1860 to 1890 The first Catholic church in Denver was founded in 1860 by
Joseph Machebeuf. It would later become St. Mary's Cathedral. iN 1864, three members of the
Sisters of Loretto arrived in Denver; that same year, they opened St. Mary’s Academy, the first Catholic school in the city. In 1868,
Pope Pius IX erected the Vicariate Apostolic of Colorado and Utah, taking its territory from the
Diocese of Santa Fe and the
Diocese of Grass Valley. The pope named Machebeuf as the vicar apostolic. In 1870, Pius IX removed the Utah Territory from the vicariate, creating the Vicariate Apostolic of Colorado. The pope named Machebeuf as vicar apostolic. In 1873, the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth opened
Saint Joseph Hospital in Denver. That same year, Sacred Heart of Mercy Parish was erected in
Boulder, the first parish in that city. While vicar apostolic, Machebeuf founded an academy and a school for boys in Denver, a convent of the Sisters of Loretto and the Home of the Good Shepherd for orphaned girls. The Catholic population of Colorado increased under his tenure from a few thousand to approximately 50,000. Sacred Heart of Jesus, the first Catholic church in
Boulder, was dedicated in 1877. That same year, the Society of Jesus opened the
College of the Sacred Heart in Denver. It is today Regis University. In 1878, Frank Michaud funded the purchase of a wooden building in
Fort Collins to become St. Joseph's, the first Catholic church in that city.St. Mary Parish in
Aspen was erected in 1881, making it the first Catholic parish there. On August 16, 1887,
Pope Leo XIII suppressed the Apostolic Vicariate of Colorado, replacing it with the Diocese of Denver, which covered all of Colorado. The pope named Machebeuf as the first bishop of Denver. When Machebeuf died in 1889, Matz automatically succeeded him as bishop.
1900 to 1941 The first parish in
Steamboat Springs, Holy Name, was erected in 1900. During his 28-year-long tenure, Matz made Catholic education his top priority, establishing dozens of parochial schools. He demanded that Catholic parents send their children to these schools under pain of
mortal sin. In 1905, he founded St. Thomas Seminary in Denver, staffed by the
Vincentians. He also established thirty-four new parishes, a cemetery, and a diocesan newspaper. After Matz died in 1917, Bishop
John Henry Tihen of the Diocese of Lincoln was appointed bishop of Denver by
Pope Benedict XV. After the American entry into
World War I in 1917, Tihen supported
Liberty bonds and the
National Catholic War Council. He also organized students at Catholic schools as the U.S. Boys Working Reserve and the Children's Red Cross Campaign. Tihen was forced to defend the Catholic church in Colorado from the
Ku Klux Klan, which he condemned as "an anti-Catholic and un-American society." During his tenure, Tihen organized the diocesan
Catholic Charities; increased the number of
parochial schools from 31 to 49, and the number of priests from 174 to 229; dedicated 41 churches; and established
Loretto Heights College in Denver, three hospitals, an orphanage, and a home for the elderly. Vehr soon visited every
parish in the diocese, wearing out the new
Studebaker automobile given to him by his clergy. The number of parishes in the diocese fell from 111 in 1930 to 87 in 1940 due to the economic effects of the
Great Depression. In 1947, St. Bernadette Parish was established in
Lakewood, the first in that city. The first parish in Aurora, St. Pius, was erected in 1954. In 1965, Vehr launched the Archdiocesan Development Program to accommodate Colorado's Catholic population, which had tripled in size since his arrival in 1931. Soon after arriving in Denver, he earmarked $1 million in archdiocesan funds on efforts to help the poor. Among these efforts was the Samaritan House Homeless Shelter. He created the archdiocesan Office of
Hispanic Concerns in 1968, later raising it to the
vicariate level in 1981. In 1972, Casey moved out of the episcopal mansion in
Cheesman Park and into a
penthouse at the Park Lane Apartments in
Washington Park. In 1990 the
Vincentian Fathers announced the closing of St. Thomas Seminary in Denver due to falling enrollment. Stafford decided to buy the seminary property and plan a brand new institution,
Saint John Vianney Theological Seminary. The new facility opened in 1999. In 1993, Stafford hosted the
World Youth Day, the first such event in North America. In 1996, he launched the first capital campaign in forty years and a "Strategic Plan" for Catholic schools. That same year, Stafford was appointed to a position in the
Roman Curia at the Vatican. To replace Stafford, John Paul II selected Bishop
Charles J. Chaput from the
Diocese of Rapid City as the next archbishop of Denver. Chaput became archbishop of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in 2011. In 2012,
Pope Benedict XVI named Bishop
Samuel Aquila of the
Diocese of Fargo as the fifth and current archbishop of Denver.
Reports of sex abuse In a 2005
Denver Post article, five men described being fondled during the 1960s when they were boys by Harold White. In 1983, one of the men wrote to Stafford, accusing White of abusing him. The archdiocese allowed White to work in parish ministry until 1993. He was
laicized in 2004. Tim Evans, pastor at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Fort Collins, was convicted of sexual assault in 2007. He was sentenced to 14 years to life in prison for assaulting a teenage boy. In October 2019, Colorado Attorney General
Phil Weiser released the preliminary results of an eight-month investigation on sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy in Colorado. The report stated that at least 127 children had been molested by 22 clergy serving in the archdiocese. In October 2020, a voluntary program established by the Colorado dioceses to compensative sexual abuse victims announced that it was planning to $6.6 million in compensation to 81 victims of clergy sex abuse. In December 2020, Weiser's final report was released. It named an additional nine clergy with credible accusations of sexual abuse and 46 alleged victims in both in the archdiocese and the Diocese of Pueblo. A total 52 priests who served in the Colorado diocese were named in the final report as having committed acts of sex abuse. Among the priests were Harold White, whom the report called "the most prolific known clergy child sex abuser in Colorado history." ==Bishops==