ST. PIUS X (1954)

On June 14, 1954--two weeks after the canonization of Pope Pius X--Archbishop Vehr created St. Pius X parish in Aurora. The first Masses were held in the banquet room of the Town House Supper Club at Peoria Street and East Colfax Avenue by Francis J. Syrianey, the pioneer pastor.

Following a 1954 door-to-door census of the area bounded by Smith Road on the north and Sixth Avenue on the south between Peoria and Picadilly streets, Father Syrianey counted approximately 400 Catholic families in the new parish.

In June 1955, the congregation broke ground for a sixty-eight-by-one-hundred-foot church on a five-acre site bought in 1954 for $40,000. This $161,172 church was constructed with the help of volunteers who laid the asphalt tile, hung the acoustical tile ceiling, and painted the interior. Local artists designed and executed the liturgical appointments and art.

Pews for the 400-seat church cost $12,000, and another $12,360 was expended to buy an adjoining Hoffman Heights home as a rectory for Father Syrianey, who converted the attached garage into a chapel. After the church was completed in June 1956, parishioners began a school construction fund, and the St. Pius X Federal Credit Union made loans that enabled parishioners to pay their school construction pledges.

Work began April 24, 1960, on the split-level, twelve-classroom, $286,000 school. Three lay teachers and two Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati opened the school that September, with the Aurora Public Library providing bookmobile service. In 1964, four new classrooms, a library, and a multipurpose room were added to the school, allowing it to double classes in all eight grades.

To reach out more effectively to the community, husband and wife teams organized "little parishes" in 1962 for home meetings and Masses. In 1967, Father Syrianey received an assistant pastor, John C. Kelley, who took responsibility for Sunday and holy day services at the mission churches in Strasburg and Deer Trail.

St. Pius X had grown to approximately 1,200 families by 1968, when Queen of Peace parish was formed for Catholics living in southeast Aurora. Another 250 parishioners were lost in 1972, when the Montbello Catholic Community was formed for those living in northwestern Aurora and northeastern Denver.

Despite financial hardships and the loss of members to newer parishes, St. Pius X struggled to keep up its church and school. Bingo games were begun in 1976, despite objections from some parishioners, while other fund-raisers included potluck dinners, dances, roller skating parties, garage sales, Country Dinner Playhouse socials, raffles, and Gold C coupon book sales.

James E. Kane became pastor in 1982 and oversaw burning of the mortgage in 1985, when the parish celebrated its financial independence as a debt-free, $1,250,000 plant with an eight-grade school, day care, and a "little lambs" preschool.