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Mission: Hispanic Catholics' go-to place
Denver Archdiocese pledges completion

By Jean Torkelson, Rocky Mountain News
July 12, 2005

Archbishop Charles Chaput got cake and applause Monday as he pledged $900,000 to complete Centro San Juan Diego as the go-to place for Hispanic Catholics and all immigrants.

"We have the resources, we have the will, and we're going to do it," Chaput told the Centro advisory board, which met at the former grade school at 2830 Lawrence St.

Centro San Juan Diego, which serves up to 5,000 persons a year, launched in 2003 at the once dilapidated Sacred Heart grade school. The center's mission is to gather in one place cradle-to- grave services for Hispanic Catholics, the archdiocese's fastest growing population, and for any immigrant seeking help.

The final push completes the $3 million renovation. It will add classrooms, an elevator and finish a parking lot. An additional $200,000 Denver economic development grant will be used to refurbish the still-shabby exterior, including new windows that will reflect the building's 19th century pedigree.

Chaput reminisced Monday that the Hispanic ministry had started on the city's west side but hadn't found a permanent home. In 1997, the archdiocese started thinking about the Sacred Heart building - a faded, pigeon-infested shell dominated by a grand gymnasium gone to seed.

"It was really an awful place," Chaput said. "I didn't think we'd ever be able to use it."

The need for a large building was crucial to serve the expanding Hispanic population, said Mar Muñoz-Visoso, Centro's executive director. More than 20 percent of the 370,000- member archdiocese is of Hispanic heritage, a 73 percent growth rate since 1990.

Sister Alicia Cuaron, director of Centro's family services, said the classrooms will be used for an array of purposes such as learning English, achieving citizenship, opening a business, using computers and completing a high school diploma.

She said Centro San Juan Diego is working with the Mexican consul to prepare a person to receive a high school diploma in Mexico or complete a U.S. high school equivalency diploma.

At the close, Chaput was surprised with a cake as Muñoz-Visoso quipped, "You give us $900,000 and all we give you is a cake."

Chaput replied the funds came from everyone in the archdiocese