In Gallup New Mexico, a Shrine to St. Kateri Tekakwitha is being raised with a particular portion dedicated to our lady of Gaudalupe. This shrine is being built with the collaboration of the Sebaste Program for Young Men

Jeremy Boucher, MODG Dad, works with the Saint Kateri Rosary Walk in Collaboration with the Sebaste program to build a shrine and place of pilgrimage. He answers our main questions about this shrine in gallup nm!

The former rector of the Cathedral of Sacred Heart Cathedral, Fr. Matt Keller, originally proposed the idea to build a shrine in New Mexico to minister to a large native American community. “Our Diocese [of Gallup] was specifically set up to minister to the Native American people of the Southwest. The idea behind the [Sacred Heart] Retreat center, is to be a spiritual space for the people of the diocese, which are largely Native- American families.” 

Prior to the building of the rosary walk, Mr. Boucher said there were syncretist buildings on the site of the retreat center, but there needed to be a change. “They wanted to design something overtly catholic and overtly native american in spirituality. That is why they chose to build it in honor of St. Kateri. The idea behind it is to follow in her footsteps in a similar way.”

What necessarily followed the devotion to St. Kateri was a devotion to Our Lady. “Our Lady of Gradualupe is the patroness of the Americas, and then St. Kateri is the first native American saint from what is now the United States. [They] tie this thread of God working through the native peoples of the American continent, North and South America. It is tough to have a devotion to St. Kateri without also having a devotion to our Lady of Gaudalupe. They kinda go together spiritually.”

St. Kateri’s specific devotional practices to Our Lady was also an inspiration for the Shrine, which is a rosary walk. St. Kateri, during her life was persecuted for her catholic faith and was not allowed to have a rosary by the relatives she lived with. In order to pray, she would go on “rosary walks” in the woods and count her Hail Marys by stacking rocks as she walked through the woods. “This is what we are trying to emulate with the whole project.” Commented Mr. Boucher

The architecture of the rosary walk in Gallup NM “pays homage both to Saint Kateri’s connection to nature, her piety and particularly to her great love for the rosary. The design of the shrine resembles a 20-decade rosary carved from the desert. An outdoor chapel will stand at the head, and a path will flow to the center of the Rosary Walk. From the centerpiece, four pathways will loop through the surrounding terrain, each dotted with five Nichos (“niches”) to depict the mysteries of the rosary,” as the Shrine's website describes.

Even the choice of Nichos was a deliberate choice to minister to Gallup’s immediate community, “The style of the Nichos is a specifically new mexican architecture style, which is an incredible blend of the spanish and Native American. That is where the architecture comes from, and hearkens back to the oldest churches [first built in what is now the United States]. This style is taken from a blend of the Spanish and Native American sensibilities.”

The Shrine is collaborating with the Sebaste Program to employ young men to build this shrine for Our Lady, why did y’all choose to employ young men?

“The way we are building it [the shrine] is with all natural materials, it makes it very, very labor intensive. We are kinda re-learning how to build in this style, with those materials. It is a bit of an experiment. We needed a large labor force, and we didn’t have one in New Mexico which is doing this type of work. We thought it was a great opportunity to give young men the opportunity to come do some hard work, and to go through a program that helps train them in Christian manliness. It [also] gives us a labor force that is conveniently located here in Gallup and also provides the opportunity for spiritual growth and development for these young men.”