When Our Lady of Loreto Catholic parish founder Monsignor Ed Buelt gave the Eucharist to the very first communicant to receive First Communion from the fledgling parish in 1998, he had no way of knowing that the 9-year-old boy would eventually be ordained Father Matt Magee 18 years later.
Father Magee is one among many. The Foxfield parish is one of the youngest parishes in the Archdiocese of Denver, but it also has a reputation for producing an extraordinary number of religious vocations.
In a time when the Catholic Church frequently prays for more young men and women to faithfully accept a call to religious life, Our Lady of Loreto seems to have created a fertile ground for more than 20 religious vocations of priests, sisters, and permanent deacons to flourish.
“The Holy Spirit needs some ground to sow,” said Msgr. Buelt. “The first two jobs of a pastor are to build a community and preach the Gospel.”
That fertile community provided the foundation for Sister Augusta Nickel to be the first religious vocation from Loreto when she chose to enter the Nashville Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia in 2006. Nickel was in 8th grade when her family began attending Mass at Loreto while the new parish was meeting inside nearby Regis Jesuit High School.
“Father (Buelt) would say that he had not thought of vocations, but if the parish was founded on Christ, and everything else comes from that, the right fruits will come and vocations will come,” said Sister Augusta.
Sister Augusta said Msgr. Buelt was open to the Holy Spirit and harnessed that into “people rather than projects” even while he helped build a new church building at its current location consecrated in 2003. The Dominican sister said stepping back into Loreto was always a homecoming while she was discerning.
Sister Augusta Nickel and Father Dave Hogan both found their vocation as parishioners at Our Lady of Loreto. (Photos provided)
When Father David Hogan was in seminary, Msgr. Buelt invited him to serve as deacon at Masses when he returned from his post in St. Louis to Colorado during the Christmas season. Father Hogan admits his family attended several churches growing up, but Father Ed was gifted at remembering people’s stories when you walked in the doors.
“[Fr. Ed] was creating that culture of vocations — while we were in seminary or discerning, he would hang our photos in the adoration chapel, he would follow up on anniversaries or encourage the Knights of Columbus to donate to us,” said Father Hogan, who is the first priest vocation from Loreto.
Father Magee remembers Sister Augusta was a youth group mentor for him and he recognized the Loreto community was a catalyst for the Holy Spirit in his life. Sr. Augusta and Fr. Hogan came from young families who were church members that fostered relationships with each other as they fostered the community itself, Father Magee said.
“I owe both the community and the pastor for my formation as a young man and into my priesthood,” Father Magee said.
Our Lady of Loreto is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year and was named for the original shrine outside of Rome. Loreto is one of Msgr. Buelt’s favorite devotions because it is accepted by both tradition and Christian devotion as the home where the Virgin Mary welcomed Gabriel. Father David Bluejacket has served as the pastor for both the parish and adjacent elementary school since 2016.
The Archdiocese of Denver is forming 102 seminarians on their path to priesthood. You can help them on their journey by making a gift to the Annual Seminaries’ Appeal at archden.org/futurepriests.