Walden, the seat of vast but sparsely settled Jackson
County, has the county's only Catholic mission, tended from St. Peter's
in Kremmling. Monsignor Thomas Patrick Barry, pastor of St. Peter's
when the Walden mission was founded, told that parish's story in a
1987 interview:
State Senator Charles P. Murphy of Walden picked
a church site on the south side of the Jackson County Courthouse--two
of the grandest lots in all of North Park--and gave them to me
for a church. Archbishop Vehr and the Catholic Extension Society,
a national outfit based in Chicago, gave us $5,000 to build a church
provided we name it St. Ignatius after a donor wanting to honor his
uncle.
We built a cinderblock and stucco church with brick
trim. Seated 100. Archbishop Vehr sent up an architect from J.K. Monroe's
office to make sure we didn't build a barn, but a "churchy"
church. We put in a wall of Lyons sandstone behind the altar, used
golden oak pews and floors.
After Archbishop Vehr dedicated the church in 1952,
Senator Murphy quietly came to me and asked, "how much is the
debt?" I told him we still owed $4,500 on what had turned out
to be an $11,550 church. The next week I got seven checks from him,
checks signed by him, his family, and his friends. So we never had
a debt after the first week.
Walden was a rugged little town with four saloons--all
owned by my parishioners! I didn't get over to Walden in the winter--you
couldn't--but showed up for Easter and about once a month during
decent weather. And when I came into town in my 1949 green Ford, all
four bars would stick up a sign--MASS--and give the time.
