Hogans

One of the moments when I knew it was time to say the long goodbye to church work was when I tried to convince a congregation to donate towards improved housing in the Diocese of Navajoland [now known as The Episcopal Church of Navajoland, because why not?] as the reservation was filled with homes such as these.  Yes, people live in them and raise families there, too.

The traditional name for a Navajo domicile is "hogan", a word that caused the white people to giggle some.  This is an unknown world for them, and I should have realized that life on the res is far, far different than life in an expensive little town in tony Connecticut.  There was no way that I could cause them, even via Christian impulse, to find any connection to our brothers and sisters-in-Christ among the Episcopalians of the Four Corners that would elicit a contribution.  I guess I can still have moments of naivete, even after all of these years.

Fortunately, a member of the parish made an anonymous donation on behalf of our parish, so I was happy to receive this photo in the mail today:

Remarkable what $1000 can do outside of tax-laden, over-priced Connecticut, isn't it?  You can actually help other people.