Tear down the wall covering the Lady of Guadalupe mural, demanded Faithful United, about 20 mostly middle-aged Latinas who recited the rosary as they marched Tuesday to the closed doors of the Catholic Archdiocese of Denver Chancery Building.
Members of the group have been asking for more than a year for restoration of the mural after a relatively new pastor of Denver’s Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, Father Benito Hernandez, constructed a wall in front of the depiction of Mary, mother of Jesus, and painted over a portion of the mural portraying God in heaven.
Hernandez said in a statement that he and the parish council decided the painting behind the altar “detracted from the central focus of the Holy Presence of the Blessed Sacrament in the altar.”
What’s left of the mural is accessible for viewing behind the new wall.
“The decision was not a denial of the mural’s value to the parish’s history, or a rejection of the artist’s original intent,” Hernandez wrote.
However, the loss of the mural as sanctuary centerpiece after three decades was “a stab to the heart” of a community with pride in its Hispanic heritage and past history of social activism, said Faithful United organizer Mike Wilzoch. The church was founded in 1936 to serve Denver’s Spanish-speaking Catholics.
“These guys are dead wrong, and they don’t have the humility to admit it,” said Wilzoch, an experienced community organizer and former parishioner of the north Denver church.
Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared to poor Juan Diego in his native language with a message of peace in the miracle at Tepayac, the group’s said in its letter to the archbishop. “And (her) telling the world that God does not speak only to the wealthy, who were treating Juan Diego and our ancestors with brutality, is a message that resonates today.”
Tuesday afternoon, Faithful United members were met outside by Monsignor Jorge de los Santos, the vicar for Hispanic Ministry, who told them: “I love you. I want to tell you I respect you a lot, but this issue is a parish issue.”
He asked them to calm down and said he could do nothing for them because the matter was decided by parish leadership and a majority of parishioners, not by the archbishop.
“We’ve just seen another wall,” Wilzoch said. “But we will continue our campaign until the wall comes down.”
Frank Castro, baptized in the church and 64-year parishioner, told de los Santos there hadn’t been a vote of parishioners or even minutes or other documentation of a vote by the parish council.
Other group members said this claim was an attempt to divide the parish when most wanted the mural preserved. More than 500 people have signed a petition supporting restoration.
“The people miss the mural,” said its creator, artist Carlota EspinoZa. “It felt sacrilegious when it was taken away.”
Archdiocese officials had first warned the group not to trespass on private property Tuesday, Wilzoch said, but later relented and agreed to let them deliver a letter to the archbishop’s representative.
As the group prepared to process across the arcdiocese campus to deliver the letter, church officials told press members that media couldn’t enter the property. The archdiocese has criticized Faithful United for involving the press.
Helen Giron-Mushfig, a visiting professor of Chicano studies at Metropolitan State College of Denver, said the mural is important because the Lady of Guadalupe came with a message of peace at a time in history that was violent and turbulent.
“The church should not dictate to us how to worship,” Giron-Mushfig said.
Electa Draper: 303-954-1276 or edraper@denverpost.com
