Priest removes Indigenous art from New Mexico Catholic church, shocks parishioners
Robert Lentz with the icon he painted of Christ as a Mescalero holy man and gifted to the people of St. Joseph's Apache Mission. (Video screengrab)
Update: The removed icons have been returned as posted on the Mescalero Apache Tribe Facebook page: "It is with profound joy that we announce that the paintings taken from St. Joseph's Apache Mission have been returned to the tribe and will be returned to their locations in the church."
On June 30, parishioners and guests walked into St. Joseph’s Apache Mission in Mescalero, New Mexico, for the 10:30 a.m. mass as they have done for close to 100 years. The stately, cavernous church was full of people soberly taking their seats and filling the hall.
Missing from the hall were items significant to the Mescalero Catholics—ceramic Communion goblets gifted to the tribe by a New Mexico pueblo, hand-woven Apache baskets, a large painting of Apache dancers honoring veterans and, most noticeably, the 8-foot icon called the Apache Christ which has hung behind the altar since 1990. The painting is the work of Franciscan friar Robert Lentz and depicts Christ as a Mescalero holy man.
