Indians of North America; Indians of North America—History; Indians of North America—Religion; Religion; Missionaries; St. Christopher's Mission (Bluff, Utah); Health; Children; Newsletters;
Place names
Bluff (Utah); Salt Lake City (Utah); San Juan County (Utah); Utah;
Keyword
Navajo; Navajo Indians; Navajo Indians -- History; Father Liebler; Brother Juniper; Liebler, Harold Baxter 1889-1982; Missionaries; Religion; St. Christopher's Mission; St. Mary's of the Moonlight Chapel;
Tribe
Navajo;
Description
This newsletter describes Father Liebler's journey to Utah and credits the Mission's success to the policy of preserving Indian culture;
Publisher
Digitized by: Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library;
Contributors
Gruenwald, Joan;
Date.original
1944-07;
Type
Text;
Format
application/pdf;
Source
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives;
Language
eng;
Coverage
Bluff (Utah); Salt Lake City (Utah); San Juan County (Utah);
Rights
Reproduction for publication, exhibition, web display or commercial use is only permissible with the consent of the USU Library Western and Mormon Americana curator, phone (435) 797-2661;
Holding Location
Utah State University, Special Collections and Archives;
S.W~ I.M. 11E'NS BULLE'l'IN No. 2
Re - st. Christopher's Mission to the Navajo, Bluff, Utah
July .. 1944
st. Christopher's Mission to tho Navajo, represented in Bluff, utah, by
Fa ther H. Baxter Liebler, is an Anglo-Catholic Mission, under the Episcopa~
Bishop of Utah. But, for all that associa tion with the Mo t her Church may
imply in tenus of spiritual and me. terial security, our group! of p'ioneers
-i () i,,- f
was not denied the many interesting and often exciting experiences inevitably
encountered in such an undertaking. However, buildings are now in the process
of construction, irrigation farming is being simultaneously learned and carried
on, a local school is being maintaincd~~',.with instruction possible through the
coopera tive efforts of the Mission group1, health measures are being sugges ted
and introduced to a people thoroughly unfamiliar with any of. our modern concepts
of hygienic living , and tne general sociological welfare of the community
is be ing considerably improved. "And how" you ask, "does all this come to
be?"
About a year ago - lest you forgot - Father Liebler and his party left the
Eas t, and all that it had come to mean to them ••• , homo . familly, friends and
work. ",pulling up the roots of their lives, already deeply grown these many
years past, to start out anew in the V(est, in an inspired effort to improve
the lives - both spiritual and physical - of a people, they felt sincerely
would benefit thereby. It is true , of course, that the condition of the worl d
today hardly justifies the thought that we have attained a divinely insp i red
cul ture. And, ,to quote Fathe r Liebler, ' ''Exporience docs ~not shoV'l that Navajos
who have adopted Vfuite ways are happier, or are able to make any greater contributi.,
Qn to a better world." To be sure , polygamy and unsanitary living condi
tions must give way to the coming of the Light of Christ, but this dOGS not
necessarily mean the substitution of a honeymoon and kitchenette apa'rtrnent. It
The fact is that S. W. I.M. stands for the presena tion of nat ive culture in every
detail that is not obviously counter to Catholic morals or the known laws of
hygiene.
It should interest us, then, to learn that the work with the Navajo is progressing
satisfactorily. Rapport has been established - with the people interes
te.d in U5< and our work because they sense our sincere interest in them. True,
we have no converts as yet. However, it should be understood that were we to
ask the Indians to be baptized, they would willingly oblige - for they readily
add one religion to another. We vmnt them to know and understand what they
are undertaking when they elect to join the Church, and that will mean long
hours of work with each soul. They attend the Mission services with reverence
and interest, and in time they vdll come to understand. The first Holy Week
celebrated among the Navajos was particular'ly inspiring, with the traditional
ceremonies and rites of ' those grea t days from Palm Sunday to Holy Saturday carried
out in full. Thon, with Easter Day bringing torrents of rain after months
of drought, the reputation of our group as first class medicine men was firmly
established.
