About Risen Savior · Bluewater Acres, New Mexico
Risen Savior is a small Catholic mission church located in the village of Bluewater, in McKinley County, New Mexico, about 20 minutes west of Grants off Interstate 40, near the shores of Bluewater Lake. It is a mission of St. Paul Church in Crownpoint within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Gallup, and is served by the diocese's McKinley Vicariate. The parish worships in a quiet, rural setting with a single weekly Saturday Vigil Mass at 4:00 pm and confessions beforehand. Risen Savior is notably multicultural: its community brings together Navajo parishioners and Filipino Catholic families, making the small mission a vivid example of Catholic life on the Navajo Nation side of the diocese.
- Established
- 1999
- Patron
- The Risen Savior (the Risen Christ)
- Rector
- Fr. Maximilian Mwelwa (Sacramental Minister)
- Diocese
- Roman Catholic Diocese of Gallup
Why belong here
Risen Savior is a small, intimate Catholic mission where the entire community can fit into one worship space, and parishioners regularly know one another by name. Worship is simple and faithful, with a weekly Saturday Vigil Mass and confessions beforehand, and the parish is celebrated in the wider diocese for its unusually warm multicultural mix of Navajo and Filipino Catholic families. The community's recent conversion of a traditional Navajo hogan into a parish family center — through parishioners' own labor — is a vivid sign of the pride and ownership the mission's people take in their faith and in each other.
Mass times at Risen Savior
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Saturday at 3:45 pm
About Risen Savior Mission
Risen Savior is a small Catholic mission chapel serving the rural village of Bluewater in west-central New Mexico, on the south side of Interstate 40 about 20 minutes west of Grants and not far from the shores of Bluewater Lake. The mission sits in the Diocese of Gallup's McKinley Vicariate and is canonically a mission of St. Paul Church in Crownpoint, with sacramental ministry provided by diocesan priests serving the broader Crownpoint mission cluster.
- Type: Catholic Mission (mission of St. Paul, Crownpoint)
- Vicariate: McKinley
- Diocese: Roman Catholic Diocese of Gallup
- Worship style: one weekly Saturday Vigil Mass with confessions beforehand
History of the Mission
Catholic ministry at Bluewater grew out of the longstanding missionary work centered at St. Paul Church in Crownpoint. According to Marquette University's Guide to Catholic Records About Native Americans in the United States, priests serving St. Paul began regular ministry to Risen Savior Mission at Bluewater in 1999, the date the community began to be formally listed as a mission. For its first years the chapel was a small road-side church with no dedicated parish hall; that changed when the parishioners converted a traditional Navajo hogan, previously used for storage, into a multipurpose family center through their own volunteer labor.
- 1999: Mission formally listed as served from St. Paul, Crownpoint, per Marquette archives
- A repurposed Navajo hogan now serves as the parish's family gathering center
- The project was highlighted in early 2026 by the Black and Indian Mission Office
Clergy and Pastoral Care
Sacramental ministry for the mission is provided through St. Paul Parish in Crownpoint. The Diocese of Gallup's parish directory lists Fr. Maximilian Mwelwa as the Sacramental Minister named on the Risen Savior page itself, while Fr. John Paul Madanu is listed as Sacramental Minister of the parent parish, St. Paul, Crownpoint, of which Risen Savior is a mission. There is no resident priest assigned solely to Risen Savior; the priests travel to Bluewater from the Crownpoint cluster to celebrate the Saturday Vigil Mass and sacraments.
- Fr. Maximilian Mwelwa — Sacramental Minister (Diocese of Gallup parish page)
- Fr. John Paul Madanu — Sacramental Minister of St. Paul, Crownpoint (parent parish)
- Phone for parish inquiries: (505) 786-5376
A Multicultural Parish Family
Risen Savior is recognized in the wider diocese for the way it brings together two distinct Catholic communities under one roof: a long-standing Navajo community from the Bluewater area and Filipino Catholic families who have made the village their home. The Diocese of Gallup, in a January 2026 feature story republished by the Black and Indian Mission Office, described the Christmas 2025 gathering at Risen Savior — joyful Christmas caroling and a shared parish meal — as an expression of fellowship across cultures, made possible by the converted Navajo hogan family center.
- Navajo Catholic families form the historical core of the mission community
- Filipino Catholic families are a recognized part of the parish's life
- The repurposed hogan hosts parish meals, caroling, and fellowship gatherings
Location, Address, and How to Get There
The mission chapel sits at 1228 State Highway 612 in Bluewater, New Mexico 87323, along the south side of Interstate 40 approximately twenty minutes west of Grants. Parish mail is handled through the parent parish at PO Box 268, Crownpoint, NM 87313-1374. Anyone driving in from the interstate follows NM-612 south from the Bluewater exit down toward Bluewater Lake; the small village and chapel are easy to miss from the main road.
- Physical address: 1228 St. Hwy 612, Bluewater, NM 87323
- Mailing address: PO Box 268, Crownpoint, NM 87313-1374
- Telephone: (505) 786-5376
- Reference location: roughly 20 minutes west of Grants, NM, near Bluewater Lake
Diocese and Vicariate
Risen Savior belongs to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Gallup, which covers Catholic ministry across northwestern New Mexico and northeastern Arizona, including the Navajo Nation. On the diocese's directory of New Mexico parishes, Risen Savior is placed in the McKinley Vicariate and listed as a mission of St. Paul Church in Crownpoint.
- Diocese: Roman Catholic Diocese of Gallup
- Vicariate: McKinley
- Parent parish: St. Paul, Crownpoint
Pastors & rectors through the years
- Fr. Maximilian Mwelwa
Current Sacramental Minister listed on the Diocese of Gallup's Bluewater – Risen Savior parish page.