One of the great places to escape in America for a memorable family vacation is to the Rocky Mountains and the mile high city of Denver.
The city and its surroundings are full of unique attractions set against a spectacular natural backdrop. Options range from checking out the dinosaur and fossil collections at the Museum of Nature and Science or the outdoor fossil park in Morrison, the Dinosaur Ridge; soar through the Wings over the Rockies Air and Space Museum, the Denver Firefighters Museum (complete with a pole to slide down); visit the currency production center at the US Mint; or tour the interactive History Colorado Center.
For Catholic visitors to Denver and its surroundings, there are no shortage of destinations to include in your travel itinerary.
The Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in downtown Denver is a stunning church. It is renowned across the U.S., as it has the largest collection of stained glass windows (75) of any church in the United States.
Inside the Cathedral are the remains of Servant of God Julia Greeley, located in a funerary chest along the northwest side of the Cathedral’s transept. Julia was an emancipated slave from Missouri who eventually moved to Denver and became known as the frontier city’s Angel of Charity. By day, she worked for white families in the Denver area, living out of a boarding house. Whatever meagre earnings she did not need for herself, she donated to the many poor and downtrodden families living in her neighborhood, often begging for food, fuel and clothing for those in need. She died in 1918 and her cause for canonization is now being considered.
One confirmed saint who did visit the Cathedral was St. John Paul II. He actually visited twice during the 1993 World Youth Day celebration, commemorated now with his statue outside of the church. Indeed, Denver experienced a significant re-birth in the wake of the papal visit and the 1993 World Youth Day, with an incredible vocations boom. One only needs to travel to the campus where the Archdiocesan offices are now located to fully appreciate the impact. It is here at the John Paul II Center for the New Evangelization, where you can find two full seminaries, an extensive Catholic library and the archdiocesan offices. Another offshoot from World Youth Day 1993 was the establishment of the Augustine Institute in Denver, which was formed in response to St. John Paul II’s call for the new evangelization. It is now the fastest growing Catholic graduate school in the United States (and has produced several magnificent talks and multimedia productions available on Formed and elsewhere).
Located just over one mile from the Cathedral, adjacent to the University of Colorado and Denver’s Theatre District is St. Elizabeth of Hungary parish. Somewhat unique in the United States, this historic church was actually the site of a brutal martyrdom on US soil. On February 23, 1908, Fr. Leo Heinrichs was murdered at the communion rail while celebrating the Holy Mass. The assassin shot him while he was distributing Holy Communion and Fr. Leo’s last act was to recover the fallen Hosts and place them inside the Ciborium and on the steps of the Marian altar, before passing into eternity. His cause for canonization remains open and you can read more about this grisly chapter in Denver Catholic history here.
While in downtown Denver, also take time to visit the Archdiocesan Eucharistic Shrine: Holy Ghost Church. This ornate church uniquely blends Spanish and Italian Renaissance and offers daily Eucharistic Adoration during the week, with the Blessed Sacrament exposed on the beautiful high altar. There is also a special shrine to St. Rita located within the church.
Arvada
Just outside of downtown Denver, off of I-70, is Olde Town Arvada. Its water tower and main street is a throw back to early 1900s Americana. In Arvada is the Shrine Church of St. Anne, which has in its possession a relic of the grandmother of Christ. The relic was given to the parish by the Bishop of Denver in the 1920s, after he obtained during a trip he took to France. The relic has been venerated at the parish ever since.
Golden
Denver is also the gateway city to Rocky Mountain National Park and one of the most intriguing towns at the foothills of the Rockies is the Town of Golden. Golden is an iconic former Gold Rush town and was once the capital city of Colorado between 1862-67, less than a 30 minute drive from Denver. The Golden History Museum reveals the pioneer way of life, while there is also the popular Colorado Railroad Museum and the American Mountaineering Museum. Golden is also home to the renowned Coor’s brewery.
In Golden is the expansive Mother Cabrini Shrine. St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, the first American citizen to be canonized, purchased this plot of land to serve as a summer escape for the orphans in the care of her Sisters in Denver. St. Cabrini was tireless, traveling to all corners of America (and eventually overseas) to establish schools, churches, orphanages, hospitals and other supports for the burgeoning Italian population in America. She immigrated from Italy herself and had long desired to be a missionary to China, but Pope St. Leo XIII encouraged her that America would be her mission field and she gave her life fully to this mission.
St. Frances tirelessly brought Jesus to the first generation Italians who settled America, sustaining their faith during an incredibly trying period when they were battling huge odds to get on their feet in America and build a new life in this country. Keeping Christ at the center of this struggle kept them wedded to the faith and ensured it remained vibrant and would pass on through subsequent generations.
God worked signs and miracles throughout her life and one of them is preserved here at the shrine in Golden. The Sisters complained to St. Frances that there was no clean water at the site and that it was a very trying journey for them to constantly haul water from the creek at the bottom of the canyon. St. Frances told them to turn over a rock next to the cookhouse and there they would find water. After digging underneath the rock, sure enough a spring emerged and to this day, the spring continues to flow. Many pilgrims have attributed miraculous healings to this spring water and a grotto to Our Lady of Lourdes now stands over it.
Rocky Mountain National Park
No visit to northern Colorado would be complete without a trip to Rocky Mountain National Park or one of the surrounding ski hills. Even when St. Pope John Paul II came to Denver, he took time to escape to the Rockies and visit the Camp St. Malo, located just outside of the Estes Park. Visitors can have the same experience today, including praying at the lovely Our Lady of the Mountains Church and the Camp’s Chapel on the Rock, which was blessed by the Holy Father during his visit. There is also a new St. John Paul II trail attached to the site.
There is also a Catholic campground less than two miles from Camp St. Malo – Annunciation Heights – which offers weekly family mountain vacation packages, that combine family faith formation with outdoor fun in the mountains. Families also have the opportunity to participate in the JPII Outdoor Lab experience, which was established in 2008 and draws inspiration from St. John Paul II’s Faith and Reason Encyclical. Participating in the lab entails a mix of outdoor survival skills, mountain meteorology, botany and other scientific endeavors in the magnificent outdoor setting of the Rockies, all through a strictly Catholic lens.
Colorado Springs
About one hour south of Denver is the city of Colorado Springs. It is renowned for its red rock formations at the Garden of the Gods, its mountain zoo, as well as the home of the US Olympic Training Facility and as a major military center – home to both NORAD inside Cheyenne Mountain and the US Air Force Academy – and is also widely viewed as the capital of the evangelical church in America. Perhaps surprisingly, it also has some sites of interest to Catholic visitors, especially the Turin Shroud Center.
The Turin Shroud Center of Colorado is dedicated an internationally renowned academic research on the Shroud of Turin. Its exhibit center – which is open to the public by appointment – includes a full size back lit display of the Shroud of Turin, a demonstration of the Shroud’s burial configuration, and a replica of the Sudarium of Oviedo (the less famous cousin of the Shroud of Turin: the burial cloth wrapped on Christ’s face). The Center was founded by Dr. John Jackson, who led the 40 person international research team that spent a week examining the actual shroud in Turin in 1978. He became the scientific custodian of the research data from that work and it is now housed at this one of a kind research center in Colorado Springs.
Also of note is the campus of the Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration. The sprawling 160 acre campus is in a breathtaking natural setting and is abundant in wildlife. It is a great place to visit for Sunday Mass, at the parish church of St. Francis. The Order of the Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration was founded in Germany by the recently beatified Blessed Maria Theresia Bonzel. It is one of only two convents founded by her order in the United States (the other being in Indiana). Interestingly, the miracle that led to her beatification was the healing of a local Colorado Springs boy in 1999 who had been suffering from severe chronic diarrhea and was healed through her intercession.
CATHOLIC CONCIERGE 
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