TIFFANY – A beloved Catholic church in a tiny community in southeast La Plata County is being prepared to host an upcoming wedding. The problem is, the building continues to gradually crumble, and help to make considerable repairs remains at a standstill.
Iglesia de San Antonio is located in Tiffany, just north of the New Mexico line, which is an economically depressed section of the county. The church, commonly known as the “Little Church,” was built in 1928 and is the only remaining building in Tiffany that conveys the townsite’s Hispanic history.
“It should be restored, just for people to come and visit it,” church caretaker Margaret Muñoz-Lucero said, adding that people also want to enjoy St. Anthony’s Feast Day, held June 13, at the church.
The church was a gathering place for migrants who moved from northern New Mexico to begin farming and sheepherding in this little corner of the county, according to the history database Colorado Preservation, Inc.
“It means a lot to Tiffany. It means a lot to the people that grew up here that have moved away,” Muñoz-Lucero said. “There are people that have attended mass during The Feast of St. Anthony. They were baptized here, married here.”
Leah Bopp and George Stewart have set their wedding date for Oct. 5.
Bopp, who makes jewelry, and Stewart, a lamp worker who makes items like vases and pint-style drinking glasses, appreciate the historical significance of Iglesia de San Antonio. They also live just a few doors down from the church.
“I just think churches in general are pretty neat,” Stewart said. “Everywhere I’ve been, just around the world, the churches really stand out everywhere you go. They’re always the main focal points of a lot of these cities.”
Bopp said she appreciates Iglesia de San Antonio’s architecture.
“It’s just a magical place,” she said. “I really think it’s just an amazing structure.”
Stewart, who grew up in Durango, for a time lived in New Mexico and was quickly drawn to the churches in the Land of Enchantment. He said he grew fond of the history surrounding those particular churches, including the Santa Fe area.
Upon returning to La Plata County, that curiosity for church history continued. And that curiosity heightened upon realizing Iglesia de San Antonio is walking distance from the couple’s home.
“With the church here, you can tell there’s a community here,” he said. “And so that just really made me think, ‘Man, this is a real spot to build a house (where) I can see a church from my house.’ It’s always just been something that when people come to visit, everyone wants to go see the church. It’s been a great little place for us to just have a social event.”
He said the area’s history itself is “super old,” adding he found some old Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad tracks on his property from when the train came through Tiffany.
Conversations about tying the knot at a place like Iglesia de San Antonio began in 2021, when the couple started dating. And they appreciate venues with “rustic old things,” considering their occupations, Bopp said.
Even so, the couple knows there’s work to be done.
“Being married in there, we don’t want to see this place go to the ground eventually, and that’s what’s going to happen to it. It’ll be a ruin at some point,” Stewart said. “It would be nice to get this thing restored.”
Iglesia de San Antonio, which was added in 2019 to the list of Colorado’s Most Endangered Places, was built with adobe bricks, wire and plaster. But it continues to slowly wither away.
Multiple holes brought on by decayed stucco can be seen on the far left side of the church, leaving the wiring it adheres to exposed. The original adobe bricks behind the wiring are also exposed.
The church also needs to add a new composite roof after its existing tin roof came off as a result of strong winds that hit the area on one occasion. There are also some cracks along some of the edges of the ceiling in the back room behind the altar.
As time goes on, and with little-to-no progress made amid limited means of funding, church officials and area residents continue to do what they can to tidy up the building and wait for some kind of extra assistance.
“There’s people here who care about this community who are pitching in to help. That means something,” said Sally Silva, an Ignacio resident and Muñoz-Lucero’s friend of 20 years.
Muñoz-Lucero, Silva, Bopp and Stewart were among at least a half-dozen people who spent time on Sept. 13 doing smaller, yet time-consuming things such as sweeping up the floors and wiping the window sills inside the church.
“(Restoring the church) would help the community immensely because there’s a lot of elderly folks here who would probably come back to this church,” Silva said. “After 97 years, it’s still here. So, it is precious to the community.”
La Plata County historian Ruth Lambert, the former cultural program director at the San Juan Mountains Association, said it is important that repairs be made to Iglesia de San Antonio because the church has historical integrity because it is “entirely original,” from the interior to the altar and bell.
Muñoz-Lucero said the estimated cost for the complete restoration is between $200,000 and $300,000.
Aside from receiving a Colorado Historical Society grant in 2020 worth $21,969 for construction blueprinting documents, Muñoz-Lucero said she reached out to the Colorado Historical Society about additional grant money. However, she learned she was not able to apply for the grant, alleging that the Diocese of Pueblo, which owns Iglesia de San Antonio, said no to that request because CHS “contributed” to matters involving the LGBTQ community and abortion clinics.
Lambert said she helped Muñoz-Lucero apply for a grant for a larger amount. She said that money came from state gaming revenue from three gaming mountain towns, adding that a portion of such revenue goes toward historic preservation. She also said the funding source has nothing to do with LGBTQ or abortion issues.
Muñoz-Lucero received a letter, dated Feb. 21, 2023, written by Diocese Bishop Stephen Berg, saying her effort to obtain additional grant money “cannot now be accepted” on the grounds that State Historic Fund grants “are generated by taxes on gambling.”
The letter said receipt of “such funds by the Diocese or its parishes would eliminate the exemption” for religious institutions, which “applies only if employers (religious organizations) do not accept any money raised by taxation or public borrowing to support the employer.”
The letter also brought up that receiving public gambling-based money could jeopardize the Diocese’s religious exemption status and make it subject to Colorado’s Anti-Discrimination Statute.
“Although the inability to accept governmental funds creates a hardship for all of us, we can take comfort that we are not compromising our Catholic values in return for financial gain,” the letter concludes.
Muñoz-Lucero said it would be a shame if the Tiffany church fell further into disrepair because there is a hold on the grant.
Berg said in an email statement to The Durango Herald that “the diocesan offices have not received any requests for financial assistance involving the preservation, restoration, or reconstruction of Iglesia de San Antonio,” but options are open.
“We are not able to discuss considerations with Iglesia de San Antonio because no proposals have been made to the diocesan offices,” he said. “The church is of interest to us, and we have kept it open for the good of the faithful. We would welcome for them to make a request.”
Silva, a retired grant writer who used to work for Housing Solutions for the Southwest, plans to help Muñoz-Lucero search for other grant money avenues, and may also write some grants to get things rolling.
Lambert said she has discussed with Muñoz-Lucero about going to the National Trust for Historic Preservation for grant money, but very little headway has been made. The caveat is that applications must be made via a nonprofit as opposed to one person doing so independently, Lambert said.
Muñoz-Lucero said she hopes some kind of funding via Colorado Historical Society won’t be out of the question going forward, merely because of Iglesia de San Antonio’s presence.
“I was born and raised around this area,” she said. “I attended church here when I was young.”
She also wants to ensure the work is done in time for the church’s 100-year anniversary.
“That’s not too far away,” she said, adding she is open to other possible means to get the project going.
mhollinshead@durangoherald.com
