Week
of
May 29, 2002
Inside the Register
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Assumption Church in Welby celebrates 90th birthday
Servite order operates parish in rural north Denver hamlet
By Alwen Bledsoe
In
1911 a young Italian priest biked to Rotolo's Grocery Store every Sunday,
but not to buy food. Instead the priest served the body and blood of Christ
to the very first attendees of Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in
Welby (north Denver).
According to Tom Noel's "Colorado Catholicism," Father Joseph Bosetti said Mass at the grocery store until, with the help of grocer Dominic Rotolo, the church raised enough money to build a small and simple church of red brick dedicated on May 12, 1912.
Assumption parish celebrated its 90th birthday May 19, Pentecost Sunday, with 300 parishioners, said Servite Father Hugh M. Guentner, pastor of the parish. So many turned out for the festivities that some had to be turned away, he added. The celebration included a Mass said by Servite Father Michael M. Guimon, provincial of the U.S.A. Province of the Order Servants of Mary (Servites). A blessing of the prayer garden and dinner followed.
Once the parish had its own home and shed its mission status, the Servites, an Italian order, took over care of the church, said Father Guentner.
"The Servites came to Denver at the invitation of St. Mother Cabrini to our friars in Chicago," he said.
The order served Italian-American parishes in Chicago and continued that same work in Denver, originally at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish, he said.
"A lot of Italians were farming out here. They came from similar communities in Italy," Father Guentner continued. "The Servite friars at Mount Carmel were given the church by the diocese."
Perhaps not surprisingly, the church's Italian-American roots left their most indelible mark on the parish in the form of parties and food. Admittedly the celebrations have paid their tribute to the inevitable marching on of time, and now the yearly spaghetti dinner is scheduled around the Denver Bronco's schedule. Only on Bronco-free Sundays does the spaghetti dinner occur, Father Geutner said.
Quoting Agnes Domenico, who compiled a 75-year-old history of the parish, Noel notes that the church's lavish annual summer bazaars and spaghetti dinners began in the 1920s to celebrate the feasts of St. Anthony, St. Rocco and the Assumption. Four-day-long bazaars in November also celebrated the end of harvest season.
Though the church still retains a small contingent of its original Italian-American congregation, it is now primarily Hispanic-American, Father Guentner said. Now the church's challenge is to decide how to accommodate new growth in old buildings that date back to the 1920s and how to serve the many Spanish-speakers in the area, the priest added. The church would like to offer a Spanish Mass at some point in the future, he said.
Rose Maestas has attended Assumption for somewhere between 32 and 35 years, she said.
"I tried moving `cause I don't live anywhere near it. I live in Arvada," she said, but the church has always pulled her back. Originally her family traveled from Northglenn to Assumption, she added.
Her two daughters attended the parish school, a connection that wove the family deep into the church's community, she said.
At one point, recalled Maestas, the parish school very nearly closed. The way the community worked together to keep it open still inspires Maestas.
"The families (came) together to make sure it would keep going, to make sure it met fire codes to stay open," she remembered.
The school did stay open and is now ending its 82nd year, Father Guentner said.
"We're very proud of our school," he said.
Once Maestas' children had graduated from Assumption School, the intimate friendships her family had formed at church kept them coming every Sunday. "To me it's just family. It's faith-filled. It's community," Maestas said. Making a long trek to church has become a family tradition, now carried on by Maestas' two daughters, Anne Marie and Francine who travel from Broomfield and Westminster respectively to attend Assumption. Both were married in the parish with wedding parties full of Assumption classmates and now have baptized their own children in the church. Even after 30-plus years spanning changes and growth, graduations and marriages, Maestas still feels a sense of belonging at her beloved parish. "It's just a beautiful place to be. I could sum it up with just one word: home. It's home," she said.