Archbishop's web site Denver Catholic Register Parishes Catholic Pastoral Center
January 17, 2001
Pastor of St. Cajetan Parish celebrates 90th
Beloved priest continues pastoral ministry, writing poems about faith, life
By Peter Droege
Theatine Father James Prohens, pastor of St. Cajetan's Church in south Denver, recently celebrated his 90th birthday by presenting his parishioners with his most recent book of poetry.
"There is in each one of these poems an aged and pondered feeling that could be inaccessible to anyone who has not gone through the author's vital experience," Father Prohens wrote in the introduction to his book.
"Like Abraham Lincoln's prose, which is said to reproduce the verve of the Bible's prose, these poems take their starting point from the images of the Bible, though filtered through the special characteristics of the author's mother tongue," he added.
The oldest pastor in the archdiocese, the kindly, beloved priest from Mallorca, Spain, is also chaplain to Knights of Columbus Council 539 in Denver and the assembly's Fourth Degree. The Knights hosted a banquet at Gala Gardens in Commerce City in honor of Father Prohens' birthday.
"He is a wonderful priest and has been a great friend for many years," said George Atencio, president of the Home Association at Council 539.
Born Jan. 9, 1911, in Felanitx on the island of Mallorca, Father Prohens still loves his homeland and spends about a month there each year. He also loves his vocation.
"I was born a priest," Father Prohens said, adding that he entered the Theatine seminary in his hometown when he was 9 years old. He was ordained in 1936, the same year the Spanish Civil War broke out. He served as an army chaplain for a year and describes the war in one word, "Awful."
In his six decades as a priest he has both taught and served as an administrator at Theatine seminaries in Spain and the United States, including St. Andrew Avellino Seminary in Denver. He also has served as a Theatine provincial superior in those countries, which is similar to running a diocese. Parish assignments have included a church in Argentina, where he helped to establish the Theatine order during the presidency of Juan Peron, and a church in Mexico. Local parish assignments include Holy Family Church in Ft. Collins and Our Lady of Guadalupe in Colorado Springs.
The bulk of his priesthood has been spent at St. Cajetan, Denver's pioneer Hispanic parish. Originally located downtown at 9th and Lawrence streets on what is now the Auraria campus, Father Prohens was pastor when the church moved to its current location at Alameda and Raleigh in 1972.
"When I celebrated my 70th birthday, I sent properly my letter of resignation to the archbishop," Father Prohens said in a recent interview with the Denver Catholic Register. "The bishop didn't answer me. I kept working."
