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Show i'1essage # 11, page 2. Visitors ar~ fascinated with the exterior ot the church ("finest rock work in the state of Utah") but they go into rhapsodies when they see the interior. Nava jos at once .look up at the blue ceiling and cry out "Blue sky!" 8nd ~hen they note the golden beams, "Sunlight!" As you will guess, it is not a conve~tual church -- not stRined glass, steeple or plush carpet--but it is obviously a house of prayer, of worship, of meeting. The central lighting r You will have read in the papers of the election and consecration of our new Bishop, Otis Charles. The consecratIon; held at the ne~ Special Ev&nts Center of the University of Ut~h on Octoher 18th, with over 2.,000 in attendance, in h col orful rites" -- colors such as no rainbow has displayed! But what you will not read (except here) is of his first visit here. He wrote before he came, "Let it be a time when the Spirit may come upon us with power". We let Him, and He did Just that. The presence could be felt! fixture is an old wagon-wheel contributed by a NavajO whose chief concern with us was formerly as a source of good water, but who has since begun attending Sunday Mass with some regularity, and often enters the church at odd times to gaze at the transfigured wheel. Since the official opening day we have had 18 baptisms, more than half of them adult. The very first of them was Philip Hugh, son of Vic and Jeanne Goodwin, of Cortez (see picture below) -- all the rest were NavaJos. He wanted to meet as many of the local NavajOS as pOSSible, so we spread the news and about 150 gathered to greet him on the afternoon of the 12th _ (November). Ma ny of them spoke no English, but it was plain that they fully enjoyed making him welcome. Father vlayne, of st. Christopher's Mission, had brought him, and \"i th :£"1'. I,ieb1er conce1ebrated the euch8rist with the Bishop. Conf irmation was held at the Offertory of the Mass, the Bishop standing in the midst of the church, the 36 conflrmands approaching in turn for the laying on of hands and anointinb ; the now famous 5-fold ~' being sung by the entire congregation after each administration of the sacrament. There were several whole families among those confirmed, and in one case four generations in a single f8mily. Fr. Liebler had InterpretAd ,the Bishop's hgmily and there could be no noubt in anyone's mind as to what it was all about. Praise God with us for this great experience! On the foJ.lowing morning after Mass and a bit of breakfast we took the Bishop some fifteen miles (of really rough road) into Juniper Canyon to the hogan of a woman who dated her birth as "two years after we came back from the Long \{a lk" -- that would make her not less than 103 years old • . Those of Y0U who have our Message # 5 can see her picture. |