Purple Church

This afternoon, on our 1/2 day off, we went to a local RC church in St Francis, SD which is painted lavender!
The story we were told is that years ago, the then new RC Bishop made several missteps in the beginning of his tenure on the reservation; mistakes which seriously jeopardized the continuing ministry of the church. In an act of contrition, the Bishop agreed to let the children of the parish pick whatever color they wanted when it came to repaint the building.
When he heard they had picked PURPLE, he was going to refuse to honor his promise - until the tribal elders convinced him that if he failed to honor his word, the church would be damaged for generations.
Hence, purple.

It is nearing the end of a complete renovation; stained glass windows are out being cleaned and re-leaded and the main altar is being refinished.
It's a lovely worship space and there's a museum on the same ground - Buechel Memorial Lakota Museum- which we also visisted.

One last day of work - BIG push tomorrow to get things finished before going to Wacipi (Pow wow) - and then headed home early Saturday morning.
Difficult to believe our time here is almost over!