Our History

St. Gregory's was founded in 1972 as a parochial mission sponsored by St. Timothy's Episcopal Church, which was then in Littleton. The Reverend Jack Knight held the initial services in his basement with a few families.

Our church was built in 1975 on land purchased adjacent to St. Frances Cabrini Roman Catholic Church — and St. Gregory’s officially became a parish that year. A couple of years later the parish hall, church offices, library and classrooms were built. That building was later named in Father Jack's honor when he left to become dean of Nashotah House Seminary.

The original vision of the local clergy and the bishops from the Episcopal and Roman Catholic church was rooted in ecumenism. Their hope was to build two churches next to one another with a third building that would be shared by both congregations for programs and services. To show this special ecumenical relationship, Saint Gregory’s altar was consecrated by the Episcopal and Roman Catholic bishop.

While the vision for a third building did not materialize, St. Francis Cabrini Roman Catholic Church and Saint Gregory’s Episcopal Church cultivated a special relationship. Over the years they shared pastoral services such as the Blessing of the Animals and Thanksgiving Day service, as well as formation programs.

The congregation’s second rector, The Reverend Robert Smith, served from 1980 to 1990. During that time a Montessori Preschool began renting the space for approximately 30 years.

The third rector, The Reverend Todd Sorensen, arrived in 1990. Some notable developments during Father Todd’s time included retiring the mortgage, bolstering formation programs, and helping to actualize a community garden. For several years Father Todd received help from The Reverend Al Shepherd, who, among other things, built our beautiful stained glass windows behind the altar. After Father Al retired, we had the assistance of The Reverend Robert Walker, who was a member of St. Gregory’s before entering the priesthood, and The Reverend Deacon Shirl O’Halloran.

When Father Todd retired in August 2018, The Reverend Lupton Abshire served as an interim priest through August 2019. On September 1, 2019, The Reverend Elizabeth Costello became St. Gregory's “priest in charge.” She served with us for three years until our permanent Rector could be found.

While searching for our next priest, we celebrated our 50th anniversary! It was a wonderful time to gather and reflect on how we have come as a church community since our time in that basement all those years ago, and included a visit from Bishop Kym Lucas!

Finally, in October 2022, Father Roger Bower joined us here in Colorado as our new rector, and we couldn’t be more pleased. We anticipate the next few months will be full of reinvigoration, change, and growth, and we are so happy to be going through it all side by side.

The next chapter of our story is being written.

What will your contribution be?