Week of
September 27, 2000
Inside the Register
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Pope honors 11 Catholics for service to Church
By Peter Droege
Eleven Catholics in northern Colorado have been named by Pope John Paul II to receive the Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice ("Cross for the Church and Pontiff"), for their sacrificial service to the Church.
The honorees include eight laypersons, a deacon, a woman religious and a Capuchin priest. The awards will be conferred by Archbishop Charles Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., during the 6:30 p.m. Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on Oct. 15.
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The recipients are James P. Brophy, St. John the Evangelist Parish, Yuma; Thomas J. Crane, Queen of Peace Parish, Aurora; James Garcia, Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, Denver; Marie E. Jennings, Good Shepherd Parish, Denver; Rita T. Kelly, Holy Name, Steamboat; Dorothy Leonard, Annunciation Parish, Denver; James Mauck, St. James, Denver; Marie Sailas, St. Augustine, Brighton; Rev. Mr. Lewis Barbato, a deacon at Most Precious Blood Parish, Denver; Sister of Loretto Rosemary Wilcox; and Father Thomas More Janeck, O.F.M. Cap.
The "Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice," is an award created by Pope Leo XIII in 1888. The award is bestowed by Popes as a significant mark of honor for service to the Church. It is one of the highest honors the Holy Father can grant to an individual, and has not been awarded in the Archdiocese of Denver for many years.
During the Mass, the archbishop will present each of the recipients with a gold-colored medallion in the shape of a Greek cross bearing the images of the apostles Peter and Paul. The recipients will also receive a parchment recognizing their service to the Church.
In a nominating letter to the Holy Father, presented through the Apostolic Nuncio, Most Rev. Gabriel Montalvo, Archbishop Chaput requested that the 11 receive the "Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice."
"They are devoted to Jesus Christ in their personal lives and a source of inspiration for the priests and people of the archdiocese," wrote the archbishop. "Honoring them thus — particularly in this Jubilee Year — would not only be appropriate but also a great example to our entire community of faith," he added.
The archbishop included significant background on each honoree, identifying why he or she was being nominated. In a process which took several months, The Holy See then reviewed the names and their records of service.
According to the archbishop's letter, James Brophy was named for the award, "for his 40 years of generosity and personal service to parish life on Colorado's Eastern Plains as lector, catechist, finance council member and pastoral council president."
Brophy and his wife Dorothy raise cattle and grow corn and wheat near Yuma. He told the Register he was honored, but surprised, at being named for the award. "I was raised by fine Irish Catholic parents and have always tried to live the faith, but haven't always done a good job," he joked. "When we were newlyweds, we got involved in Catholic rural life efforts, and I think it is because of the important nature of this work that I was nominated," he said.
Thomas Crane was recommended, "for his unselfish commitment of his business management and financial development skills to help the Church throughout northern Colorado steward her resources more effectively, and especially for his on-going assistance to poor parishes in Denver's inner-city."
Crane is known for his efforts to raise funds for the restoration of aging churches, including Annunciation, Sacred Heart, St. Ignatius Loyola, and others. "There has been a lot of deferred maintenance and these structures need a lot of work if they are going to continue to serve the needs of the faithful in the future," he told the Register.
James Garcia has taken a leadership role in establishing a small health clinic at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church and for helping launch "Escuela Guadalupe" for low income students in northern Denver. He was recommended for the award, "for energetic Catholic leadership in Colorado's rapidly growing Hispanic community, for his commitment to providing quality medical services and Catholic education to the Hispanic people of the archdiocese and for his important service to the whole Church in northern Colorado through his work on the Pastoral Council of the Archdiocese of Denver."
Marie Jennings is the immediate past president of the Council of Catholic Women. She has been involved in countless efforts to meet the needs of the poor in Denver and throughout America. She was nominated for the award, "for a lifetime of faithful Catholic leadership and witness among women of the Church in northern Colorado, including but not limited to her very fruitful presidencies and official service with the Council of Catholic Women in the Archdiocese of Denver."
In 1953, Rita Kelly was reading the Denver Catholic Register and learned that Catholic Charities had a number of orphans in need of homes. She and her husband Fran eventually adopted three children, which inspired the couple to dedicate themselves in service to the Church. She was nominated for the award, "for decades of loving and exemplary service as a parish volunteer, including catechist and numerous other apostolates, at Holy Name Parish in Steamboat."
Dorothy Leonard has dedicated her life in service to the poor. She was nominated, "for devoted service to the homeless at Denver's nationally acclaimed Catholic Charities Samaritan House shelter, and for her work as a Catholic teacher among Denver's inner-city poor at Annunciation School, where she has formed hundreds of disadvantaged students not only in academic excellence but in a deep love for Jesus Christ and the Catholic faith."
James Mauck, president of Catholic Charities, is a nationally recognized advocate for the poor. He was nominated for the award, "for more than 25 years of leadership in Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Denver — a charity which, through his efforts as president, has developed into the largest non-governmental source of support for the poor in Colorado; and for his personal zeal for defending and assisting the disadvantaged throughout northern Colorado."
Marie Sailas is the administrative assistant to Msgr. Walker Nickless, vicar for clergy and seminarians. She was nominated for her, "generous and faithful staff support within the Secretariat for Priests and Seminarians of the Archdiocese of Denver, and for her sensitive, unheralded, but invaluable assistance to priests and seminarians of the Church in northern Colorado, and to the Archbishop of Denver through his vicar general/vicar for clergy."
Born June 11, 1908, Deacon Lewis Barbato, M.D., held many key positions as a professor, lecturer, and resident physician in the field of psychiatry. After retiring in 1973 as dean of Student Services at the University of Denver, he launched a new career of service as a permanent deacon, offering his considerable skills to the Church.
Ordained a permanent deacon in 1978, he served as vicar for Family Life and Youth Services, as administrator at St. Patrick Counseling Center, and many other positions. He was nominated for the award, "for longtime and distinguished diaconal service, for years of outstanding pastoral ministry at Most Precious Blood Parish, for invaluable counsel as a member of the Advisory Board of the Archdiocese of Denver's permanent diaconate program, for his assistance in the evaluation of diaconal candidates, and for a life exemplifying the best gifts of the diaconal vocation."
Sister of Loretto Rosemary Wilcox was nominated, "for years of outstanding personal devotion to Catholic education in the archdiocese as a teacher at Blessed Sacrament and St. Philomena schools, principal at Bishop Machebeuf High School, and administrator within the Archdiocese of Denver's secretariat for Catholic Education, and for loyal service to the Church in northern Colorado as a senior counselor to the Archbishop of Denver and former chancellor of the archdiocese."
Capuchin Franciscan Father Thomas More Janeck was nominated for the award, "for nearly three decades of personal and sacrificial devotion to the Hispanic poor of the Church in northern Colorado, both as a pastor and advocate to the wider community; for tireless service to tens of thousands of Colorado's rural migrant laborers; for leading and working with other committed Catholics to secure for migrant workers more decent housing and child care; and for personally providing countless migrant families and individuals with food, clothing, friendship, counsel and, above all, the presence of Jesus Christ through the Sacraments."