About 20 minutes west of Grants, NM, along the south side of Interstate 40, lies the “blink and you’ll miss it” village of Bluewater. Further down the road, near the banks of the lake from which the village takes its name, is the tiny Catholic mission church, Risen Savior.
The church in Bluewater is currently tied to the parish in Crownpoint, NM, but was originally established as a mission of St. Bonaventure in Thoreau. In 1977, a former protestant church was purchased, remodeled, and officially dedicated for use.
In 2025, then-pastor Fr. John Paul Madanu began a search for a parish hall.
“Bishop James Wall, he was the one [who] actually advised me it’s better to have a parish hall for the little community,” Fr. Madanu recalled. The priest then met with his parishioners, who loved the idea, but a challenge soon presented itself: where to find an appropriate building? Fr. Madanu worried about the burden of buying or building a space, which could easily cost multiple thousands of dollars.
Then, a few parishioners suggested using the storage space across the parking lot: a small hogan. It needed remodeling and cleaning, but Fr. Madanu thought the idea was perfect.
“So then what happened – it was so beautiful – people started coming together and cleaning the hogan. There was no electricity, no light. And the floor was good, but it needed to have a little maintenance.”
The community’s deacon, John Margis, is also an electrician, and he was able to pull electricity from the church and install lights. Other parishioners fixed up the doors, windows, and installed a small wood stove to serve as a heating system.
“They used to request people to host some social gatherings. I did not feel [right] asking the people to open their doors for a gathering,” Fr. Madanu said. “So we used to have some gatherings in the church itself. We used to close the tabernacle. But then we opened this, and they were so happy and so grateful.”
He recalls overhearing some parishioners excitedly discussing possible future plans for the new hall, like bingo games and yard sales.
“They were so happy that at last they can bring all other people – not only Catholics, but those who are living in the community – they can bring them together, have a gathering once a month, so that the community could be alive and vibrant. They want to put something like a carport outside the hogan, so they can have cookouts during the summer.”
Fr. Madanu hopes that the new hall will grow into a vibrant community hub for the village.
“I strongly believe that food brings the people together…to build the relationship among Catholics, even those who don’t come to the church. It can build a family of friendship. Even a little community can do wonders when the people come together, be it Bluewater or anywhere.”