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Show r Courtesy Vic's Photo, Cortez, Colo. Fr. liebler today. The Desert Priest Of Utah By The Editor THE CHRISTIAN CHALLENGE, JANUARY, 1977 Reprinted with permission from The Christian Chall enge, January 1977 . As a boy , Harold Baxter Liebler had read HIAWATHA and LEATHERSTOCKING TALES and the animal and Indian stories of Ernest Thompson Seton. They stirred in him- an interest in the American Indian that he never lost. . ' . .. ow here he was - a Brooklyn-born priest of 53, with three years of se rvice as rector of St. Matthias' Church in Waukesha , Wisc., and 26 years of service to parishes in the Eastern United States - driving a pick-up truck in ·tpe desert country of Utah to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Navajo. What on earth was he doing in this alien and difficult place? Why wasn't he back at St. Saviour's Church in Old Greenwich, Conn., where he belonged? He had founded the parish in 1918 , and served its people for almost 25 years. Why, when niost men of his age were beginning to think ahead to their retirement , did he feel this overwhelming compulsion to leave behind everything he had ever known and go to live among people whose language was still largely foreign to him? He knew that some of his parishioners thought he was a little crazy when he told them of his intentions. But then they were not the first to feel this way. His own fat her, a lithographer who later went into show business , had thrown up his hands in dismay when his son announced he wanted to enter seminary and become a priest in the Episcopal Church. Why would anybody with a good education and a degree from Columbia University want to give up an excellent future in the business world to do such a foolish thing? So the young man had sough t and received a scholarship to Nashotah House , and was ordained in 19 14. But all through the years, from the time he was curate at St. Luke's, New York City , th rough the period he was rector of St. Paul's, Riverside, Con n., and then through the long and busy years at St. Saviour's, he could never completely thrust frolll his consciousness the conviction that he was being called by God to find the Indians who knew the least about Jesus Christ , and whose need , therefore, was the greatest. As clearly as if it had happened the week before, he remembered an eve ning at Nashotah House when Canon Charles Winfred Douglas had addressed the student body - not on the subject of Illusic , for which he was internationally famou s, but on missions to the American Indian. He knew the Indi an cu ltures well and respected them, and he deplored the efforts of missionaries to destroy all that remained of the beauty of Indian life rather than sa nctifying and enriching it with the truth and grace of the Gospel. He couldn't recall a single sentence of Canon Douglas' talk, but the fundamental idea had sunk deep into his heart and soul. No~ he felt he was being impelled into a new life which would give him the chance to put the theory into practice. Finally , the day came when he no longer coul:.! reject the feeling that his work in Connecticut was over, and that he should go elsewhere. But where was he to go? He had studied eve rything he could find on the Navajo people, and so he took a trip west in 1942 , and rode a pony into the uncharted wastes of so utheastern Utah . There he had found a peo ple untouched by the Gospel, uneducated and illiterate , neglected and afflicted with many diseases. This was the place. Convinced that his future was with the Navajos, he returned to Old Greenwich to tell the parish of his decision. (See DESERT PRIEST, Next Page) 10 |
