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Show MESSAGE # 10 from Father Liebler Brother Juniper at Helen Sturges Joan Eskell Hat Rock Valley Retreat Center P.O. ~ox 5, Monumen~ Valley, Utah 84536 #### #### #### June, 1971 Messages ## 1-9 were issued semi-annually from September, 1966 to December, 1970. Some back numbers are still available and will be sent on request. ** ** ** Of course, the project that looms above all other material ones is the completion of our Church of St. Mary-of-the-Moonlight. We count--or rather wish we could count accurate1y--the number of days until we can keep the old hogan church as an exhibit or how one can get along if necessary. , As these lines are being typed, the shingles have been laid on the roof (the picture above, taken in mid-May, shows the last f~w courses going on) but gives a fair idea of ho~ the church will look, if ·your imagination is equal to disregarding the scaffolds, rubble and loose rock in the fore-ground. Remain- . ing things to be done include plumbing, (with field-lines out from the septic tank), setting up electric light fixtures, installing heating system, completing and then waxing the flagstone floors, painting, hanging the seven doors, not to mention cleaning up the grounds and other details. The question continues to beset USI "When will the new building be ready for use?" -- and the answer is the samel "Who can tell?" A few months ago we might have said "In a few months". The worst "Hang-up" was set off when the Navajo Police called respectfully on us and asked to see our permit for taking stone from the Reservation for our building. Examining it, they said it was not adequate -- in addition to the formal consent of the local Chapter (which of course we had) it required 'the approval and signature of the Chairman of the Navajo Tribal Council and of the U.S. Secretary of the Interior. This was shortly before the Christmas holidays, when everything was closed up, and as a change of administration was to be effective as of the first of the year, endless days of delay might be expected.. Fortunately we were able to set the stonemasons at work in other phases of the work. We got a fresh approval from the local Chapter, and sent it off with all other necessary red-tape, and we waited. The police had warned us not to gather any more stone until the matter had been settled. Alfred Miller, our good Presbyterian friend who is the Chapter's delegate to the Tribal Council, took the trouble to go to the police HQ and returned with a smile and the news that the Tribal Resources commission at Window Rock had sent a radio message to the patrol saying that everything was satisfactorily settled, and that we could resume activities. We lost no time. The contractor who had been paid to bring in the stone had apparently worn out his vehicle, so we hired every available Navajo with a pick-up and in two days we had landed 28 pickup loads, enough to complete the job! It must be said that the contractor who had let us down, worked all those two days in helping to load the material at the quarry onto the pickups, and so speeded the work considerably. Masonry |