Holy Rosary Homecoming, October 7th 2023

We've had such a wonderful time at our previous Homecoming gatherings that we're having it again. Were your grandparents married at Holy Rosary? Was anyone in your family baptized here? Did any of your family attend school or church at the parish? Sing in the choir? Act in a school play? Attend religious education classes? What teachers do you remember? Were you called to the principle's office (horrors!) Did you sneak out of Mass during the bi-lingual sermons?  Do you remember Mass in Latin? Can you sing the Tantum Ergo? Did you go to the church bazaar? Enjoy our monthly pancake breakfasts?

Join us on Saturday, October 7th for Homecoming!

We'll begin with Mass at 10:00 am, and meet afterward in the cafeteria to share coffee, pastry and memories. Bring your photos, scrapbooks, notebooks, recipes, posters, and stories. (You might even discover a distant relative).

There will be a video set up in the small classroom near the cafeteria where you can share a memory of your family, a favorite teacher or what Holy Rosary meant to you.

RSVP maryloudesign@comcast.net

Let us know by October 1st, so we can have enough food!

Johnny Popovich managed the bar in the Slovenian home for years.

After WSA sold the site to McDonalds, he served as an usher 
for the 8:00 am Mass and attended the monthly pancake breakfasts.
A class act!

Bingo was a big money maker for the church

Guitar Mass during the 1970s

Father John Canjar grew up in the parish
and served as pastor from 1959 to 1969

Holy Rosary Homecoming Saturday, March 25th, 2023

Since its dedication on July 4, 1920 Holy Rosary has nurtured its congregation and the Globeville neighborhood, generating lots of connections, memories and stories. Did you attend Holy Rosary Church? Or the school? Were your parents or grandparents married at Holy Rosary? Do you remember the sisters, priests or lay teachers who taught you? Are you a member of one of those families with eight or nine children who were connected to Holy Rosary? Or to those large numbers of cousins who called the parish home? Are you a current parishioner? Did your children attend religious education at Holy Rosary? Did you enjoy the many pancake breakfasts and visiting with folks? 

Those who attended the Holy Rosary Homecoming on October 2022 had a marvelous time and there will be another such event on Saturday, March 25th. 

We'll begin with Mass at 10:00 am in our historic church. The same statues, stations of the cross and the lighted rosary that inspired generations will bring back memories. Our exquisite stained glass windows cast reflections in the granite floor. After Mass, we'll gather in the school for refreshments (including Potica and pizzelles) and visiting with folks you haven't seen in awhile.

Gather those memories and photos and join us.
RSVP  maryloudesign@comcast.net
so we can have enough food!

the parish website  -  https://holyrosarydenver.com

our facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/HolyRosaryChurchDenver

The church has an accessible ramp in the front and the school has one on the south side.

Holy Rosary Homecoming - October 8, 2022

You don't have to be a current parishioner (although you are always welcome) - you just have to love Holy Rosary. Were your grandparents married here? Was anyone in your family baptized here? Did any of your family attend school or church at Holy Rosary? Sing in the choir? Act in a school play? Attend religious education classes? What teachers do you remember? Did you go to the church bazaar? Enjoy our monthly pancake breakfasts?

Join us on Saturday, October 8th for Homecoming!

We'll begin with Mass at 10:00 am, and then convene in the cafeteria to share coffee, pastry and memories. Bring your photos, scrapbooks, notebooks, recipes, posters, and stories. (You might even discover a distant relative).

There will be a video set up in the small classroom near the cafeteria where you can share a memory of your family, a favorite teacher or what Holy Rosary meant to you.

RSVP maryloudesign@comcast.net

So we can have enough food!

Row 1: Irene Horvat, Anna Mae Canjar, Mary Jane Grande, Monsignor Judnic, Fernand Cain,
Dorothy Gilmour, Dorothy Meyer, Margaret Kucler.
Row 2: Lucille Franks, Joseph Pavlakovich, Albert Angerer, Harold Nothaft,
Stephen Shinall, Joseph Yelenick, Steffie Okoren. 

Teacher Mrs. Nancy Jackson and husband Bob Jackson

With Our Men in Service

Volume II, Number 14. The weekly bulletin from Holy Rosary Parish was packed with information about the upcoming carnival, a Sunday ham dinner and bingo event, and notices of Men’s Sodality and Ladies Altar Society meetings. But during World War II, the news most appreciated was from those in the armed services. Tidbits were gleaned from letters home and shared among parishioners.
Members of the First German Congregational Church formed the Blue Star Letter Writing Committee to keep the congregation’s 175 service members informed about church activities, and a newsletter called “The Minister's Mailbag” to keep the men in contact with each other as well.
The students at Garden Place School collected scrap and saved their pennies for bond drives, while the young women of Holy Rosary Young Ladies’ Sodality volunteered at the Catholic USO at 16th and Logan. The Polish Harmony Club, a young-people’s group affiliated with the Polish National Alliance, entertained servicemen at Fitzsimons Army Hospital and sponsored weekly dances at the Polish Hall for military personnel.
Mary Canjar joined the Red Cross and attended classes to become an air raid warden. She was issued a uniform with a shirt, pants, helmet and armband, and made sure that windows were covered and lights turned off during blackout periods. Canjar won an award for persuading every family on Logan Street to purchase War Bonds.
Victory gardens, meatless meals, grease collection and scrap drives all supported the war effort. Women filled vacancies in factories when men left for the service. Carol Christensen worked on aircraft (including Eleanor Roosevelt’s plane) at McClellan Field near Sacramento.
On both V-E and V-J Day, church bells, factory whistles and car horns sounded. Twelve young men from Globeville lost their lives in the war; the nation and the neighborhood were forever changed by the conflict. Globeville honored its veterans from World Wars I and II with a memorial in Argo Park, dedicated August 25, 1948. Joseph Zalar, a casualty of the Korean War, would be added later.

 

The memorial in Argo Park honors veterans

from World War I, World War II and Korea.

Photo ® Mary Lou Egan

Father John A. Canjar

Humble circumstances, an immigrant community and a faith-filled family provided the environment that nurtured Father John Canjar. Born June 24, 1921 in Globeville, the sixth of 10 children of a Croatian immigrant, Frank Canjar and his wife Mary (Boytz) Canjar, John Canjar attended Holy Rosary Grade School, Annunciation High School, and St. Thomas Seminary in Denver. Father Canjar was ordained on June 4, 1949 and served at Holy Ghost, Holy Family, St. John's in Stoneham, Sacred Heart in Cheyenne Wells, Holy Rosary, Cure d' Ars, St. Vincent de Paul and St. Mark's parishes.

Father Canjar would succeed Monsignor Judnic at Holy Rosary in 1959, a time of turmoil in both the church and in the neighborhood. January 1959 signaled the beginning of the Second Vatican Council, which introduced sweeping changes in liturgy, lay participation, interaction with other Christian denominations, and involvement in social issues. In a parish where the Mass had been said in Latin, and the homily delivered in both Slovenian and English, the changes were viewed as monumental.

There were also big changes in the neighborhood. The Stapleton Public Housing brought "outsiders," Mexicans and Blacks, into the tightly-knit community - they were not welcome. But Father Canjar reached out to the newcomers, regardless of their ethnic or religious background. ”Father Canjar felt that when people asked for help, we needed to respond,” said Jerry and Janet Wagner. The Wagners owned a small grocery, and, with cash donated by Father Canjar, began making up food baskets for Christmas. “Depending on the size of the family, there would be a couple of chickens, potatoes, beans or a sack of flour, enough to make a meal.” Father Canjar was also active in anti-poverty programs and was elected to the North Denver Action Center, a part of the Model Cities program.

The construction of I-25 and I-70 during the 1950s and 60s displaced many parishioners and businesses and demoralized the neighborhood. Another blow to the community was the record-breaking Platte River Flood of 1965, but Father Canjar worked tirelessly to clean and repair the parish buildings afterward.

Father Canjar retired from active ministry June 9, 1996 after 47 years of service. He moved to the Gardens at St. Elizabeth's where his sister Mary also lived, and then to Mullen Home, facing many physical challenges with courage and grace.  Father Canjar passed away November 20, 2014 and is buried at Mt. Olivet. He is survived by sister Lucille (James) Stanaway, sister-in-law Mary (Leo) Canjar and numerous nieces and nephews, and was preceded in death by his parents, brothers Frank, Ray and Leo; sisters Helen, Mary, Catherine, Florence and Margaret.

John Canjar is the tallest young man (with glasses) in the back row.

1937 graduating class from Holy Rosary

Father John Canjar, 1969

Father John Obituary