Week
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October 30, 2002
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Masses, dinner celebrate 90th anniversary of Cathedral's dedication
Observance highlights history of Church's role in state's origin and growth
By Jack Bacon
She
"had to hold back the tears" during 10:30 a.m. Mass at Denver's
Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception Sunday, Joan Pepper Thomason said.
The occasion was the high Mass celebrated by Bishop José Gomez, S.T.D., that included special observance of the cathedral's 90th anniversary and a powerful performance by the choir and orchestra that got a spontaneous ovation as the congregation left the church. It all carried her back 55 years, when she came to Colorado with her family from Boone, Iowa.
Thomason, her father Edward Pepper and brother Thomas became members of the choir then, when one of the archdiocese's best-remembered priests, the late Msgr. Joseph Bosetti, was in charge. Thomas, she said, was a soprano soloist — at the age of 8.
She, her husband Michael and long-time friend and fellow singer Joan Daniel were among children of the "Mother Church" of Northern Colorado who celebrated the anniversary of its dedication on Oct. 12, 1912, with tears for such fond personal memories and laughter at some episodes in her history that weren't so amusing at the time.
The observance was part of all weekend Masses at the Cathedral — each followed by a public reception — and at a dinner hosted by Cathedral Parish Saturday night at the Denver Art Museum.
In his homily Sunday, Bishop Gomez, Cathedral pastor, quoted Jesus' teaching in the day's Gospel on the two fundamental commandments: "Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind" and "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," pointing out they articulate the mission of Cathedral as the central place of worship in the archdiocese.
"You can't have one without the other," he said.
"It will always be a house of prayer, a place we can find God," Bishop Gomez said. "Our celebration will be a joyful one."
Historian Tom Noel, author of "Colorado Catholicism and the Archdiocese of Denver, 1857-1989," was the featured speaker at the dinner, illustrating commentary on the Church's Colorado story, and the Cathedral's, with big-screen projections of photographs and paintings.
Archbishop Charles Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., in his invocation, told the dinner audience the Cathedral was "something our ancestors created because they wanted to do something beautiful for God."
"Our faith is more than doctrines, programs and structures," he said. "Our faith is a love story … Every Mass is a conversation of love between God and his people."
Noel traced the Church in Colorado from the initial explorations of Franciscans from Spain and Mexico, pointing out Father Francisco Dominguez and Brother Silvestre Vélez de Escalante entered and explored what is now the state, met and mingled with the Ute tribe and named the territory "Colorado" in 1776, the year English and other Northern European immigrants declared American independence.
Most of the country's population ignores or doesn't know about the nation's Hispanic heritage, Noel said. That, he said, although in the wake of the Mexican War when a large portion of the Southwest became part of the United States the country was so fearful the erstwhile Mexican citizens might prove loyal to their former country that French missionary priests — most notably those who became Archbishop John Lamy of Santa Fe and Bishop Joseph Machebeuf of Denver — were impressed as the pioneer Church leaders in the area.
Noel referred to that bit of history in a wry reference to the appointment of Bishop Gomez, a native of Mexico, as auxiliary bishop of Denver, and to scoff at those who regard Mexican-Americans as "newcomers."
God's word to the Israelites recorded in Sunday's Scripture reading from Exodus, "You shall not molest or oppress an alien, for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt" — seemed particularly apt in today's national situation. Noel's presentation included stories of discrimination against Colorado's Catholic immigrants — German, Irish and Italian as well as Mexican, especially during the heyday of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s when Klansmen included the mayor of Denver, governor and one of the state's U.S. senators. He interrupted his commentary to call on Denver City Councilman Dennis Gallagher for a report on the Klan's anti-Catholic, anti-Jewish and anti-immigrant activities, including burning of a cross at St. Dominic Church when Gallagher's grandmother lived across the street. Noel's comments on the Cathedral's story — its construction took 20 years — included a photograph of Cardinal John Farley of New York dedicating it in 1912, on a platform atop the roof with Bishop Nicholas Matz and Father, later Msgr., Hugh McMenamin, and another of the severe damage caused by a lightning bolt that struck the west tower in 1997. The dedication of Cathedral was delayed in 1911 by another lightning strike, which hit the east tower.
The 1997 strike, Archbishop Chaput recalled, occurred seven days after he became the archdiocese's spiritual leader. "Do we have lightning rods there?" he asked as the photograph was shown. Noel also interrupted himself to have Denver broadcast personality Peter Boyles identify a photo of Archbishop Chaput kneeling before Pope John Paul II after being appointed to Denver from his bishopric at Rapid City, S.D. "It's my dearest friend, the archbishop," Boyles said. Noel also took the occasion several times to recognize the work of James Baca, photographer for the Register and other archdiocesan offices, that constituted most of the slides depicting scenes of Church activity in recent decades — including those of the visit of Pope John Paul II to Denver for World Youth Day and his meeting with President Bill Clinton. The repeated references to the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception as the archdiocese's Mother Church rang true with members of the congregation at Sunday's Mass, many from other parishes.
"Absolutely," said Cecilia Dones, who attended with her husband Ray and son Rupert. "When I worked for Wells Fargo, I used to come here all the time." "It was a wonderful Mass," her husband added. Joan Daniel agreed, although she's been a Holy Ghost parishioner and choir member for more than 30 years. So did Jim Kerrigan of St. Joan of Arc Parish in Arvada —"Definitely," he said. "I come here every Monday. It's a lovely place. "It's (the celebration) a way to rejoice in continuation of the dedication of the people who built this jewel to the Blessed Virgin." Before concluding the anniversary dinner with the closing prayer, Bishop Gomez described the observances as part of the mission "to bring the people to God and God to the people" and to celebrate the anniversary every year as a public occasion "to celebrate our Catholic identity in the Archdiocese of Denver."