Renewal: Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in Denver Builds a New Parish Home

After a time of recollection and prayer, Fr. James W. Jackson, FSSP, pastor of our Denver apostolate, began to talk about the needs of his parish with the faithful.  As  he put it, “There is a point where you cannot suitably maintain an existing building, and you have to think about the options you have.” With this reality, one of our older apostolates, Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Littleton, Colorado, began to contemplate the idea of building a new parish home.

Choices had to be made, like whether to find new land and move, modify the existing structure to a new form, or start from a blank slate.  With more time and reflection, the decision was made to stay where they were and replace the existing building with a new church on the same property.

This decision, however, created a new problem: Where was the parish to offer Mass while the construction was ongoing?  As fortune has it, the adjacent property in Denver is a funeral home.  Due to a well-established and friendly relationship, Our Lady of Mount Carmel was able to carry on with Mass and the Sacraments next door, until the construction was complete.

Then more questions needed to be answered.  Choices on construction, materials, design, and the size and scope of the final parish campus had to be decided upon, along with fundraising.  On this note, the parish is an anomaly.  There has been no specifically crafted capital campaign that is typical of parish construction in the Church today.  Instead, like the priests of old, Father began to talk about it from the pulpit, and the pledges of support came to fruition naturally.  A local contractor with extensive experience in building churches was chosen, and the project got under way in the fall of 2012.

Demolition of the parish began in November. Construction is on track to be completed, and the parish ready for re-dedication, in March of 2013.  What follows is a collage of images detailing the renewal of a parish through the building of a new church edifice.