Reconciliation needed after desecration at church
Marjorie Cortez
A couple of summers ago while vacationing in northern New Mexico, my family visited my aunt and uncle in Fort Garland, Colo., which is about 16 miles north of San Luis. While traveling through San Luis, I was pleasantly surprised by its historical preservation efforts. Its streetscaping was absolutely quaint.
I observed, too, that the Sangre de Cristo Parish had devoted considerable resources to establish the Shrine of the Mexican Martyrs there. You may have read or seen recent news stories about photographs posted on the Internet depicting three Mormon missionaries vandalizing the Shrine of the Martyrs, with one missionary shown holding the severed head of a statue. Others showed a missionary preaching from the Book of Mormon behind the altar inside the Chapel of All Saints. Another photo shows two missionaries pretending to sacrifice a fellow missionary on the altar at the shrine. The photos, posted on the Photobucket Web site, have since been removed.
I've lived in Salt Lake City for 20 years now. But I was born in the San Luis Valley and spent many summers there as a child. I feel I have a sense of both perspectives. Mostly, I just feel sad about these events, which reportedly occurred in 2006.
Missionaries are representatives of their respective churches. That's a huge responsibility for anyone, let alone 19, 20 and 21-year-old men. As the mother of a teenager, I understand all too well the impulsive nature of young men and young women. In the heat of the moment, there's not a lot of thinking about consequences, whether they're driving cars without seat belts or scrambling up a sheer rock wall without proper climbing equipment, let alone disrespecting a religious site.
It's hard to understand the depth of this hurt without knowing a little bit about the town of San Luis, population 739. It is a desperately poor place. About 30 percent of people live below the poverty line. According to the 2000 Census, the per capita income in San Luis was $8,887 per person, with a median income of about $20,875. To put that in some perspective, Salt Lake City's median income was $50,420, according to 2004 Census figures. Per capita income was about $20,190.
Recent comments
It turns out that no charges will be forthcoming after the Catholic...
dean fishman | April 21, 2008 at 5:31 p.m.
have you even bothered to read the colorado statute on this? 18-9...
majickman | March 12, 2008 at 11:01 p.m.
Disappointed, I agree that the acts you describe are just as bad,...
Catholic Guy | March 11, 2008 at 11:35 p.m.
