RANCHOS DE TAOS — A familiar sight appeared at San Francisco de Asís Church this week as volunteers plastered fresh mud to the church’s adobe walls.

It's a centuries-old tradition called an enjarre, but it faced an unexpected challenge after the parish uncovered significant damage to the church earlier this year. The enjarre's typical June start time was postponed.

“Because of financial concerns, we wanted to make sure we could address those problems without the enjarre making them worse — if that’s where it came from,” said the Rev. Ryan Stoer, who became the historic church's priest in June. “We wanted to see what was causing those problems without having to spend money on the enjarre, fixing the problems, then having to do another enjarre afterwards.”

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