The Beginnings of St. Mark Catholic Church

The story of St. Mark began late in November 1999. Bishop Richard Hanifen, then Bishop of the Diocese of Colorado Springs, sent Fr. Larry Solan a $0.34 letter asking him to begin a new parish in West Highlands Ranch (WHR): "Please found a parish in WHR," was the gist of the entire communique. Ok, now what, and HOW? There was no manual published on how to begin a Catholic parish. So, on the evening of January 6, 2000 (Epiphany), Fr. Larry called together 12 people (how apostolic!) and the brainstorming began. What feeling should the parish take on? How about a name? Where do we begin? How do we find a place large enough to house a Catholic Community?

Fr. Larry, with the help of others, especially Kakie Foxhoven (after who's memory the golf tournament is dedicated), started contacting the local parishes asking for household names they had in their data bases who would be served by a parish in WHR. Pax Christi, Ave Maria, St. Thomas More, St. Frances Cabrini, St. Mary, and as far as Light of the World were happy to provide names as those parishes were bursting at the seams. All in all, over 3,000 households were going north and east, mostly out of our diocese, because as of yet there was no parish in WHR.

Those 3,000 names were re-entered into a data base and a mailing went out to them all. All were invited to one of two meetings to be held in the near future: one at St. Thomas More and one at St. Mary, both meetings being hosted by Fr. Larry and Bishop Hanifen. From those meetings approximately 150 households committed themselves as "definitely interested" in a new Catholic Community. There were questions about the viability of St. Mark ... Why did it take the diocese so long to start another church in WHR? With Pax Christi and the other churches seemingly so close, could St. Mark be self-sustaining? Would St. Mark be in "a gym" for 8 years? Why would St. Mark "get" a priest when Pax Christi had not yet gotten a priest assigned? Questions, really, only God could answer... At the end of the day, the meetings were very positive and filled with hope, [side bar: had not Fr. Larry joined the Diocese of Colorado Springs, there would not have been a priest to establish St. Mark. He joined the diocese because his parents had moved into Colorado Springs...]

Those 150 households were broken into 3 groups of 50 and invited to one of three dinners hosted by Fr. Larry and "the twelve" (at the Padre Restaurant at St. Thomas More), where a theology and philosophy, hopes and dreams, of a new parish was shared. Many, having experienced the overwhelming feeling of a large parish such as St. Thomas More, expressed the desire to have a parish that was warm and welcoming, where there would (ideally) be no "anonymous Catholic." The spirit of St. Mark hospitality, "the St. Mark way," came to birth at those three dinners. Those attending were asked if they were serious about this, and if so, please sign up for ministries so we might be able to open our doors at some time (as of yet, no date/site had been arranged). And sign up they did!

After exploring many, many sites, the administrators of ThunderRidge H.S. were found to be open to the possibility of a new church worshiping in their commons/cafeteria area on Sundays. We secured the site;... we LOST the site (due to maintenance personnel retiring);... soon personnel changed and we re-secured the site (whew!). With the site secured Fr. Larry worked to formulate an ideal of a parish that was centered on Liturgical Awareness, Faith Formation (for all ages) and Stewardship. Liturgical excellence would draw the assembly into Christ, and involvement in the Liturgy would encourage repeat attendance. Quality Faith Formation would feed our children our faith. Stewardship would be our outreach to those who might be suffering and less fortunate.

After putting out the word that someone would be required to direct Liturgy and music, Tim Rohl was recommended to St. Mark. He interviewed and was hired on the spot! The first employee of St. Mark! Since that time, the standard of excellence for Liturgy and music has been well upheld. In all of his priesthood, never had Fr. Larry been so blessed with such musical talent, Liturgical leadership and challenge to "go deeper into the spiritual mysteries." Tim's leadership keeps our Liturgies alive today and will tomorrow. He is ever raising the bar of excellence.

In the mean time, an appeal went out for start-up funds. Select households were asked for a start-up gift of $10,000 to establish an operating account to purchase needed items. They were promised that after start-up and establishment of the parish, their gifts would be recovered from offertory and placed in a building fund for the new worship space. Five or six households agreed to help. (That promise was fulfilled and funds were placed into the building fund.)

Kakie Foxhoven (basically a full-time volunteer) offered her home and garage as "home base" of operations. Missals were then ordered, altar, ambo, sound system, keyboard and so much more were purchased. Platforms, vestments, banners and more were crafted. Mailings were re-sent to "the 150" inviting them to our first Mass and a date was set for Palm Sunday, April 16, 2000 - approximately 100 days after our first brainstorming meeting. The train was steaming forward .....

Kakie's garage got filled to the max; how do we transport all this "stuff?" She contacted her employer, Medtronix, and they agreed to lend us their cargo van for transport. Palm Sunday eve, the van was loaded and readied to go.

Early Palm Sunday morning, a crowd gathered at ThunderRidge H.S. to help set up. Some 400 chairs were set up. But where do the aisles go? Where should the keyboard go? Where do the Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist stand? Where should the sacristy be set up? What is the traffic flow for communion? Questions and questions. But it all came together.

Soon the donkey arrived (what is Palm Sunday without a palm and donkey procession?). "The 150" began to arrive wondering what was in store, yet bearing food for a potluck after Mass - St. Mark eats! Palms were blessed at the far end of the parking lot and the first procession and Mass began, not quite on time, but close enough. We sang our way into our "church," found our places and began in prayer. The potluck was quite festive and we began our journey of falling in love with each other.

The next weekend, our official "opening" to the public, was Easter Sunday. That Sunday, we moved from the one Mass (the previous weekend) to three Masses with about 1,200 people celebrating their faith! Happy Easter! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!

Easter weekend also saw the birth of our Registration Table. Carolyn Moffatt, one of "the twelve" was present to answer questions, greet, welcome and register folks for this new community. "Welcome to St. Mark; would you like to register? Do you have any questions? Can I order you a name tag?" Because of her love for St. Mark, it played out that Carolyn was present for every Mass for SEVEN years, registering every new household! Carolyn knew everybody and everybody knew Carolyn's famous smile and welcome. Because of her care and presence over the years, Carolyn became the "go to" person when someone was hurting or lonely or crying - eveyone's Mom - everyone's friend. Carolyn continued her volunteering role, often more than 8 hours every day of the work week (and weekends) for that same 7 years. (After a short hiatus (at the beginning of 2008), Carolyn continues to volunteer in the office and at the registration table.

During this start-up time, early on in our beginnings, the name: St. Mark Catholic Church was proposed by Fr. Larry. *What's in a name? After the story of our parish is told here, the story of the gospel of Mark can be found as an addition at the end of this narrative.

We were a "beginning" church, we were on the move. We wanted to know and express Jesus to our world "His Way" not just our way. We knew it would not be easy. We knew we'd have to embrace one another in the good times and the bad, in health and in sickness along the way. We also knew that some Catholic folks were "on the fringe" and we wanted to embrace them (all ARE welcome!); and that to be credible Christians, we needed to be the proclaimers of Jesus' story. What better name (St. Mark) for a newly birthed church?

During our start-up time, as was stated, many Liturgical ministries were begun; however, beyond that, Finance Council, Social Outreach, MOMS, Cuisine for the Spirit, Bible Studies, Las Madres and so many more than can be listed here sprang into existence in a "church without walls." Without walls, the "church" was meeting everywhere - and still does!

Back to April (2000)... September would soon be upon us. How were we going to share our faith with our children? Soon after Easter, Jennifer Garcia volunteered (full-time!) with the help of Therese Patrick came forward to establish a process of Faith Formation AND establish a Youth Group. After recruiting and training catechists, a formal faith formation process began that Fall. Jennifer had given her all to meticulously prepare, plan and register all grade levels for the process. For the first two years parishioners and parents gladly opened their homes to our children. In the Fall of 2003, classrooms were rented in ThunderRidge; kids were divided up according to age, and the process began and was extremely successful. Jennifer's sense of organization allowed our faith formation process run like a top.

During that same time Joanne Schopp volunteered (full time!) as book keeper and office manager. Joanne watched every penny that came in with great care. Volunteering full time, she also was liaison to Finance Council and urged the council to move along with our finances and financial planning to prepare for fund raising and the building of the church. What most people-in-the-pews might not know is that a percentage of offertory is sent to the diocese for their operations. That percentage is waived for a start up parish the first two years. However,Joanne urged that we "pretend" that we have to pay the percentage, and rather than paying the diocese, save that percentage away into a savings/building fund. So from the very beginning, our funds were well stewarded.

Stewardship is our way of life; if we were to live it out well as a parish, we not only put our cash where our faith is (10% of our offertory is donated to charity other than our own ministries), but also we needed to find someone to carefully guide and direct our stewardship efforts. A few months into our existence, Laurie Nieb, Director of Stewardship and Development with the Archdiocese of Denver, was wooed and spirited away (from Denver) to take on the same position here at St. Mark. Laurie became our cheerleader for careful stewardship, helping us to understand the faithful concepts of sharing our Time, Talent and Treasure. Over the years Laurie helped us to steward the earth and to steward justice as well. She taught us the joy of giving and constantly nudged us toward a deeper responsibility toward the poor and one another.

Our story continues .........

God has constantly blessed St. Mark. When Fr. Larry founded the parish, he was living at St. Francis in Castle Rock. It was the closest rectory to St. Mark. After a few months of driving back and forth about twice a day, Fr. Larry decided he would ask (at Sunday Masses) whether there was a Catholic who was selling a house in the area. After one Mass a couple approached him as stated, "We'll buy you a home. The church can pay monthly rent and we'll give back 90%." WOW! The search began! Carolyn and Joanne went house hunting and found a 5 bedroom, 4 bath, with a three car garage. Sounds a bit big for a single guy, but knowing that all the church offices would be housed there, it was perfect. There were four bedrooms on the second level. The master bedroom was Fr. Larry's only private space. The other three eventually had two employees each (combo of paid and volunteer). A small writing desk in the front living room was space enough for a volunteer receptionist. The kitchen table was Carolyn's desk. The fridge was a free for all! The Knights of Columbus finished off the basement where classes, Welcome Dinners, meetings, etc. occurred (who else has 36 chairs in their basement?). Fr. Larry's office was on the first floor (another converted bedroom). The upstairs bathroom was the home of the copier (between the two sinks); the linen closet in the bathroom held all the office supplies; the tub was covered with plywood and shelves were placed over the tub - it was a busy place!

Finally, now that a house/rectory was secured, we had a place for a van of our own. Up until this time, each weekend a trip was made to Medtronix (Parker) to borrow the van. The van was loaded from Kakie's garage on Saturday with every church and office supply that was needed on Sunday mornings. The van turned into a well thought out jigsaw puzzle; alter, ambo, keyboard, banners and banner poles, missals, sound system, speakers and speaker stands, hymnal boards, platforms, liturgical vessels, wine, bread, oil & oil lamps, copier, office supplies, and on and on all had to fit in! It was unloaded at ThunderRidge very early on Sunday morning for Masses. Masses were celebrated. The van was re-loaded after Sunday Masses and then back to Kakie's house to unload everything we owned into her garage. The van was returned to Parker. (Thank you loading and unloading crews!) Now that a rectory was purchased, we could purchase our own van and cut down the loading/unloading by half - what a gift! We purchased a cargo van, drove it into the rectory driveway ... and panicked! - it didn't look as if it would fit! By the grace of God, with the mirrors folded in and by touching the front wall it fit by about two inches back to front, side to side and top to floor. We were in!

Between April 2000 and October 2000, plans were afoot to raise funds for our worship space. Cargill & Associates was retained to guide the fund-raising efforts. Rev. Scott McKenzie (from Cargill) organized multiple teams of people to energize the effort. Evenings of planning (all wrapped in prayer) occurred to make our efforts a success. Thirty-nine households were contacted, asking if they'd host an evening of information at their homes where they'd serve hors d'oeuvres, share their own story of commitment, a video would be shown, and Fr. Larry would also share his commitment, ending with Evening Prayer. During those evenings no pledge was solicited. At that time there were about 400-450 active registered households and most of the St. Mark households attended one of those 39 evenings. Great excitement was generated! As October drew to a close, all awaited November 17/18, our Commitment Weekend.

On November 17/18, 2002 a basket was placed in front of the altar (in the High School); people streamed forward to drop off their pledge envelope. The tally, to be revealed at our celebratory party that night at the Wyndham, was anxiously anticipated. We trusted the Holy Spirit ... (we planned a BIG party!). During that Sunday, the pledges were counted, and at the party, the number just over $2.9 million was announced. What a testimony to our belief in St. Mark!

With that success, plans got underway to get ourselves moving. SlaterPaul Architects were selected from many interviews, and blessedly, our main architect became Dan Muldoon - a man with deep love for the church and great knowledge of art, architecture and spirituality. Dan's insights on all levels (from the large "town meetings" that he guided... down to the smallest detail) guided us toward a Master Site Plan and eventually got us to the point of designing the bricks and mortar that would embrace the church (the people) of St. Mark. Dan was present to almost every Development Council and Design Team meeting. To their credit, the Development Council basically took on the task of selecting a General Contractor and all the "outside" details (brick/mmortar/placement/landscaping, etc. - a BIG job!). The Design Team took on the task of everything "inside." Every other week, for over two years, each of the two groups met, making suggestions, making decisions, leading us toward our beautiful worship space. "How tall should the building be? How tall should the tabernacle be? Where do the walk ways go? How do we process to the altar and what should the altar look like? How many entrances to the building? How do we enter the font? Where should the cross on the outside go? What should our inside Great Cross look like and represent?" Questions and questions. By God's guidance, it all came together. To quote Laurie Nieb (before any designs were ever imagined), "God has already built St. Mark - we just have to reveal it!"

As interior and exterior plans came together a date for groundbreaking was set to be March 21, 2004, a Sunday afternoon. Doing things "the St. Mark way," everyone from the parish was invited to bring their shovels: big shovels, small shovels, the children brought their sandbox shovels. The outline of the worship space was spray painted upon the field where we were to build and, it turned out, 950 people (almost every person who attended St. Mark at that time), came to celebrate. There was no "hierarchy" of people who took the first shovelful; rather, there was a countdown: 10, 9, 8 .. and on ONE, everyone jumped on their shovels and dug amidst great cheering! Everyone took their part in the start of our worship space - the Church was digging the church! Given the joyous spirit of the moment, the General Contractor shouted out, "KEEP DIGGING!" (And some did!) Of course, following the groundbreaking, we returned to ThunderRidge for food, festivities, and the unveiling of the beautifully calligraphied Parish Prayer, donated by Carlos Caceres. Thank you, Carlos!

Prior to the groundbreaking ceremony, all the households were encouraged to bring a large rock with their names and prayers upon it. These were collected up and placed in a crate for later placement in the foundation.

Very soon after, a construction trailer was placed upon the property, fences went up, and a web cam was mounted on the roof of King Soopers so that everyone could log in and watch the progress. Construction began! The property was cleared and graded and the machinery began to appear. A great hole was dug for the lower level and some foundation walls were poured. Before the floor for the lower level was poured, the General Contractor came to the parish offices and told us, "It's time...." It was time to put the name and prayer rocks into the foundation. The place that was chosen is directly under where the altar in the worship space is situated. Truly, St. Mark is built upon living stones.

As the walls went up, St. Mark, being St. Mark even adopted the construction workers. Usually at least once a week Hermanos en Christo, our Hispanic Ministry, would bring over home made breakfast and/or lunch burritos for the workers - St. Mark hospitality at work again!

St.Mark folks couldn't stay away from the property. To the chagrin of the workers, parishioners would constantly stop by the property, see if things were "safe," don hardhats and look around. Even the pastor found it difficult to stay away; even for a day .....

November 20/21, 2004, with the construction well underway, during two of the most bitter days where the temperatures hovered well below freezing, Design Team, Development Council, staff and architect offered tours of the cement grey shell. "This is where the baptismal font goes, this is our gathering space, this is where the altar will be placed, these are the bathrooms...". As people toured they were encouraged to write their names and prayers on the walls, the floor, anywhere they could. Those who attended wrote and wrote; they became intrinsic to the "being" of St. Mark. St Mark is not just a building, but a person - a living people united in Christ to make Christ known. The day might have been frigid, but the mood warm and filled with excitement!

Jump a few months forward and we were getting close. Hoping to open our doors for Easter, God had other ideas. The building wasn't safe enough to allow the public in, the Certificate of Occupancy had not yet arrived; we weren't getting in for Easter. However, we were allowed in to celebrate our first "unofficial" Mass upon the death of our Holy Father Pope John Paul II who had previously granted St. Mark his Apostolic Blessing.

Fr. Larry had hoped a Dedication Mass for the church would fall on a weekend when the parish could celebrate and not have to worry about homework for the kids or getting up early for work. God had other plans. Fr. Larry's goal had been to have Bishop Hanifen (by then retired) who gave birth to St. Mark and Bishop Sheridan (present Ordinary) in attendance. A weekend would have been perfect, Fr. Larry thought. But God had a more perfect date. The first date both bishops could attend was a Monday night: April 25, 2005: the feast of St. Mark! What a coincidence! [Of note: from the beginning of our parish, April 23, 2000 the goal had always been to move into our worship space in 5 years; well, we missed it by two days! Not too bad!]

Since then, St. Mark has been on the move, as Jesus was constantly on the move in the gospel of Mark. The love and dedication of the people of St. Mark has given us the capability to move forward to constructing the most beautiful, functional, liturgically amazing church ever built on the face of the earth! Thanks to so many people we have a beautiful building that enfolds incredibly beautiful people! Ministries abound! Our Youth Ministry is flourishing! We are bursting at the seams on Wednesday nights sharing our faith from the youngest to the oldest. The poor are being served (look at our Sack Lunch Ministry, Douglas County Food Bank, teens going to Cortez... and more)! In the life of a "church", St. Mark is just in its' infancy. What's the next step? How will St. Mark make a mark on this world? Hearts and souls are churning right now, ready for the next move of the Spirit! It can be felt far and wide - how exciting! - as we stay open to the Spirit, let us all exude the Holy Spirit with every breath we take: breathing life, love and faith to our hungering world! Let the Holy Spirit burst forth from this family: "Be not afraid!" [Mark 6:50]

Appendix
* What’s in a name?

The Gospel attributed to the writer "Mark" is unique in many ways:

• Mark is the only gospel writer to actually entitle the Gospel: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God.” If this entire work is but the beginning, were is the rest of it? It lies in the lives of those who read it. The rest of the story of Jesus is how we, the readers and believers, live it out.
• Mark always has Jesus on the move. The first eight chapters of this gospel have Jesus moving rapidly in the northern (Galilee) region, rushing to heal, proclaim and teach. The second eight chapters have him journeying to Jerusalem, to his suffering and death (His passion). Our lives together, as a new community, are on the move. We should neither hesitate, nor cease to be a journeying people.
• Mark has a lot of contention between Jesus and His disciples. Jesus is constantly asking them, “Don’t you understand?” Our faith journey is always going to include a new awareness of who Jesus is.
• The disciples in Mark often want the easy way to faith. Jesus counters this by reminding them the way of faith is not easy and not always comfortable. True disciples embrace their own suffering and the suffering of others. As Jesus embraced the lonely, sick, dying, outcasts and alienated, so we must recognize those aspects of ourselves and others and embrace these.
• Mark consistently has Jesus reach out to the marginalized. In fact, those considered on the "outside" by society are really on the "inside" of the Kingdom of God.
Most importantly, Mark has no ending to his gospel. The longer ending following 16:8 was a second century addition. As the original gospel ends, “they” told no one. Now that we have come to know and believe, and as we embrace the life of Jesus Christ, Son of God -- will we become the proclaimers of the story?