St. Patrick Misson Church, Denver Colorado.

This Catholic Church in North Denver is St. Patrick Mission Church.  The Mission Architecture Church was built from 1907 to 1910, and served the Denver Highlands.  Its architectural style is unusual for Denver.

This Church is also called St. Patrick's Oratory, and has a presence by the Capuchin Poor Clare Sisters.

There's more to this church than I have here, I just don't know what it is, but it may be explained by the Capuchin sisters. The church as a bit of a campus, and therefore as a mission, it might strongly reflect their presence.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Denver Colorado.

This is Our Lady of Mount Carmel in North Denver, Colorado.

Built between 1899 and 1904 for an Italian population, the church is located in a neighborhood known as Little Italy, although its rapidly gentrifying and experiencing a change in neighborhood character.  Nonetheless, one Mass per month is offered in Italian.

Lex Anteinternet: Sunday Morning Scene: Denver Catholic Register, December 1919

Lex Anteinternet: Sunday Morning Scene: Denver Catholic Register, D...

Sunday Morning Scene: Denver Catholic Register, December 1919.

Holy Protection Byzantine Catholic Church, Denver Colorado

This is Holy Protection Byzantine Catholic Church in Denver Colorado.

Many people, when they hear the word "Catholic", immediately have what, in the English speaking world, are frequently referred to as "Roman Catholics" in mind.  In fact, however, "Roman" Catholics are Latin Rite Catholics whose churches use the Roman Rite.  Roman Catholics make up the overwhelming majority of Catholics, and indeed the majority of Catholics, on earth.

They aren't the only Catholics however.   The Roman Rite itself is just one of several Latin, or Western, Rites.  There are also several Eastern Rites, of which the Byzantine Rite is one.

The Byzantine Catholic Church, which is also called the Ruthenian Byzantine Catholic Church, uses the same liturgical rite as the Greek Orthodox Church and shares the same calendar.  It dates back to the conversion of the Rusyn people in the Carpathians to Christianity in the 9th Century.  That work, done by St. Cyril and St. Methodius brought to the Rusyn people the form of worship in the Eastern Rite.  They Rusyn church initially followed the Orthodox Churches following  the schism of 1054, but in 1645 the Ruthenian Church started to return to communion with Rome, resulting in the Rutenian Byzantine Catholic Church, which is normally called the Byzantine Catholic Church in the United States.

Immigration from Eastern Europe brought the Church into the United States. Originally a strongly ethnic church, in recent decades it has become multi ethnic and its strongly traditional character has caused it to obtain new members from both very conservative Latin Rite Catholics as well as very conservative former Protestants.  Indeed, while this church is very small, it has been growing and now has a Byzantine Catholic outreach to Ft. Collins, Colorado, where it holds services in Roman Catholic Churches.

Catholic (SSPX) Chapel of the Annunciation, Ft. Collins Colorado.

I've passed by this church many times but this was the first time I stopped.  I knew it was a Catholic church of some sort, but I didn't know that it was a Society of St. Pius X Chapel.

The Society of St. Pius X is a controversial Catholic organization that at one time teetered on the brink of being declared irregular.  Under the last three Popes a dedicated effort to keep that from occurring was undertaken and now the SSPX has a somewhat more regular status with the Church but it is still somewhat on the outside, rather than fully on the inside.  When I last checked, which is awhile back, they had been granted the right to perform sacraments, but a person really ought to check if they're a Catholic and planning on going to a SSPX service.

This church isn't really in Ft. Collins (at least not yet), but on a less and less rural road between Ft. Collins and Windsor Colorado.  Technically its a chapel because, I think, canonically the SSPX are outside of the regular diocese for a region and their churches do not, therefore, have full church status in the eyes of the Catholic Church.  Again, I'm not an expert on this by any means.

This chapel appears to be an offshoot of St. Isadore the Farmer church in Denver, and served by it.

St. Dominic Catholic Church, Old Highlands District, Denver Colorado.

This is St. Dominic Catholic Church in the Old Highlands District of Denver, Colorado.  

This large Gothic style church was the second St. Dominic's in Denver, both of which, fittingly enough, were and are Dominican churches.  The church was originally associated with a school, but the school closed in 1973.  The Church itself was built in 1926, replacing one that had been built in the late 19th Century.

The rectory for the church stands next door and is just a bit older, having been built in 1923.

Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church, Old Highlands District, Denver Colorado.

This is the Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church in the Old Highlands District of Denver, Colorado.  The church was built in 1890 and at the time it was built, it had no surrounding structures.  The Gothic style church is still a Methodist church today.

Metropolitan Community Church, Denver Colorado.

I really know nothing about this church at all, other than its in the Capitol Hill region of Denver where a lot of older churches are.  It's not far from the large Episcopal Cathedral in Denver.  Based upon what I can find about it, it fits into the politically and theologically liberal branch of Protestantism, and its occupying a church that was almost certainly built for another denomination some time ago.  

My photo of it is awful, but I was in a hurry at the time I stumbled across it.

Alma Temple, Denver Colorado

I know absolutely nothing whatsoever about this structure, or about the the institution that apparently owns it.  It belongs, apparently, to a Protestant group that maintains a radio station in addition to some sort of services.  The structure has an obvious Greek Revival style and was built in 1923.

First Baptist Church, Denver Colorado

This New England style church is located in the Capitol Hill district of Denver. I don't know much about it otherwise, but it is right across the street from the Capitol Building.

Updated photograph from a different angle, as I happened to be going by it at a later date than that, five years ago, when I first photographed it.

St. Paul Lutheran Church, Denver Colorado

The purpose of this blog is really to depict churches, not to comment on any one religion or church.   However, whenever you post photographs of varying churches, you are going to sooner or later end up getting into some sort of comment or controversy.

This is a photograph I took quite awhile back, 2012 in fact, and I never completed the post.  The reason is that I don't like to have a hand in creating confusion.  Whenever I post a photograph I always try to look the church up before I post the photo.  In doing that, I found St. Paul's entry to be very confusion at that time, 2012. 

What I found was that the church was Lutheran, and very obviously in the "liberal" Lutheran camp, but it offered a service that mirrored Catholic services.  It was pretty clearly angling for disaffected Catholics who had some reason that they were separating themselves from the Church but who missed what the Mass looked like.  That made me a bit queasy, well more than a bit queasy.

In finding this old photograph, I looked them back up and its more confusing than ever.  They have a Catholic Priest who is offering a Mass on Saturday nights while the Lutheran service is on Sunday.  The website claims that the community at the Church is Catholic and Lutheran and the website suggests, whether it means to or not, that there's no prohibition to the two faiths commingling without restriction.

Well, there certainly is, and neither the Lutheran or the Catholic Church take that position.

Rather, what the site cites to is a declaration by Pope Benedict some years ago that one of Martin Luther's statements was not inconsistent with Catholic belief, if properly understood.  

This gets into an entire really long area of discussion which I'm not going to go down. Rather, however, I'm noting this as this is a pretty old church, but frankly it fits into a certain "liberal" Christian set of beliefs that does not define either faith in the main.  And this stands to be deceptive, particularly for people who are travelers.  If a Church stands in opposition to the main body of its faith, or if it is on the fringe of it, it ought to just flat out state that.  After all, even the two very close "lungs" of the Apostolic Churches, the Catholics and the Orthodox, do not seek to hide their differences from each other.  The "Anglican Catholis", who use the Catholic name as part of their identify, are very blunt on their websites and statements that they are not in union with Rome and do not purport to be Roman Catholic Churches. 

I'm not saying that deception is intentionally being engaged in here, and I'm not commenting on the licitly of the Masses (about which I know nothing), but I am saying that when people take a view that's out of the mainstream on things, they'd do well to note that, least they create problems for others.  In matters of religion, for the Faithful, this is not a small matter.

I'm going to go ahead and post the photo of this church here.  But in doing so, I'm frankly going to note that there's another Catholic Church that's clearly in the Catholic mainstream, right downtown, just a couple of blocks away.  That church, Holy Ghost, is unquestionably Catholic and,  like this Lutheran Church, it also has a very well known social mission, that being to the poor.  I don't know where the nearest Lutheran church is, but I'd note it if I did.

Good Shepherd Catholic Church, Denver Colorado.

These cell phone photos, taken from a vehicle, depict the Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Denver.  The church was originally built as St. John the Evangelist Church, in 1909, but it was later consolidated due to demographic changes with St. Philomena's, which was accordingly closed. When the parishes were consolidated, the church was renamed reflecting the combination of the two parishes.  This well preserved church in is in the Cherry Creek region of Denver.

St. Joseph's Polish Catholic Church, Denver Colorado

This is St. Joseph's Polish Catholic Church in North Denver.  The church is just a couple of blocks away from another Catholic Church., Holy Rosary Catholic Church, and a couple of blocks away from a Russian Orthodox Cathedral, reflecting the ethnic make up fo this community at one time. Today, the neighborhood is largely Hispanic, but this church still offers Masses in Polish in addition to English.  the school next to it was flying a Polish and US flag on the day that I went by.  The church was built in 1902.

Holy Transfiguration of Christ Orthodox Cathedral, Denver Colorado

This is the Holy Transfiguration of Christ Cathedral in North Denver.  This Cathedral is a Cathedral of the Orthodox Church in America, a church which traces its origin to the Russian Orthodox Church after the Russian Revolution. The particular neighborhood this church is in must have been heavily Slavic at one time, as there is a Catholic Church which was built for a largely Polish population all within a couple of blocks, with a third Catholic Church nearby..  Recently I observed a Polish flag, flying with the US flag, on a Catholic school in the neighborhood, but are the area is largely Hispanic today.

There are two bodies that descend from the Russian Orthodox Church in the US today, and I frankly don't quite understand the relationship between the two, but this Cathedral in Denver reflects part of Denver's Russian Orthodox community.  The church dates to 1898.

Saint Mary's Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, Denver Colorado

This is Saint Mary's Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in Denver Colorado. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is a non-Chalcedonian (Oriental Orthodox) church. This church is located in north eastern Denver.

Temple Events Center, formally Temple Emanuel Synagogue

It took me some time to figure out what this building is, or was. Given the styling, I thought perhaps it had been built as an Eastern Rite or Orthodox church.

No, in fact it was a synagogue. This building was the Temple Emanuel Synagogue, built in 1899. I don't know its history beyond that, but today it is an events center and available for various uses.

Photograph with the Catholic Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in the background.

Of interest, this building strongly resembles the St. Peter and St. Paul Antiochian Orthodox Church in Salt Lake City, which was also originally built as a synagogue.

Observant folks might notice that this post was first made in February 2011, but has now reappeared in November, 2012.  The reason is that I happened to be parked in this neighborhood a couple of days ago and had the opportunity to take photographs of this structure from the sidewalk, as opposed to from inside my vehicle, as the first photo was taken.

Assumption of the Theotokos Greek Orthodox Cathedral of Denver

This is the Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Denver Colorado, the Assumption of the Theotokos Greek Orthodox Cathedral. It's in a neighborhood with heavy traffic, so these photographs were taken from a vehicle, making them less than ideal. The Cathedral offices, which look like a Greek Orthodox Church, are on the same ground and are also included here. Theotokos roughly translates as Mother of God, so the Cathedral is dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

St. Ignatius Loyala Roman Catholic Church, Denver Coloado

This church located in a busy section of Denver, quite near City Park, is St. Ignatius Loyola Roman Catholic Church. A school by that name, which it supports, is next door.

The church was completed in 1924 and is a Jesuit church.

St. Francis de Sales Roman Catholic Church, Denver Colorado

Yet another photograph taken from a car window, this is St. Francis de Sales Roman Catholic Church in south Denver. This church, named after the Patron Saint of Writers, is also associated with a Catholic School which is about one block away. The church was built in 1911.

Grant Avenue Methodist Church and Community Center, Denver Colorado

Another bad photograph taken from a moving car, this photograph depicts the Grant Avenue Methodist Church in Denver Colorado.

I don't know much about this south Denver Church, but it has apparently been donated to the community so that it now serves both as a Methodist Church and a Community Center. It was built in 1908.