Dear Editor,

I question the stewardship of the Catholic community over St. Stephen’s church. This beautiful, native stone church was hand quarried and built by parishioners. Unless a present parishioner is 75 years old and was a member in the 1940s and early 1950s they did not pay for St. Stephen’s church. This church has passed from one generation to the next, through a number of priests, bishops and popes.

How did you gain the moral title to this church and the moral authority to place it for sale? Your problem is obvious, you ordered more prefabricated cathedral than you want to pay for, throwing assets like St. Stephen’s at the debt. My suggestion is to give the church to the Spanish-speaking Catholic community, just as it was given to you, and they could compensate you for some part of its value. That would give Spanish-speaking Catholics their own church, so they would not have to schedule the practice of their faith to times when English-speaking Catholics are not using the church. They could decorate St. Stephen’s in their own tastes and traditions. Catholics in old Glenwood could walk to Mass as well as tourists, and the whole community would see Catholic generosity and brotherhood in action.

They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture. Psalms 22:18

Though I speak with tongues of men and angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. Paul Corinthians 13:1

Sincerely,

Gregory Durrett

Glenwood Springs