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An Indigenous image of Jesus Christ by an acclaimed iconographer has been removed from a New Mexico church for unspecified reasons, days after the U.S. bishops approved a pastoral framework for Indigenous ministry.The 'Apache Christ' icon is seen in the sanctuary of the church in a 2005 photo of the interior of the St. Joseph Apache Mission.
Father Simeon-Aguinam, who is also pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Bent, New Mexico, told OSV News by telephone July 1 that he would comment next week -- a statement he reiterated after OSV News asked if he could in the meantime provide any specific reason for the artworks' removal. An email sent by OSV News to the priest earlier that day went unanswered.
OSV News reached out to Deacon John Eric Munson, the chief operating officer and head of human resources for the Diocese of Las Cruces who also oversees communications, but has not yet received a response to several phone and email inquiries. "Not stolen, just removed," replied Deacon Munson, who advised Brillante that the pastor,"the Knights of Columbus" and the diocesan property risk manager had been involved in the change.Brillante countered that"if was taken off the reservation, off of federal land, without permission then that's called theft," and that the icon had been"given to the parishioners of the Mescalero Apache Tribe.
OSV News has contacted Brother Lentz for comment on the icon's removal but has not yet received a response. At the same time, some of Brother Lentz's work has also generated controversy -- for example, his painting of slain politician and gay rights activist Harvey Milk. However, one parishioner told OSV News some five tribal members had heard Father Simeon-Aguinam declare in a weekday Mass homily during Lent 2024 that"God comes first. You cannot be both an Apache and a Catholic. You have to choose. You cannot be both. ... You have to leave those ways and that way of life behind … you have to choose."
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