St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish began in the 1980's, as the growing city of Fort Collins saw rapid growth towards the southeast.  It was determined that the town needed another parish to meet the needs of the Catholic faithful.  A Mass was held on Thanksgiving Day, 1980, at the Lake Sherwood clubhouse, to introduce Father Kenneth Koeler to Catholics who lived south of Drake Road. Shortly thereafter, Archbishop James Casey of Denver appointed Rev. Koeler to be the founding pastor of the new parish, which would be established in the area of Lemay Avenue and Harmony Road, effective January 15, 1981. The parish would have as its patron St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first American born citizen to be canonized a Saint in Rome on September 14, 1975.

The first official Masses for the parish were held on Palm Sunday, April 5, 1981 in the former Fort Collins High School on South Remington.   A search for a property to build the new church began, and a 13 acre parcel was purchased at 5450 South Lemay Avenue.  At the time of purchase, Lemay Avenue was still a dirt road south of Harmony Road. During the interim period, services were also held at St Luke's Episcopal Church on Stover Street, and Our Savior's Lutheran Church on Lemay Ave.  The new church building was completed and dedicated on September 22, 1985, a multi-purpose facility that incorporated worship, fellowship, religious education, and youth activities.  

Father Bert Chilson became pastor in 1992, and planning for the expansion of the building began.  In 1998, building of the vestibule, offices and a conference room was completed, and in 2003, the new pastor, Father Larry Christensen presided over the dedication of Seton Hall and the Religious Education Center.  The next project on the horizon will be the updating of the worship area.  

The current pastor is Father Gregory Cioch, and the assistant pastor is Father Joseph Toledo.  They are assisted by two deacons, Bill Trewartha and Don Weiss.  Today, the congregation consists of over 2300 families, who participate in worship, fellowship, and religious education, to meet our parish mission.

Website Update 

Fort Collins Interfaith Council

A "drop-down" to the "Information from Faith Groups" section will be added so that a brief history of the local faith organizations can be included, beginning  with the histories already published in the E-Bulletins of 2011. The website address is www.ftcollinsinterfaithcouncil.org.  

Attending the Feb. 2 IFC meeting as new representatives were: Mary Callen, The Family Center; Deacon Jerome Kraft, St. Joseph's Catholic Church; Stephanie Madsen-Pixler, Murphy Center; Michael Wright, St. Luke's Episcopal Church.

Our thanks are extended to these former representatives for their past service:  Grace Robinson, St. Joseph's Catholic Church, Sister Mary Alice Murphy, the Murphy Center and Bonnie Tancre, St. Luke's Episcopal Church. 

JoAn Hopkins, representative for three organizations - First United Methodist Church, Larimer Center for Mental Health and the Red Cross was recognized for her multiple contributions to IFC over a period of years. 

Dr. Holmes Rolston, Colorado State University Distinguished Professor Emeritus in Philosophy (and Presbyterian pastor), with sponsorship of the Department of Philosophy at CSU and First Presbyterian Church, will host three lecture/discussions on the CSU campus.  They will take place on three Thursday evenings, from 7:30 to 9:00 PM: February 16, March 22 and April 26.  They will be held in the new, state-of-the-art classroom, Behavioral Sciences 131, with space for about 250 people.  Refreshments will follow the discussion.

Dr. Rolston's talks will focus on "Three Big Questions," related to his recent book, "Three Big Bangs: Matter-Energy, Life and Mind."  Dr. Rolston has invited seven CSU faculty to respond to his talks.  An astronomer and a physicist will respond to his talk on the big bang of "Matter-Energy," two geneticists and a biologist will respond to his talk on the big bang of "Life," and two psychologists will respond to his talk on the big bang of "Mind."  There will be time for questions from the audience.  The seven respondents are also people of faith, and we are inviting people who have an interest in the topic: clergy, congregation members, scientists, students, faculty, administration, and area faith community participants.  

This series of lectures/discussions is funded by a grant obtained by First Presbyterian Church, Fort Collins, from the John M. Templeton Foundation's "Scientists in Congregations" program.  This program is designed to help create a network of pastors, scientists, teachers and other interested believers/seekers who want to participate in an ongoing Faith/Science conversation. To join the network or receive more information, send an e-mail to administrator Don Genson; scientist Terry Opgenorth; or Pastor Rich McDermott.

Your Faith Community Needed to Help Homeless Families 

Family Faith Hospitality

An Interfaith Council endorsed cooperative effort among United Way of Larimer County, Catholic Charities and area Faith Communities will begin an outreach program early next year to provide day service, evening meal, light breakfast, and overnight short-term housing to homeless families.

Participating host communities will each provide, on a rotating one-week schedule, meals and overnight housing facilities on an approximately quarterly basis; other supporting communities will provide meals and overnight management assistance.  The Sister Mary Alice Center for Hope will provide case management and daytime services.

This effort has serious and immediate need for additional participating congregations, both in host and supporting roles.  Can your Faith Community help?  

Contact Bill Brown at 970.223.5405 for additional information.   

Give us your info!

Communications Team

We want your faith group and agency information to display on the Member Group section of our website! Sending us your group information is easy, just follow these steps:

1. Click here if you are a member faith group

    Click here if you are a member agency

2. Fill out the online form

3. Click the "Submit" button

4. You're done!

These forms are also available on the website at http://www.ftcollinsinterfaithcouncil.org/FormsReports.html

There are also printed copies of these forms available at the IFC meetings which can be filled out and returned to the communications team. Please let us know if you need a printed form.

Donate your used PC or laptop on March 10 from 9am to 1pm at ELTC, located at 401 Linden Street in Old Town Fort Collins. ELTC rebuilds donated computers and resells them at a significant discount to low-income students and the public.

ELTC accepts:

• working laptops and desktops-2004 or newer (no Macs, please)
• flat screen monitors
• USB mice and keyboards

Minimum PC Specifications include:

• Pentium 4 CPU or higher
• 1 GB hard disk or higher
• 40 GB hard disk or higher
• Came with Windows XP, Vista, or 7

For more information, please contact ELTC at 970.482.4357 or Shane.Greenwood@eltcenter.org.

ELTC is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that provides education and resources to build citizens' self-sufficiency and contribute to our community's economic prosperity. ELTC is also the lead agency in the Circles Larimer County Initiative, a high-impact strategy to end poverty in our community.

On Thursday, February 23, 2012, at 7:00PM, award-winning singer/songwriters Jan Garrett & JD Martin will be singing live in concert at Avogadros Number. This concert will benefit the Geller Center, a Fort Collins non-profit organization that nurtures spiritual development. Admission is free. Contributions will be invited and accepted. 

Sponsored by: Everence.

Neighbor to Neighbor offers free monthly certified home buyer education courses to meet the growing demand for consumer education for home buyers before they purchase a home. The next classes are set for February 11 and March 10.

Attendees who complete N2N's one-session class leave as educated, savvy consumers prepared to become stable homeowners. Classes cover topics including tips for budgeting and saving for down payment, establishing and maintaining good credit, shopping for a loan, negotiating the price of a home, home owners' insurance, energy efficiency, and protecting your investment. 

Apart from offering sound advice, this class also meets the certificate requirements for CHFA, City of Fort Collins and Larimer County down payment assistance programs as well as the HUD counseling requirement needed for Fannie Mae My Community Loan Products. These local down payment assistance programs provide thousands of dollars toward homeownership to qualified buyers.

Visit www.n2n.org or call Caleb Anderson at 970.488.2374 to register and for more information. 

The City of Fort Collins Senior Advisory Board will host the 2nd community conversation about growing older in Fort Collins on March 1 at the Fort Collins Senior Center from 4:30-7pm. The program will feature a panel of speakers that will share how their organizations are planning for the growing aging population. 

Please RSVP at http://col.st/AimjAc. 

Over 6.2 million grandparents currently care for their grandchildren, with many being the sole caregiver for children under the age of 18. The Rocky Mountain Conference on Aging is inviting educators, health and human service providers, attorneys, financial professionals, law enforcement, and faith community representatives interested in strengthening practices and systems to support grandfamilies.  The conference will provide updates on current trends and policies, legal and financial issues and more that impact grandfamilies. 

For more information, visit www.larimer.org/ext.