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Show Two recent scenes stand out in our memory to capture the transition from summer to autumn work here at St. Christopher's Mission. On a September morning not long ago strains of folk music, accompanied by guitar and banjos sang out over the valley. The young people from Alhambra had made their annual pilgrimage to the Mission and were ready for the trek home. After baggage was stowed in the station wagons and good-byes were said, all stopped for a short time to treat us to a few last renditions. Father Hu I tgren barked final orders and they were off in a cloud of dust, promising to return next year with renewed muscles and appetites! This year their special project was to continue the work begun by the YMCA of Lompoc, California, in assisting Brother Juniper with the renovation of the little outstation church of San Juan Bautista in Montezuma Creek. A partition was removed, ceiling lowered, electricity brought in and new seats made. The congregation there has been reaching 100 on occasion and the one room was simply too small. The new interior has surely become a source of local pride and curiosity, for Brother Juniper reports that many stopped in during the work to see the improvements taking shape. We send sincere thanks for the special donations whicli. have made this work possible. At 8:30 a.m. on September 16, Miss Sally Frese rang our bell to signal the opening of school, which has been closed for two years. With a new mural, freshly painted classroom and sparkling windows and floor, 12 children began kindergarten class lasting from nine until one each weekday. Lunch is being served with the aid of government commodities and a fresh milk program. The ringing of the warning bell that day climaxed a year of planning and preparation in which two ideas guided our thinking. First of all, in our age of secularization and specialization, it is easy to forget that the Church must minister to the whole person, including the mind and intellect. This is the only approach to a full life in the Body of Christ. This we will endeavor to accomplish with these tender plants, even though it will probably take a year to develop a suitable and realistic cousre of parochial instruction for this age group. Opening the school to Bluff children, with a tuition charge, was the only fair basis. When presented with the problem of language inequality, we simply teach the white children a bit of Navajo! The second conclusion was reached by the fact that the language barrier for those beginning public instruction often places the Navajo child as much as three years behind white children. This is evident even in high school. For public grade and high school students we hold a tutoring session every evening which is also open to those who have quit school because of the embarrassment of their years. Already boys and girls are reporting better grades! Thus, the Church meets a critical problem of education in our area. We have reproduced our school mural on this covel' in order that you may share in our enthusiasm. Painted by James Sampson, who was featured in our last Newsletter, it captures the vastness and rugged, lonesome beauty of this country. The pictures shown here continue our Anniversary Year Celebration by giving glimpses of the spirit and attitudes of twenty years' work. It is not a pictorial history as such, but an endeavor to thank you who have faith in us by your continuing contributions, and to show how you are most directly involved. Although a double souvenir issue of the Newsletter celebrating our Anniversary on July 25th was promised, we simply have not had the time to assemble and prepare it. Those scenes will be included with the Christmas mailing, together with pictures of the dining-room, vicarage and new kitchen, thus rounding out our 20th year with an up-to-date report. Guests began to arrive at the Mission around July 15th. As the cook shade and medicine shade were being built on a hill overlooking the San Juan river, more and more families congregated from across the river. By the first night of the squaw dance all preparations were complete. Merchants of the area from Cortez to Mexican Hat contributed generously with flour, salt, lard and cash. Each family here was asked to donate a sheep or goat. Radio interviews, TV fillers and signs proclaimed the big day far and near. From California and Washington, D.C. , and many points between, guests arrived. Several families camped near the Mission. Bluff facilities were filled to capacity. 75 were present for the Alumni banquet - a Brother Juniper ham dinner, followed by old Mission movies. July 25th dawned dry and mostly clear, with just enough clouds in the sky to make a patchy, tawny sunrise. At the shades on the hill we waited for the "war party" to arrive. When they hove into view, firecrackers, shouts and a rising sun greeted the riders as they wheeled around the medicine shade. A huge dust cloud slowly rose. At the Mission an early Mass for workers was followed by a music rehearsal with drum and by ten o'clock an estimated 2500 people and guests had assembled for the Solemn High Mass and doings of the day. Father Mitchell's drum beat and guitar heightened the music of the Indian Mass, and it was a callous soul who was not softened by the final hymn, "JersusaJem, My Happy Home." Of course, it was Father Liebler's big day! In rapid order, the Navajo Tribal Band gave a long concert - coffee served - the great cake cut by Father, then the national anthem - prizes for rugs, silver, leatherwork, baskets - eating a Navajo meal at the cook shade - chicken pull - bread baking contest (Helen Sturges later took our winners to the tribal contest but alas, no prizes won!) - singing and squaw dance all night long. All had a good time. It was a day of great understanding and working together and the only squaw dance of such magnitude in recent years where there was no fighting or excessive drinking. new medlcme |