Denver Archdiocese Defends $6.5 Million Center, Aquila Residence

By Joey Bunch
Denver Post
April 5, 2014

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_25499922/denver-archdiocese-defends-6-5-million-center-aquila

Denver Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila, center, offers incense before a monstrance during a peace vigil for Syria at the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception on September 7, 2013, in Denver, Colorado. (Daniel Petty, Denver Post file)

While the Vatican is calling out bishops across the globe for approving lavish homes for themselves, the Archdiocese of Denver on Friday defended its $6.5 million Holy Trinity Center project, which includes a new residence for Archbishop Samuel Aquila.

The project also provides meeting space and residences for other bishops as part of a church-approved expansion on the John Paul II Center for the New Evangelization seminary campus in Denver, said archdiocese spokeswoman Karna Swanson.

The money for it comes from private donors and church investments earmarked for such construction on the 108-year-old campus, she said.

"The archbishop took it on himself to do most of the fundraising," Swanson said of Aquila, a former student at the Denver seminary.

Aquila received approval for the project from several intra-church committees as part of the campus' long-range plan, and it has been publicized in church reports for months without issue, she said.

"He presented the project, and it received a lot of support," Swanson said.

On Monday, the archbishop of Atlanta, Wilton Gregory, publicly apologized for what he characterized as a lapse in judgment for building a $2.2 million home for himself with money left to the archdiocese by the late nephew of "Gone With the Wind" author Margaret Mitchell.

It was the latest such construction-related controversy involving church leaders. In February, parishioners criticized Archbishop John Myers of Newark, N.J., for building a $500,000 addition onto his $800,000 weekend home, which he planned to use as his retirement residence.

In October, Pope Francis expelled German Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst in western Germany for his lavish spending, including a $42 million home for himself.

Work on Denver's Holy Trinity Center began in February and is scheduled for completion next January.

The residences on the second floor of the center will account for 20 percent of the project's total cost, the archdiocese said. Besides Aquila's home, the center will provide apartments for two other priests and two guest rooms for seminary and archdiocese visitors.

Aquila will move to the 13,500-square-foot center from his current 3,196-square-foot home on the campus. That home was in need of remodeling for plumbing and insulation, as well as compliance with Americans with Disabilities Act requirements, Swanson said.

The $6.5 million budget also includes drainage and other infrastructure needs for both projects, she said.

The Holy Trinity Center was needed for space, as the seminary has grown to 125 aspiring priests.

"It's bursting at the seams," Swanson said, citing an example of a church meeting last week that displaced classes for seminary students.

Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174, jbunch@denverpost.com or twitter.com/joeybunch