Our Lady of the Mountains Catholic Church welcomed more than 500 worshipers Sunday morning as parishioners and visitors gathered to mark seventy-fifth anniversary of the dedication of picturesque log and moss rock church.
Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila of the Archdiocese of Denver was the principle celebrant and Revs. Faustinus Anyamele, the pastor of Our Lady of the Mountains Parish and Grzegorz Cioch, pastor of Holy Name Parish in Steamboat Springs, concelebrated.
In his homily, the archbishop commended the parish community for forming and sharing faith for more than three generations. “In this parish community for 75 years the faith has been handed on. And we too are called to be those who hand on that gift of faith,” Aquila said.
Following the Mass, congregants gathered outside as the archbishop offered a blessing for a commemorative plaque honoring the parish’s diamond jubilee. A luncheon was served to some 400 people under two large tents erected on the southeast corner of the parking lot.
Rob Pieper from Mama Rose’s and Poppy’s Pizza and Grill, Olga Ortega de Rojas from Mountain Home Café, and the Safeway Deli catered the luncheon which was free and open to the community. Sandwiches, hotdogs, fresh fruit and summer salads, homemade truffle potato chips, tamales, rice and beans, and sheet cakes were served.
Musicians provided entertainment during the luncheon including two youth choirs, Gary Reeves, Mary Theresa Reed, Geoff Clark, and Michelle Gergen-Wisner.
To accommodate the additional number of cars turning into and out of the church’s parking lot which faces Big Thompson Avenue, members of the Estes Park Police Department and Auxiliary assisted with traffic control.
The parish history dates to 1909 when Rev. William Howlett of St. John Parish in Loveland began coming to Estes Park to celebrate mass for visitors during the summer. In 1915, Patrick and Catherine Walsh from Davenport, Iowa, who frequently vacationed in Estes Park, provided funds to build the area’s first Catholic church, a wood framed building on Virginia Drive.
The couple’s 20-year-old son, Walter, had died of tuberculosis in 1908. In gratitude for their generous gift, it was decided that the church would be named for a little-known saint, St. Walter. There are actually three Saint Walters and while it is not known for certainty, it is believed the missionary church was named for St. Walter of Pontoise, an 11th century French Benedictine who is the patron of prisoners, prisoners of war, and vintners, and who is called upon for intercession when someone is dealing with job-related stress.
The Catholic community in Estes met at St. Walter’s for more than 30 years. In 1941 plans were made to build a new church building on 3 acres purchased from the estate of F. O. Stanley, but following the attack on Pearl Harbor, construction was delayed until after World War II.
Architect John K. Monroe designed the 350-seat church and Justus Roehling, a German carpenter-contractor from Kittredge served as the contractor. Completed in 1949 at a cost of $100,000, the parish added on a two-story parish center in 1977 in 2008 renovations were made to provide an additional seating to accommodate an additional 200 people. Over the past two years the parish replaced its original roofing and completed construction of a rectory.