9/11 Memorial at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Barelas

I recently attended the funeral mass for Father Jim Moore at Sacred Heart Church in the Barelas neighborhood, just south of downtown Albuquerque. I knew Father Moore when he was an associate of the Blessed Sacrament clergy at St. Charles Borromeo parish and would celebrate the 7 A.M. early Mass. During his previous tenure as pastor of Sacred Heart Parish from 1996 to 2006 , Father Jim was a witness to the transformation of the Barelas neighborhood from drugs, gangs and graffiti to art murals and newly painted homes. As part of that transformation Father Moore and his parishioners established  a 9/11 Memorial in Sacred Heart Church. Steel girders, each 30 feet in length, were brought from the ruins of the World Trade Centers in New York to the Sacred Heart Church in Barelas in 2003. The parish raised $250,000 to build a  towered belfry to house the beams. That belfry today stands atop the Church like a sentinel. The beams were blessed by Father Moore before they were trucked from New York City and again by Archbishop Michael Sheehan upon their arrival at Sacred Heart Church. In the belfry these sacred steel shards have been placed against each other to resemble a cross. Also on display is a wall of engraved granite listing the names of all those who were murdered on 9/11. There is a copper-plated book with names and biographical entrees for each of the deceased. There is a New York State flag, a t-shirt signed by 9/11 rescue workers, a New York City firefighter's helmet and police hats. On the wall facing the steel beams is a religious icon - it depicts the Madonna with her arms encircling the tall World Trade Center towers as twin engine jetliners circle overhead.  Next to this icon stands a shrine statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe with an adjacent kneeler for prayers.  With arms out she seems to be calling visitors to prayer.
The 9/11 Memorial at Sacred Heart Church in Barelas is both a National and a Catholic shrine. It is a place to reflect on the tragedy that struck our nation that day, the innocent loss of life and the suffering of the victims and their families and friends.  It also recalls the individual acts of heroism by police, firemen and other first responders who made the ultimate sacrifice to save the lives of others. The setting of this 9/11 Memorial at Sacred Heart Church enables us to honor the victims and their families with our prayers. It also calls us to contemplate Christ's teachings on forgiveness: Matthew 18:22 - Then Peter came up to Him and said, 'Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? As many as seven times?' Jesus said to him, 'I do not say seven times but seventy times seven.'  In other words Jesus is telling us that we must always forgive. Even in the face of a grave injustice causing great harm- like 9/11? Listen to the words of Jesus on the cross: Luke 34 - 'Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing.' Jesus asked His Father to forgive His tormentors and those who crucified Him even though at the time most were unrepentant.  To forgive is not to forget. Indeed the 9/11 Memorial helps us to remember the injustice of that date.  It's just that there is no place for hatred and vengeance when we understand that we belong to God - who has already forgiven us 'seventy times seven'.


Listen to this sermon from Father Robert Barron on 9/11 and forgiveness:
 

Sermon 557 : September 11th, 2001 - Anger and Forgiveness : 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time

 

Shrine of The Stations of the Cross - San Luis, Colorado

While driving from Denver to Albuquerque, I stopped in San Luis De La Culebra, Colorado just north of Questa, New Mexico to visit Colorado's newest Catholic Shrine - La Mesa de la Piedad y de la Misercordia (Hill of Piety and Mercy). The  shrine's two centerpieces are The Stations of The Cross and La Capilla de Todos Los Santos (The Chapel of All Saints) . The Stations of The Cross are 15 bronze sculptures, depicting the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, winding up the Hill of Piety and Mercy to the adobe Chapel of All Saints. Each station is strategically placed along a 3/4 mile ascending trail to look out over the San Luis Valley and to the Sangre de Cristo Mountain range. The stations were sculpted by a local artist Huberto Maestas in 1986. The Chapel of All Saints is a domed adobe structure resting atop the Hill of Piety and Mercy and visible across the San Luis Valley.  Local architects, Arnold Valdez and Milton Bertin designed and supervised the construction of this elegant Spanish - Moorish styled church. Catholic families from the Sangre de Cristo Parish of San Luis, many of whom trace their ancestry to the original Spanish settlers who farmed and ranched the San Luis Valley by right of a land grant from Spain, donated the building fund for the Shrine.
The Stations of the Cross are by themselves well worth the visit to San Luis, Colorado. Huberto Maestas's statues embrace drama and emotion and capture the sense of movement up the Hill of Piety and Mercy - a San Luis version of Golgotha. The statues are 2/3 life size with the exception of the life size Crucifixion and Resurrection near the top of the mesa. Each statue is meticulously detailed, down to the folds of clothing, and the sharp thorns protruding from the crown of thorns Jesus wore. Most memorable are the expressions on the faces of Jesus, His mother Mary, His followers and tormentors. In successive stations, Jesus' face reveals sorrow, suffering, resolve and compassion. On the last station, the image of the Resurrection, Jesus' face glows with rapture as he points upwards to Heaven. Each station is positioned next to a large bronze plaque, anchored in concrete, bearing the name of the station and the corresponding Bible verses in both Spanish and English. Benches allow the visitor to rest and meditate on the impact of each station. On Friday afternoons during Lent, the priest from the Sangre de Cristo Parish leads parishioners as well as visitors in The Stations of The Cross by walking the Hill of Piety and Mercy. On Good Friday most of San Luis's residents turn out for a procession up the path of The Stations of the Cross and on Easter Sunday, a Lenten veil is removed from the 15th Station to celebrate Christ's Resurrection.

La Capilla de Todos Los Santos ( The Chapel of All Saints) perches atop The Hill of Piety and Mercy and can be seen across the San Luis Valley, conveying a certain Catholic religiosity to this agricultural setting. The Chapel was finished and dedicated in 1997. The Spanish-Moorish architecture suggests an antiquity belying its real age. The walls are thick adobe and whitewashed. Two steeples and a dome afford elegant balance to the building's exterior. The interior of the chapel is remarkable for its simplicity. The wood pews were hand carved and the aisle rug was hand woven by local artisans. On the afternoon I visited, sunlight streamed in thru the porthole windows on the apse wall. An Icon of the Madonna and her Child adorned the south wall. A hand carved Crucifix and Retablos graced the sacristy. The Chapel of All Saints conveyed sacred solitude and peace, commensurate to its location on a hilltop above the Stations of the Cross Shrine.

I left the town of San Luis in the evening and drove south down the length of the San Luis Valley to the New Mexico border.  The sun was descending over the mountains in the west. It was one of those classic Sangre De Cristo sunsets - rose red then dark red. It reminded me of Willa Cather's description of the Sangre De Cristo Mountains, "those red hills, never become vermilion, but a more and more intense rose carnelian, not the colors of living blood, but the color of the dried blood of saints and martyrs." Indeed the Franciscan Padres initially traversed these mountains and valleys in the late sixteenth century, bringing Christianity to the Native American tribes. Most were martyred for their efforts. A second wave of Franciscan Padres came up the Camino Real in the 17th century and brought Spanish settlers with them. The legacy of those early Franciscan missionaries is evident in the Catholic religious symbolism that is integral to life in the San Luis Valley. The Shrine of The Stations of The Cross is one of those symbols. It is a place where the Christian faith is still prominent, where Christian and other religious pilgrims are welcome to visit. 

Watch a video of the San Luis Shrine by clicking

Local Tourist Colorado - San Luis and Stations of the Cross - YouTube

► 5:43► 5:43

www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1zqm-C0T_Q

► 5:43► 5:43

www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1zqm-C0T_Q‎

• Share
  View shared post

Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Denver

                                                                                                                                                  During a recent stay in Denver, Colorado, I was able to attend the noon-day Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception which is situated in downtown Denver near the state capitol. Although 250 miles from New Mexico, Denver shares a common Catholic history with its southern neighbor as it was originally within the Territory of New Mexico and under the auspices of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. Indeed the Very Rev. Joseph P. Machebeuf, the first bishop of Denver and the Colorado Territory, was a lifelong friend of ArchBishop Jean Baptiste Lamy of Santa Fe and had been recruited by Lamy in 1851 to follow him from Ohio to Santa Fe to serve the new Archdiocese of Santa Fe which at that time included the future states of  Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico. As gold and silver mines and the railroad brought more settlers to Denver and the Colorado Territory, Colorado was established as an independent vicar apostolate in 1875 with its own Bishop.

The Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception was dedicated on October 27, 1912, consecrated in 1921 and was elevated to minor basilica status in 1975. On August 13 and 14 of  1993, His Holiness, Pope John Paul II, celebrated masses at the Cathedral Basilica as part of the celebration of World Youth Day. Today the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception serves as the mother church of a faith community of approximately 500,000 Catholics spread amongst 144 parishes and missions in Northern Colorado. The Cathedral houses the kathedra ( chair), from which the Archbishop carries out his duties to the Archdiocese of Denver as teacher and shepherd. The Cathedral has also been designated a Southwestern Shrine Church attracting pilgrims to its liturgical services.
The cruciform Cathedral was inspired by French Gothic architecture. The Cathedral is 195 x 116 feet in length and width with a vaulted ceiling rising 68 feet above a slightly sloping nave. The bell spires were capped at 210 feet in 1912. The east spire contains 15 bells. The foundation is made of Gunnison granite, the exterior walls of Indiana limestone and much of the interior structural marble from Marble, Colorado. The finest Carrara marble from Italy was used for the altars, the pedestal, the pulpit, the statues, the communion rail, and the Bishop's throne. The front doors are made of brass and show the papal insignia miter with two keys. Busts of 19th century popes and the baptismal font are on the east side of the vestibule and a statue of Saint Anthony of Padua is on the west side of the vestibule.
The outstanding feature of the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception are the 75 stained glass windows - more than any other church of any denomination in America. The windows were crafted by F.X. Zettler, a chemist known for his use of beautiful dyes in making stained glass at the Royal Bavarian Art Institute of Munich, Germany. He oversaw 50 artisans in the production of the windows for the Denver Cathedral in 1912 and considered these windows the finest of his tenure at the Bavarian Art Institute.
The other work of art worth noting is the W.W. Kimball pipe organ filling the choir gallery. The pipe organ has 31 speaking registers embracing every known tone-color of organ voicing and also contains the speaking registers for vox humana, which closely resembles the tones of the human voice. While I was visiting the Cathedral, a visiting organist was teaching a class of local students and the music was heavenly.
The weekday Mass I attended was populated with a few young mothers and  their children, some elderly women, men in business suits and a few visitors like myself. The visitors were easy to pick out as they were marveling at the stained glass windows. In particular I was struck by the colors of the large west transept stained glass window depicting the formal proclamation of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception by Pope Pius IX in 1854 and by the rose window behind the choir loft depicting angels above us.  The window colors had a transcending quality, exposing a small glimpse of the vivid brilliance of God's kingdom. I had entered the Cathedral  with some apprehension about medical tests I had undergone earlier that morning. I would be meeting my physician in the afternoon to learn if I was responding to treatment. Inside the Cathedral my attention was drawn to the artistic beauty of this house of God and I stopped worrying about my pending doctor's visit. I was pleased that I was there, celebrating the Mass with my fellow Catholics in this magnificent Cathedral..
The Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception is definitely worth a side trip to Denver for New Mexico Catholic pilgrims. See for yourself.



West Transept Window

      

 

 
 

Rose Window

For more information on the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception please click on

The Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception

www.denvercathedral.org/‎

• Cached
• Similar
• Share
  View shared post