QUEEN OF PEACE (1968)

The mansard-roofed fortress of Queen of Peace with its large central tower and Celtic cross on top traces its origins to 1968 when Archbishop Casey asked the Oblates of Mary Immaculate to start a new parish in the proliferating subdivisions of Aurora. Frank McCullough, OMI, the pioneer pastor, oversaw groundbreaking on September 4, 1968, for the first parish building. This structure contained a forty-seat chapel, offices, and a rectory, which were blessed by Archbishop Casey on February 4, 1969. Architect Keith Ames of Longmont planned the second edifice to be built on the 9.9-acre site--a 25,000-square-foot, pyramidical church seating 1,200, with four large classrooms, a gym, and a counseling center on the perimeter. Parishioners gathered around the strange new structure in July 1975 to watch a giant construction crane top off the church with a fifty-eight-foot-high precast tower surmounted by a twelve-foot cross. A life-sized Queen of Peace statue was installed at the porte cochérre entrance.

Under the guidance of William Breslin, pastor since 1987, Queen of Peace sponsors the St. Andrews House, a day hospitality center at 1536 Dallas Street, which provides physical and spiritual assistance to the needy. In 1989 this large, modern church was overflowing with about 3,200 family memberships and anticipated expansion.