Archbishop Charles Chaput

If you send an e-mail to Denver’s Archbishop Charles Chaput, don’t be surprised when you receive a prompt response from him. His e-mail address is posted on the archdiocesan Web site (www.archden.org), and he replies to about one hundred messages weekly. 

“When one opens new doors of communication,” says the fifty-five-year-old Capuchin Franciscan Friar, “people communicate. That’s a wonderful burden.”
It sometimes means answering e-mail at 4:30 a.m. to allow time for his other responsibilities, including weekly visits to northern Colorado parishes, where he meets his flock face-to-face. 

“You’d be amazed at how quickly a bishop discovers what’s on their minds,” he says. From these discussions, and prayer, Archbishop Chaput decides what topics to address in his pastoral letters. Since being installed as Denver’s archbishop, in April 1997, he’s written four letters — on evangelization, contraception, reconciliation and priestly vocations. He also writes a regular column for the archdiocesan newspaper, and his articles appear in a number of other publications. 

In his writings and his talks, Archbishop Chaput tackles the tough subjects. “It’s important for any bishop to speak the truth passionately, clearly and without compromise,” he says. “If we do that, and if we always do it with love, we’re fulfilling our mandate to ‘Go and make disciples of all nations.’ That’s the example Jesus gave us. He withheld nothing. His words were plain and to the point.” As are the archbishop’s words.

“Sharing the gospel isn’t always easy,” he says. “Living it is even harder. Even many Catholics want the truth to be different on issues like contraception, the death penalty and abortion. But we bishops, or priests, or religious, or laity, do others no favor when we distort or discard pieces of the truth to make them more palatable to modern tastes.”

And modern tastes are being profoundly influenced by technology, which is one reason the Denver archdiocese hosted a conference in 1998 on “The New Technologies and the Human Person.” 

“These tools can do more than change how we communicate,” says Archbishop Chaput. “They can change how we think. The most important legacy of the information age won’t be how it simplified or accelerated our lifestyles or work but, instead, how it changed us.”

But the greatest challenge facing the Church in the coming millennium, says Archbishop Chaput, is nothing new.

“It’s the same crisis faced by people since the dawn of humanity,” he explains. “It’s a crisis of faith. We simply do not believe deeply enough. God has revealed Himself to us through Jesus Christ, but we’re afraid to follow His example. So, the central crisis we face isn’t something happening in our culture or our Church — it’s within ourselves. If we want to change the world, we need to begin by changing our hearts.”

Archbishop Chaput is planting the seeds in Denver to do just that.” In many ways, the coming millennium is fertile missionary territory,” he says. “Our task is to recover the faith and missionary zeal of the early Christians, so we can proclaim the gospel with the same energy and confidence.” A key component for those of northern Colorado will be Our Lady of the New Advent Theological Institute which, according to the archbishop, is “dedicated to forming a new generation of Catholic evangelizers.” A major seminary, the St. John Vianney Theological Seminary, operates under and within the institute. The institute will grant pontifical degrees through the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome. Initially, only seminarians will receive such degrees, but lay people will eventually study at the institute also.

“People view the seminary as a tremendous sign of hope for the Church here,” Archbishop Chaput says. “To see nearly sixty dedicated seminarians in formation gives us confidence that we will have enough priests to serve our growing population (in northern Colorado) in the next millennium. But I think the seminary means more than the solution to a priest shortage . . . I think the new seminary — and the wonderful young men studying in it — is helping to renew the entire Church in northern Colorado.”

The archbishop would like to see the institute become a “spiritual heart” for the archdiocese, where “all people can come to more deeply explore their role in God’s plan.”

The archbishop discerned his own role in God’s plan guided by his family. “Priestly vocations usually take root in a prayerful and supportive family environment, and mature with the encouragement of a spiritual adviser,” he says. “The Holy Spirit does dramatic work, but that doesn’t mean He sends divine lightning bolts to stimulate vocations. There’s a human component, too. And if we don’t have enough priests, it’s not because the Holy Spirit isn’t at work among us. It’s because we, as a Church, as families and as individuals, are not doing our part.”

The Church, he adds, needs families that pray together, attend Mass every Sunday, and make their faith central to their lives.

Many of the flock in Denver’s archdiocese are heeding that call, guided by their holy shepherd.

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