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October 30, 2002
Five priests recall lives of service to Archdiocese of Denver
Senior priest, Msgr. Thomas Barry, will be 97 next month
By Mary E. Manley
Five priests who live at Gardens of St. Elizabeth's in Denver recently reflected on the joys of their decades of service to the Church.
Msgr. Thomas Barry, who was ordained June 3, 1939, will turn 97 Nov. 23. The Archdiocese of Denver's senior priest, he recalled the Lord's hand in his life since he came from Ireland in 1924 as "a poor, simple peon from the sod."
Msgr. Barry served at numerous parishes, and takes special pride in his decade as pastor of Grand County during extensive growth of the Church in Kremmling, Grand Lake, Granby, Middle Park and Walden. He was a concelebrant at the June 2000 dedication of the Our Lady of the Snows Parish building in Granby. Seven hundred people, including Archbishop Charles Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., attended.
Before illness intervened, Msgr. Barry had a long tenure at All Souls Parish in Englewood. Two of his long-time parishioner friends, Grace Luckasen and Marion Fuller, who had just visited him for a Mass in his room, marveled at his clarity and wit. He had a word for parents: "God bless. Pay attention to your children. Be sure to raise them Catholic. They grow up all too fast."
Father Charles Salmon and Father Albert Puhl were ordained at St. Thomas Seminary June 6, 1944. Father Salmon smiled as he recalled being nicknamed "Fish" since he was a teen-ager, and subsequently as "Father Fish." He has been resident chaplain at Gardens of St. Elizabeth for most of his 27 years there. After his first assignment as an assistant at St. Francis de Sales Parish in Denver, he served other parishes in the city and rural Colorado.
"Age has slowed us down a bit," Father Salmon said. "We read slower and don't hear as well, among other things." He broke off the interview to fulfill his commitment to celebrate chapel Mass.
Father Puhl, a three-year resident, said visitors to the community "always want to know, 'How's the food?' I find it rather good. And it's varied."
Father Puhl started his priesthood as a Holy Ghost Parish assistant in Grand Junction and served in various assignments in metropolitan and rural areas. He remembers particularly the intensity of working at Christ the King Parish in Denver and being on "sick-call duty" for six area hospitals.
"I tend to recall the most at 2 a.m. in the morning," he said.
Father Roger Mollison, ordained May 5, 1964, later added Franciscan ties to his diocesan role. He has been an assisted-living resident for 3 ½ years, recovering from a brain tumor.
"I have been really happy to be a priest and to do something for the Lord," he said.
His pastoral work in the Denver metro area included service in what is now Cabrini Parish in Littleton and St. Louis Parish in Englewood. He also founded Littleton's Jesus Our Hope Hermitage. He said his greatest joy has been the fact that his sister's child, Justin, whom he adopted at 17 months, is now 18 years old and back with his mother. He expressed his gratitude "to all the people who have helped me come back to life."
Father Thomas Dona, ordained a Jesuit on June 9, 1965, at St. Mary's College in Kansas, became a diocesan priest in 1975. His longest assignments were at Blessed Sacrament and Holy Family parishes in Denver. He has been at the Gardens a year and a half, recovering from surgery on both legs.
"Retired or not, one is still fully involved in Christ's work" he said. "Being retired brings home the fact that we can serve in more ways than one. For me, in light of having been accustomed to a very active priesthood, this service now means patience through suffering. I may never get back to normal, but the Gardens has been a good place for my condition. I sure am in better shape than a year ago."
Gardens of St. Elizabeth's at 2835 W. 32nd Ave., Denver, has served the Archdiocese of Denver as a retirement community since 1954. It was dedicated under its current name Sept. 11, 1987, with the opening of the 14-story building housing 144 apartments on the site west of the Christ the King Chapel. The chapel, which celebrated its centennial in 1997, was designated a historical landmark by Historic Denver Inc. in 1975.
For more information, call 303-477-4442.
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