When Chris Roybal visits the San Jose del Chama Catholic Church in Hernandez, it’s a homecoming.
Roybal’s grandparents on both sides are buried in the cemetery there, and his uncle used to live in the house immediately to the south of the small adobe church. That house, with its square loft window, is visible in the center of Ansel Adams’ famous Moonrise Over Hernandez photograph — taken back when Hernandez was just a few homes by the side of the road.
For over a decade, Roybal has served on a restoration committee dedicated to San Jose’s renovation. This week, workers are completing the exterior stucco that now gives the church a rich brown facade.
“It’s a labor of love for us,” Roybal said. “We were doing bake sales. It’s taken so long, it’s cool to see the progress.”
Dan Shell, a neighbor who now inhabits the famous house, was tending his sheep while the workers applied stucco. Shell said the church doesn’t get too many visitors these days, and he’s glad to see the renovations progressing.
“I think they’re doing a great job,” Shell said.
San Jose del Chama was first dedicated in 1850 by the bishop of Durango — who traveled from Mexico to give the ceremony, Roybal said. According to plaques on the structure, it was renovated in 1955, with the most recent stucco completed in 1965.
“We’re going on 43 years,” Roybal said.
This final step has been years in the making. The committee’s first order of business, back in 1997, was to fix water damage on the southeast corner, where runoff from the roof had been steadily carving away the adobe bricks. Roybal said it took more than 200 bricks to rebuild the corner. Then they completed a scratch-and-brown exterior coat, which protected the structure but lent the church a grey, cement-like appearance.
With the help of two grants from the Catholic Foundation, the end finally came into sight. Roybal said they got a great deal from contractor Sam Maestas, who has been coming to San Jose since he was a child.
“If it had been a regular contractor, we couldn’t have afforded it,” Roybal said.
Last year, Maestas installed a new roof. With that protection in place, workers could finally begin scheduling the exterior stucco work. They bought materials locally and matched the color to that of the old stucco, still visible on the bell tower, Roybal said.
Maestas said everyone was eager to start the work earlier this year, but the workers waited for cooler fall weather to set in — new stucco dries too quickly in the hot summer months and can be more prone to cracks.
But when the cool weather finally came, the temperatures dropped quickly and limited the work day. During the project, Maestas and his fellow workers could be found at the church in the morning, watching the building and waiting for the sun to bring temperatures up into the 50s.
“That’s the reason we waited, but I guess we waited too long,” Maestas said.
Roybal said in addition to the businesses which donated labor and materials, the penitentes group Los Hermanos de Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno de El Duende deserves much of the credit for San Jose’s survival. The little church no longer holds Sunday masses — in the 1970s, the diocese built a new, larger main church across the highway and might have demolished the original building. Los Hermanos saved it then, and they continue to hold stations of the cross every Friday during Lent, Roybal said.
“If it wasn’t for them, this place wouldn’t be standing,” Roybal said.
Roybal said the finishing touch will be the bell, which will be rehung sometime in the next few months. But the work is never really over. Now that the structure itself is sound, the doors need to be secured so the original altar screens can finally be brought out of storage in Santa Fe, Roybal said. He said he’d also like to see bathrooms installed.
Maestas said landscaping might be another future goal. Big cottonwood trees would make the property look authentic, he said.
“It’ll really look good again,” Maestas said.