of Indigenous communities is a testament both to Indigenous Peoples’ enduring strength and to the power of God’s grace. Drawing upon their innately sacramental worldview and reverence for Creation, Indigenous Catholics in the United States have embraced the Gospel despite these tragic stories, which could easily have hardened their hearts against God and those in the Church. Healing and reconciliation can only take place when the Church acknowledges the wounds perpetrated to her Indigenous children and humbly listens to them as they voice their experiences.”
I am sure as a member of the USCCB that you read and voted on this document in its passage. I appeal to you to put into place, within your shepherding care, a pastoral plan for the Apache People, and all Indigenous People, a framework of ministry that will lift them, and all people, to new realizations and realms of seeing and knowing within themselves the divine dignity of Christ realized through a reconciliation of faith and culture.
I have been told through the Black and Indian Mission Bureau in Washington, D.C., that the Diocese of Las Cruces is being considered as the future site of the Kateri Tekakwitha Conference next year. If this is indeed the case, then may this gathering of Catholic Native People, at that time within the Diocese of Las Cruces, be a prophetic public pastoral presentation that offers a very clear and collaborated pastoral vision of the unity of being Catholic and being Indigenous.
Dear Bishop, there is an image of the Church, besides the Image of the Apache Christ, that needs to be restored and renewed, it is the image, as an icon of a window to see clearly in you a “soul window” that represents the soul window of Christ in the Church.
I most assuredly hold this situation, and you, Bishop Baldacchino, in prayer, and I equally stand in solidarity with all the People of Mescalero, in my devoted prayers and love for all that you are as Shepherd of Christ, and all that Christ is in them as Apache People — together as One in Christ.
Prayerfully yours in Christ,
Father Larry Gosselin, OFM
This letter was originally posted on the author’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/share/Va5KbUHJ1gHvLWej/?mibextid=oFDknk. It has been lightly edited and re-formatted.
Image: Apache Christ Icon, Br. Robert Lentz, OFM. Order print here.
Popular Posts