My Soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord

My Spirit rejoices in God my Savior

Luke 1:46 -55

The Magnificat of Mary is said at Evening Prayer. I as stood at our construction site this evening and snapped the picture above I immediately thought of the first line of the Magnificat. “My Soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, My Spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” (Luke 1:46-55)

It is a great evening to proclaim the greatness of the Lord as today WITCO set up three of the four large glue laminated beams. Especially when you look across and see that most magnificent sunset! Especially as you see the grandeur of the mountains! Especially as we enjoyed perfect weather up here when just south of us was ice and fog! Dear God – you are so great and wonderful!

“My Spirit rejoices in God my Savior!”

We here at St. Francis have so much to be joyful for! And as the Magnficat continues – “for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant and from this day all generations shall call me blessed!” God has truly looked with favor on us, we his lowly servants here at St. Francis with great weather, with great parishioners of abundant generosity, with our Bishop and Diocese being so involved and supportive, with fine architects, and fine contractors! We are Blessed! It was so heartwarming today to be out on the site a lot and meet at the construction fence so many parishioners who stopped by and [who in tears] said thanks be to God for this day!

Please join me this evening and every day in proclaiming the Greatness of the Lord and let your Spirit Rejoice in God your Savior! How Blessed we are!!!!

Fr. Brad

A lot of great things are happening here on the site!

The first 4 of our Glue Laminated Beams have arrived.

Yesterday the first truckload of our Glue Laminated Beams arrived here on site. The delivery was actually delayed due to a snowstorm in Utah as our beams made their way from California.

Today the crane arrived and set these first 4 main beams onto our concrete slab.

The Crew from Witco (a Castle Rock Firm) carefully maneuvers the Beam into place.

Hopefully this next week, Witco will start setting these Four glue laminated beams into place! It would be an extraordinary sight to see – if as you come in for the Christmas Masses that you could see the first beams in place!

A lot of great things are happening here on the site!!!

Thanks, Fr. Brad

Our Post Tensioned Concrete Slab has been poured!

Thanks to a great effort by Baker Concrete, Fransen-Pittman, Duro Electric and Quality Mechanical!

This past Friday was a banner day and a milestone day in the life of our parish as Baker Concrete did a phenomenal job pouring and finishing over 550 cubic yards of concrete! The first of 60 concrete trucks begin arriving around 6:30 am and the big pour began! I personally want to say thanks to Ben, Jimmy, Guapo and each and every one of the Baker Concrete guys for doing a great job! You guys are second to none!

Skip from Quality Mechanical was on site very early to make sure that all of the plumbing vents were properly sealed before the big pour. Skip has done a great job on this site!

Paul and Jimmy from Duro Electric have worked very hard to make sure that all of the empty conduits were correctly placed before the big pour. This picture was taken the day before the big pour. As a Pastor and Priest who gets to do building projects, I am very glad to have Paul on our team. I worked with Paul at St. Pat’s (my last parish) and he does great work. Duro is dedicated to excellence!

Here’s the crew from Baker Concrete pouring sections of the PT slab!

Mark Cucarola, the Chair of our Building and Property Commission celebrates with the FP crew at the completion of the big pour! Several of our Building and Property Commission members were present during the day. Chris and Gil were on site around 6am bring Krispy Kreme donuts and coffee to the crew! Two of our parishioners brought breakfast burritos and Angie’s Restaurant brought Pizzas! Thanks Mike Muniz from FP for bringing the Cigars! It was a great day!!!

It was a great job all around! Thanks Team!!! I

Fr. Brad

Baker Concrete begins pouring the Foundation for our New Church!

After months of lots of great preparatory work done by Duro Electric, Quality Mechanical, Total Site Utilities, various subcontractors and Fransen-Pittman (Our General Contractor), Bake last week began the excavation work for the new foundation. Today Baker Concrete began pouring the foundation ribs and footing pads!
 

Standing l-r – Jimmy Fisher, Aaron Smith and Ben Breslin)

 
I spoke today with Jimmy Fisher, the Project Superintendent. He reminded me that this is a very complicated build, especially with all of the embeds. The placement of the embeds is very critical due to the size of the glue-laminated beams.
 
Jimmy also told me that this particular layout can be likened to building a fine piano. There are so many intricate parts that need to come together to make this whole foundation system work.
 
One of the things that Jimmy also said was that when all was said and done that all of their foundation work would be hidden. Hidden, but essential to the strength of our new church!
This was also mirrored by Ben, their Project Manager and by Aaron their Operations Manager.
 
I was really touched by the wisdom of Jimmy! Setting the foundation correctly is so critically important in any aspect of our life. Building on that solid foundation that we have set is important as we go through life. As we go through life we may not be able to see the foundation, but it is that which give us strength, especially to endure whatever my come.
 
On this most beautiful and challenging site we do get a lot of stress from the winds that tend to blow. I know that the great foundation that Baker Concrete is providing will provide us a firm and lasting anchor. Thanks Baker Concrete!
 

Brett Prather –architect –standing right checks out the progress along with Larry, Jesus and Paul from FP
 

We are blessed to have Mark Thiesen and Paul Gibson from FP on this Job! Mark is in charge of Day to Day OPS and Paul is his Second in Command. I am really impressed with Mark and his team of builders!
 
 
A lot of great work is happening from this great team!  Thanks, Fr. Brad

The Foundation work for our new Church Sanctuary has Begun!

Bring your stones in with your family names on so that I can place them in the foundation walls!

Work began this week on digging out for the new foundation and the “embeds” that will hold up the massive glue laminated beams for our new Church Sanctuary.

The picture above shows the holes ready to receive the embeds. This view is from the front door of our new church looking past the new baptistery and then on to the altar/Tabernacle area.

This picture shows the rough concrete form of our new baptistery.

This picture shows what our new baptistery will look like when done!

We are very blessed to have Baker Concrete doing the foundation work and the concrete work for our Post Tensioned Slab!

As we begin this phase of our project where we are really moving along, I just personally want to say THANKS to all of you for your support and perseverance throughout the years. This is indeed a great time to bring this long awaited dream into reality!

Happy Thanksgiving! Fr. Brad

A Beautiful Addition to Our Pope John Paul II Prayer Path

This past weekend our great team from Fransen-Pittman General Contractors installed this most beautiful addition to our Pope John Paul II Prayer Path. This most beautiful outdoor crucifix was a gift to our parish from a wonderful lady named Mary. Mary has also very generously given us the beautiful statue of our Lady of Guadalupe (for our new outdoor garden) and the Good Shepherd statue which will be installed soon.

I certainly invite you to walk down the beautiful prayer path and to spend some time in that most holy area meditating on the suffering and death of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Our Lord suffered and died out of love for us. To redeem us! To free us!

I am blessed to live next to this beautiful prayer path and park. As I walk the path I personally feel such great peace. If you have not discovered this path, I would encourage you to! Along this path is also the beautiful Our Lady of Fatima grotto. There are benches along the way so that you can sit and have some time with the Lord.

As always, I am so grateful to those who have worked hard to develop and maintain this beautiful prayer path and park!

Praised be Jesus Christ and Mary Immaculate!

Fr. Brad

Welcome back Fr. Gabel!

Today at the 9:30am Mass we welcomed back Fr. Gabel who was our Pastor here for seven years, prior to I believe the assignment of Fr. Bill Vollmer.

I personally want to express my deep appreciation and thanks to Fr. Gabel for all of the great work that he did here. Fr. Gabel has been a priest since 1957 so that means he has been a priest for 53 years! What a great life of service and dedication. It is such a joy to have some of the former Pastors come home! Thanks Fr. Gabel!

I personally enjoy every day that I have the privilege to be here. Every day I am so very grateful to my Priest predecessors who brought the faith here in 1888 and who continue to this day. I am personally grateful to Fr. Gabel, Fr. Vollmer, Fr. Gus Stewart and the visiting priests, to Fr. Herb Hayek and Fr. George Reynolds. Each of you have your own unique talents and gifts that have made the parish the great parish that it is today.

Thanks for a great legacy!

Fr. Brad

Police Service Dog “Jax” Memorial Dedication Ceremony

This Past Saturday Oct. 2nd I was able to attend a very beautiful and moving ceremony honoring Jax who was a Police Service Dog for the Castle Rock Police Department.

Jax recently passed away and the department honored him with a beautiful bronze statue. At the ceremony CRPD officer Todd Thompson, his handler, spoke about Jax. At least on two occasions Jax saved his life. What a great tribute to the men and women of the CRPD and this most wonderful dog! As part of the ceremony, I was asked to read the following poem – author unknown. I share it with you on this day before the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi.

Guardians Of The Night

Author – Unknown
Trust in me my friend for I am
your comrade. I will protect you
with my last breath When all
others have left you And the
loneliness of the night closes
in, I will be at your side.

If we should meet again on
another street I will gladly take
up your fight, I am a Police
Working Dog and together We
are guardians of the night.
Thanks, Fr. Brad

September 11th

As you know, I am a volunteer chaplain with the Colorado Springs Fire Department. It is such a great joy working with Firefighters, Police Officers, EMS workers and their families. Today in Colorado Springs most of my firefighter friends were at the IAFF Fallen Firefighter Memorial. If you have never been to the beautiful ceremony, I would certainly recommend it. It is at the north-west corner of Memorial Park in Colorado Springs. I am so proud of the many firefighters from Local 5 and around the country who so graciously give of their time to drive those who have lost a firefighter in the line of duty to this beautiful memorial and attend to their needs. I personally always try to attend the ceremony, but this year both the ceremony and the Denver 9-11 Memorial Stair climb were on the same day.

For the last three years I have on September 11th climbed the Qwest building in Denver in honor of those who died this day nine years ago. This was my fourth climb and my great friend Paramedic “Coop” and I represented Colorado Springs. We climb a total of 110 stories – 55 up, an elevator down – and then 55 up again, mirroring the 110 stories of the World Trade Center. It is always for me a humbling experience to make this climb with 343 firefighters from different fire departments from around the Denver area.

This is my team ready to enter the door and begin the climb! Led by Coop, and with two great firefighters we began! As you know, I am a FD Chaplain and am not a firefighter, but I wanted to at least on the first climb wear an air pack in honor of FDNY Firefighter Steve Mercado, the cousin of St. Francis parishioner David Quintana who was killed in the Twin Towers on 9-11. I also climbed in memory of Fr. Mychal Judge, the FDNY chaplain killed on 9-11. Each of us carried a picture of one of the firefighters killed and I met the fine young firefighter who climbed in honor of Steve Mercado.

It is a profound experience every year to do this. I feel profoundly sad right before the climb when Chief McGrail gathers us and when we are reminded to look around and realize that everyone of the 343 firefighters gathered in the garage represents one of the 343 firefighters killed that day nine years ago.

By the way, if you wonder if I made it the 110 stories – yes! With the help of my team we all did!

And if you wonder what it looks like from the top of the Qwest building –

I want to close with a prayer that Fr. Judge said the day before he died on 9-11. I personally find it inspirations.
“Good days, bad days, up days, down days, sad days, happy days, but never a boring day on this job.” Fr. Judge said. “You do what God has called you to. You show up, put one foot in front of another, you get on the rig, you go and you do the job, which is a mystery and a surprise.” “You have no idea when you get on that rig – no matter how big the call, no matter how small – you have no idea what God is calling you to.”

I have a copy of this on my desk. Please pray daily for the protection of all of our Firefighters, Police Officers, Sheriff’s Deputies, EMS workers and our Military Men and women. May we never forget the profiles in Courage that we say nine years ago on September 11th!

Fr. Brad

Welcome back Deacon Joe and Welcome new Seminarians!

This past weekend we, as a parish, were very excited to welcome back Deacon Joe Dygert back to our parish for this academic year. Deacon Joe will be finishing his academic studies prior to his upcoming ordination in June! Deacon Joe is a wonderful preacher and is well loved by our parishioners – so we look forward to his working with us this year!

We are also very fortunate to have Seminarian Jason Keas and Seminarian David Boroff join us as well! Both Jason and David will be with us for this academic year. They are both outstanding young men and you could tell by their presence this weekend that they really enjoy being with our parishioners! They both have so much enthusiasm. I personally want to thank Jason and David for helping Father Bob Newbury move to his new assignment in Stratton and Burlington, Colorado. They did an outstanding job!

It is such a joy being in this Diocese! I have a great Bishop! I worked with great brother Priests! We are fortunate to have around 14 seminarians! We should have 4 priestly ordinations this year!

I also get to be Pastor in this excellent parish with great parishioners! I am truly blessed!

Fr. Brad

This Week In Construction!

As you know since Catholic Priests only work on Sunday, I have been keeping busy with my weekday job with Fransen-Pittman, and this week moved a lot of dirt!

Seriously, between the great crew from Lightning Ventures and the great team at Fransen-Pittman a lot of earthwork and preparation happened this week!

So – we are now ready for Flow-fill and the footings on the Corner of our existing building.

The work continues around the back of the building to the new eastern access to the driveway

Finally, the western corners of our new church take shape!

Great Job Team and thanks St. Francis Parishioners for your generosity, support and love that enable us to do this wonderful project!

Fr. Brad

What a tremendous blessing our Permanent Deacons are!

This past Tuesday I had the great opportunity to be with the Permanent Deacons of our Diocese, my brother priests and our Bishop as we celebrated the Feast of St. Lawrence Deacon and Martyr. Our Bishop gave a wonderful homily about the importance and the role of the Permanent Diaconate. It was a great experience for me as I sat behind the altar and could look at the faces of each of the permanent Deacons as they recommitted themselves in the life of the service to the Church. What a tremendous blessing our Permanent Deacons are! What a blessing their wives and families are in support of their ministry!

I know that my own priesthood has been very blessed by the opportunity to work side by side with our Permanent Deacons! I certainly apporeciate the friendship of Deacon Chuck Matzker and his wife Barb who has walked with me since my ordination as a transitional Deacon and Priest. I was very blessed to work with Deacon Dick Brown, Deacon Rick Antinora and Deacon Ken Huard at St. Pat’s! I am especially blessed to work with Deacon Tom Liotta and Deacon George Linehan here – Deacon Tom has been a real blessing in my life here! After the Mass on Tuesday all of the Permanent Deacons of our Northern Region, and their wives, joined Fr. Gus, myself and Gene (my Sacristan) for a very nice meal. It was truly great to be around such a great group of very holy, compassionate and energetic people. I certainly ask your prayers for those men who are preparing to be ordained as Deacons in June – such as Pete McCann.

Finally, as we celebrated our Permanent Deacons, we also pause to remember those permanent Deacons who are now with God and are at Peace. I certainly remember Deacon Bob Hunter who served so well here in the Northern Region, and our daily prayers go out to Carol his beloved wife. Deacon Bob was such a model of inspiration and really embodied what a deacon should strive to be. Thanks Deacon Bob for all of your great work. I certainly join my Bishop Michael Sheridan in thanking God daily for the restoration of the Permanent Diaconate!

In Christ, Fr. Brad

Here we go St. Francis Parish!

Now that we have our building permit in hand and our contract finalized with our Fransen-Pittman General Contractors, it is not time to get our Construction Project going!!! I know that you have been waiting for this for many years – and here we go! Our old parking lot has been removed – and the old asphalt has been sent for recycling. St. Francis had a care for the environment and so do we! This week we begin the process of excavation of the dirt and recompacting the dirt under what will be the new church. The shop drawings for the post tensioned slab should be nearing completion as well as the shop drawings for the glu-lam beams. This week we should also see progress in cutting in what will be a future access loop to the back of our existing building and regarding the current driveway to the rectory. In the very near future we should see foundation work begin and the under the slab electrical conduits and plumbing lines.

Here we go!!! I certainly love being with you and certainly appreciate all of your support, patience and perseverance during this process!!!

Thanks, Fr. Brad

Francis, Francis rebuild my church!

Since we know have a contract in place, and a building permit in hand – here we go!!!

This coming week, we will see:

• Completion of new egress stairwell on the South side of the building.
• Building and completion of a new emergency egress door by the office and new ramp by the front outdoor gathering area.
• Power and phone line run to the construction trailer.
• Erosion Control Measures put in place.
• The construction fence will be put in place.
• Removal of asphalt from the old parking lot, behind the building, removal of the asphalt driveway from the east side driveway down to the back, and removal of dirt berms near the Our Lady of Guadalupe Garden.
• Moving of the garbage dumpsters.
• Because of this access to the back of the church – will be limited to Emergency Fire Department calls and construction only. You will not be able to pull around back as of this Monday. Please park up front and walk down the stairs to the below.

Please check the web page each day for current progress.

As we begin this Holy Journey called Construction – please remember to stay out of the construction site and away from any affected areas. Only on Pre-arranged visits, with the proper safety equipment worn can people be on the construction site.

Thanks for your faith, hope, your generosity, your perserverance and love that has brought us this far. You truly are the best parish that a Priest could ever serve in!!!

In Christ, Fr. Brad

We have a Permit!!!

Just wanted to let everyone know that on Friday July 16th, I received a call from our General Contractor, Fransen-Pittman letting us know that our Building Permit from Douglas County was available for pickup. I immediately wrote the check for the proper amount and we now have the Building Permit!!! Early this coming week we need to finish some contract issues and then we are ready to go! My personal thanks to all of our parishioners, Fransen-Pittman and Architectural Innovations for getting us to this point. I also want to personally thank those in the Douglas County Building Department for all of their hard work and dedication to detail. I personally look forward to this build!!!

Each Day for the next several days, I will give you the updates that I receive from Julie and Greg who are with our teens and adults at the work camp – so keep checking here for the latest updates!

Fr. Brad

Father,

The crew is doing good and is staying the night at the University of New Mexico Newman Center in A. They had the opportunity to celebrate mass with Father George and then had a wonderful dinner with Father. They were able to find showers at the abandoned Rectory They are now setting down for the night.

I will keep you posted as the week goes along. I have attached a couple pictures of the crew and the bus leaving.

God Bless You,

Greg