03may.pdf

May 2003

The Burden Basket

Volume 1, Issue 3

St. Joseph Apache Mission Restoration Project

Funding Progress

Since fundraising began

in February 1998 we

have raised $477,641.

Of that amount 36%

came from Foundation

Grants, 52% from our

generous donors, and the

remaining 12% from the

hard work of raffles,

food sales, concerts and

interest earned. With

31% of funds needed, we

are making progress!

D IRECTOR ’ S R EPORT :

P ETER A. B OEGEL O.F.M.

The restoration of St. Joseph Apache Mission has been underway

for three years now. Many challenges remain, but thanks to our

growing family of restoration project supporters and workers, we

are making great strides to ensure that this historic New Mexican

treasure will continue to serve as church and veterans memorial. In

this newsletter you will meet our foreman, Tommy Spottedbird.

Simply put, Tommy is vital to the progress we are making and to

the quality of the work being accomplished. Restoring the building

and rebuilding lives. Wonderful things are happening here.

Thank you to the first group of Restoration Stewards!

Expenses to date have

been $405,418.

We all know how bad the economy has

been lately. The charitable foundations

that support us have suffered the impact

of the times as well. Many of the founda-

tions that help us have had to cut back

their support. This will have an impact on

us this coming fiscal year. We will have

to depend more on private donors, who

have always been the backbone of our

support. We are excited to offer a

“Restoration Steward” membership pro-

gram for people and groups who want to

become monthly supporters. A big thank

you to our starting members! We are very

grateful to the many people who support

us with both large and small contributions

throughout the year. If you would like to

become a monthly steward, contact Mary

Serna at the restoration office (505-464-

4539) and she will sign you up.

Budget for entire project:

$1,750,000.

Funds raised per fiscal

year (July 1—June 30):

Mission Tours are a big hit with visitors

People from all over the world

come to experience this special

place, which remains open every

day. Several years ago we began

giving group tours. This year we

have had one almost every week!

Pictured here are members of the

Lincoln County Historical Society

with Brother Peter and Harry Vasile

conducting the tour.

If you would like to book a group

tour, you may contact Mary Serna

to set the date and time. We encour-

age all ages, there is so much history here. Be

sure to combine your visit with a trip to the

nearby Mescalero Apache Cultural Center.

To Date $95,944.

2002 $136,095.

2001 $115,899.

2000 $63,189.

1999 $44,777.

1998 $21,773.

Page 2

The Burden Basket

N EW T RAINEES

Bro. David & Anthony

Walter & Tommy

part-time while attend-

ing school. Both seem

very interested in being

a part of the restoration

of the Mission.

Our new train-

ees are busy learning

the basics of construc-

tion work in general,

and restoration work in

particular. There is

equipment and scaf-

folding safety training

along with the main

goals of learning the art of

repointing stonework and

constructing a dry stone

retaining wall

Brother Peter,

Tommy Spottedbird and

Brother David all take

great care to insure that

our trainees have a good

experience as they make a

positive contribution and

become a part of the his-

tory of this cherished

building.

We have started a new training session and are

happy to have Anthony Escalanti and Walter Scott on our

crew. Both are Mescalero Apache Tribal members. An-

thony is attending NMSU-Alamogordo and Walter attends

the Mescalero Apache High School. Both are working

C ONCERT HELPS BRING IN F UNDS

Once again Schola Cantorum from St. Francis of

Assisi Cathedral in Santa Fe blessed the Mission with his-

toric Christian music. This is their second concert to help

raise funds for the restoration project. $1,243.00 was do-

nated by those attending the concert. Everyone enjoyed

hearing the beautiful music in such an appropriate and

inspiring setting.

Schola Cantorum is directed by Dr. Billy Turney

and they find themselves traveling more and more giving

concerts and singing for Liturgy on Feast Days at many

northern New Mexico places such as Jemez Pueblo, Sile,

Pena Blanca, La Bajada and San Ysidro.

On April 6, 2003 his-

tory was once again made at St.

Joseph Apache Mission. Ri-

cardo Ramirez, the Bishop of

Las Cruces, dedicated and

blessed a painting of San Juan

Diego.

“It is most fitting” the

Bishop said, “that this is the

first dedication of a painting of

Juan Diego, the first indige-

nous person of North America

to be canonized. It is wonderful

that it has been painted by

Oliver Enjady, [a local Mesca-

lero artist] and placed at St.

Joseph Apache Mission.”

Ramirez with Father John Gib-

bons, Oliver Enjady and mem-

bers of the parish standing in

front of the painting. The

Bishop remarked that the

painting of San Juan Diego

fittingly has some distinctively

Apache characteristics.

After the Mass and

dedication Oliver spoke about

what an honor and challenge it

was to put paint to canvas in

order to do justice to such a

man. “The painting is a repre-

sentation of the past, the pre-

sent and the future” Oliver

said. We feel very blessed to

have it here at St. Joseph’s.

B ISHOP R AMIREZ DEDICATES

S AN J UAN D IEGO P AINTING

Pictured here is Bishop

Volume 1, Issue 3

Page 3

M EET T OMMY S POTTEDBIRD , O UR P ROJECT F OREMAN

March was a big month for

Tommy Spottedbird, he celebrated his

third anniversary working on the res-

toration project, his third year being

sober and his third wedding anniver-

sary.

Tommy is a Kiowa man born in

Hobart, OK in 1952. After graduating

from high school Tommy got an Art

degree from Haskell Jr. College in

Lawrence, KS. Soon after that he

enlisted in the United States Marine

Corps. It was after he was honorably

discharged in 1975 that he started to

drink heavily and lose control of his

life. He worked at a variety of jobs

from laborer to steel worker to being

an Administration Assistant at Indian

Health Services in Rockville, MD. But

because of his alcohol addiction he

was never able to keep any long term

commitments.

Although Tommy searched for a

purpose in his life, and went through

at least 18 rehabilitation programs, he

could not find a reason to turn his life

around. That is, not until he came to

Mescalero.

In 1999 Tommy went through the

rehabilitation program run by the

Mescalero Apache Tribe. Afterward

he came to work at St. Joseph’s resto-

ration project as a trainee, met his

wife to be Hazel Botella, a Mescalero

Tribal member, and decided that he

wanted to make some big commit-

ments in his life.

When Tommy was hired he asked

how long the job would last. The re-

sponse by Brother Peter was, “We just

don’t know.” And so, Tommy made

his first long term commitment by

saying that he would stay until the job

was finished. He laughs about that

now because now we realize that the

project will last 10 more years at the

current rate! Soon after starting work

Tommy and Hazel were married. By

marrying Hazel he made a vow to her

and to God, which has helped him to

remain sober through the good times

and the bad times. Tommy was pro-

moted to Job Foreman in November

of 2002 after Harry Vasile took a job

with the Mescalero Schools.

“I enjoy my work with the young

people. By sharing my life choices

with them” he says, “I hope that it

will help them to make better choices

in their own lives”. Tommy says that

he loves the quiet time he has while

working on the restoration pro-

ject, “it gives me time to meditate

on my life and any problems I

might be trying to solve”.

“It also gives me an opportu-

nity to share my concerns with

my co-workers, who have been

instrumental in helping me main-

tain my sobriety and live a mean-

ingful Christian life. Tommy is a

real ecumenical man, he is a Bap-

tized Baptist, attends the Mesca-

lero Reformed Church and works

to restore a Catholic Church.

Whenever possible Tommy

enjoys participating in intertribal

powwows and Kiowa Ceremoni-

als, either singing or dancing.

Sports are another of Tommy’s

passions, especially long-distance

running. - Semper Fi Tommy.

S TONEWORK S YMPOSIUM 2003

Brother David Paz and Tommy

Spottedbird had the chance to attend a

day at the Stonework Symposium held in

Santa Fe in April. “It was very informa-

tive” Tommy stated “We were impressed

by the many different experts that were

there.” One of those experts was Dan

Snow, who is a dry stone waller and au-

thor of In the Company of Stone . His

presentation was very interesting to

Tommy and Brother David because of

the dry stone retaining wall we are

building at the bottom of the hill in front

of the Mission. Now that spring is here

the crew is once again working on the

wall and will finish it this summer.

St. Joseph Apache Mission

Restoration Project

PO Box 187

Mescalero, NM 88340-0187

Phone: (505) 464-4539

We’re on the web!

www.geocities.com/

missionrestoration

Restoring the Building and Rebuilding Lives

What’s inside:

☼Director’s Report

☼Mission Tours

☼Restoration Stewards

☼New Trainees

☼Schola Cantorum

☼Stonework Symposium 2003

☼ Meet Tommy Spottedbird

☼ San Juan Diego

Spring 2003 Restoration Crew

Stairway to St. Joseph Apache Mission

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