Clergy: A look at two Denver priests

By John Gleason

Priesthood Sunday, observed Oct. 26, is a day to honor the priesthood in the United States. Read about two priests of the Denver Archdiocese below.

Father Felix Medina
Father Felix Medina, 35, became administrator at St. James Parish in 2006 and was named pastor a year later.  Father Medina said he finds parish work both fulfilling and challenging.

“St. James is a wonderful mix of groups of all backgrounds and all ages,” he said.  “It is an older community with many longtime parishioners.  But at the same time, we have a school and that means many young couples with children.  It’s a well-rounded community.”

Originally from Cordoba, Spain, Father Medina said that he and his brother Rafael were typical kids playing soccer in the street.  He said it was at this time when he first heard God’s call to him, but being so young, he didn’t fully understand it. There was a distant cousin who was a priest, but many of his family had careers in the military; his grandfather had served in the Spanish Civil War. 

Eventually, Felix Medina attended the University of Salamanca in Spain where he received a degree in math, but God wasn’t finished yet. It was during a pilgrimage to Denver’s World Youth Day in 1993 when God’s call came again.

“I’d been to other events like this, but closer to home,” Father Medina said. “This time, the distance of travel, the difference in culture and language—it made me feel like a missionary and it helped me to be able to open to the call of God.”

He returned to Colorado to attend Regis University, obtaining a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and religious studies before attending Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary. He was among the first seminarians to attend Redemptoris Mater, which has ties to the Neocatechumenal Way, a Vatican approved catechumenate. Redemptoris Mater is one of two seminaries operated by the Denver Archdiocese. Though formed to serve as priests for the Denver Archdiocese, men in formation at Redemptoris Mater also receive missionary training and may be sent at the discretion of the archbishop anywhere in the world.

“There are many things about seminary life I enjoyed,” Father Medina said.  “But the life of prayer is what I really enjoyed; to be called to pray on a regular basis is wonderful, and it helped me a great deal.”

The Medina family traveled from Spain to attend his ordination in 2004.  Standing before all those people in the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, Father Medina said he was struck by two things.

“First, I was very grateful to God for this calling,” he said. “The other was humility because as I stood there I knew that this was really beyond my power to accomplish on my own.”

Father Medina said that sometime he hopes to have the opportunity to do missionary work but for right now he’s very content to be busy with a parish and a school.

“It’s so gratifying to see God at work in the parish,” he said.  “Working through the people, watching what he does for them and how people grow spiritually.”

Being a witness of the Gospel and proclaiming it with his life is what is important, the young priest said.

“There is always one more thing to do,” Father Medina said. “And God will always provide the insight to see what one should do next.”

Msgr. Frank Morfeld
When Denver native Frank Morfeld, 82, first heard the priesthood call, he was busy being a student at St. Catherine of Siena Grade School.  He said the call, and what came of it, developed slowly. It wasn’t until he was getting ready to graduate from Regis High School that his life made a turn.

“Sister Theresa Agnes was the school principal at that time I believe,” Msgr. Morfeld said, “and she told our pastor, Father Lemieux, that I might have a vocation.”

It was the spring of 1944 and Msgr. Morfeld was then an 18-year-old ready to leave school and join the Air Corps but he agreed to meet with his pastor to talk.  It changed his life.

“He suggested that I go to the seminary and give it a try, which I did, and it took,” he said. “Looking back the whole experience was a happy one; we had short summer vacations because of the war, we went to school 11 months of the year but it was a happy time.”

Ordained in 1951 young Father Morfeld’s first assignment was as assistant pastor at St. Frances de Sales Parish in Denver.  Fresh out of the seminary, he was ready and able to face his assignment. 

“I thought I knew it all and knew nothing,” he said with a laugh.  “Msgr. Smith was pastor at that time and he became sort of a second father, guiding me.  It was a happy experience; a wonderful parish with both grade and high schools.  I can’t believe I was there for eight years.”

From there, Msgr. Morfeld served as chaplain at St. Joseph Hospital, and pastor at Cure d’Ars, St. John’s, St. Philomena and Holy Name parishes before returning to St. Frances de Sales as pastor where he’s been for the last 18 years.  But he has no favorites.  Msgr. Morfeld said he’s been happy no matter where he was assigned.

St. Frances is a different parish from when he left it in 1959.  It’s smaller, about 400 families, many of them longtime parishioners, but at the same time more young families are moving in as evidenced by the fact that the school enrollment is full at 235 children. 

Msgr. Morfeld chuckles when asked why he is the only member of his 1951 ordination class who hasn’t retired yet.

“Because I don’t want to quit.  As long as God lets me have health enough to work—I’ll work.”