Denver, CO
One Invitation Can Change a Life: Called By Name Campaign Inspires Future Priests For a Second Year in Denver
The Archdiocese of Denver’s vocations initiative continues to bear fruit as more men explore a possible call to the priesthood.
Lean in close, dear reader. We’ve got a secret for you. God has a plan for your life.
While this might not be a tremendous surprise to most faithful Denver Catholic readers, it’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day and forget to ask God what that plan is. We might even have our own ideas of what we want to do with our lives, neglecting input from the divine.
That’s where the Archdiocese of Denver’s Called By Name campaign comes in. In 2025, the inaugural year, over 900 names were submitted during the May campaign, which coincides with Good Shepherd Sunday. Nearly 100 of those men attended an August discernment retreat, and the Archdiocese saw 27 men enter priestly formation for the 2025-2026 academic year, with about another 20 expected to enter for the 2026-2027 year.
The campaign seeks to make vocational discernment more accessible for men, especially in response to a dire need for more priestly vocations in the Archdiocese of Denver. With only 14% of the archdiocesan presbyterate hailing from Colorado, a minority ordained for the Archdiocese and 4,054 Catholics per active archdiocesan priest, Jesus’ own words that “the harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few” ring true (Matthew 9:37).
For the men nominated a year ago, Called By Name presented an opportunity to go deeper in faith and to ask the Lord what his will is for their lives.
“I feel like if I don’t go to seminary, I’m going to be asking the question if I’m called to be a priest for the rest of my life. That’s why I’m going to seminary, to try and get that question answered,” said Jeremy Gillett, an incoming seminarian from Longmont. “I feel like I’ve gone to a couple of discernment retreats at the seminary, and every time it just feels like this place is home. It very much feels like a good place to be.”
Building on the inaugural year’s tremendous results, the Archdiocese of Denver sponsored Called By Name for a second year in a row, identifying 405 men that local parishioners prayerfully think could make happy, holy, healthy priests.
“The Called by Name campaign continues to pave the path for Denver’s next generation of men discerning the priesthood,” said Chris Kreslins, senior client manager at Vianney Vocations, who facilitated the campaign. “Building on the momentum of last year’s 955 nominations, the 405 men nominated in the 2026 Called by Name campaign will be invited to a year full of discernment opportunities, beginning with a special event with Archbishop Golka and Father Jason Wallace in August.”
“I’m grateful that our archdiocesan family has put forward 405 young men they’ve discerned could make good and holy priests. It’s a great blessing, and a sign that God is moving in big ways across the Archdiocese of Denver, in the faithful witness of my brother priests especially,” Denver Archbishop James Golka said. “The priesthood is a wonderful, beautiful life and vocation, and I’m so grateful that God has called me to love and serve his people in this way.”
For the 405 men nominated in the 2026 campaign — and many others — the archbishop expressed his hope that God make known his will and give them the courage to follow him.
“God has a plan for each of our lives, and it’s a beautiful plan meant to bring us joy, fulfillment and grace. When we follow Jesus, when we give the Father everything, we are the happiest and holiest we can be because we’re living through him, with him and in him,” Archbishop Golka said. “I pray that these 405 men and many others hear the voice of God calling them to the full, free and fulfilled life he has in store for them as they love and serve his people.”
The Nuggets are facing a lot of problems this offseason with roster building, but we’ve become so used to one of the biggest ones that we barely even mention it anymore: Zeke Nnaji’s contract. For years, the brutal and inexplicable 4-year, $32 million extension that Calvin Booth handed him has been weighing the team down like an anchor, and sadly, it’s not going away any time soon.
Booth thought he was being clever by getting the extension done a year early, thinking he was getting great value on a player who would be a helpful stretch-big for years. But Nnaji immediately fell off a cliff, and the contract quickly became disastrous long before it ever even went into effect.
Nuggets completely botched the Zeke Nnaji contract
He has been unplayable and out of the rotation, and thus, completely untradeable, and the pathetic reality is that nothing about that situation has changed. Unbelievably, Nnaji still has next season fully guaranteed at $7.47 million, and a player option for the same amount the following season.
That’s basically two years and $15 million for a player who doesn’t play. The Nuggets’ front office and coaching staff were never on the same page, and his value has been completely sapped. They desperately need to shed salary, and his deal is a clear albatross, and yet, to do so, they’d almost certainly have to sacrifice draft capital or a rotation player.
It’s pitiful to think they are wasting a roster spot and a salary greater than the taxpayer’s midlevel exception on a 25-year-old who can’t even sniff the court, but that’s exactly where things stand.
The fact that the Nuggets can’t even convince a young, rebuilding team to take a flier on Nnaji is a massive indictment on the organization. Denver needs to free up money badly to keep Peyton Watson and make other moves, and the Nnaji deal is a clear and obvious roadblock. They are probably going to have to salary dump a starter like Cam Johnson or Christian Braun to accomplish their offseason goals, and that’s partly due to Nnaji’s deal.
Nuggets must pay to get off Nnaji deal
That’s brutally bad asset management, but instead of dwelling on the past, the Nuggets should be forward-thinking. They are going to have to trade away a good player anyway, so perhaps instead of seeking a positive return, they should look to dump Nnaji in the deal. It may be the best (and perhaps only) way to move him, after all.
Someone like Johnson should have positive trade value and has appeal for many contending teams. As great as it would be to get back a decent player or some draft picks to refurbish the kitty, it may actually be more valuable for Denver to force that team to take Nnaji as well.
Again, this is a pathetic thought to even be having, but that’s where things stand in Denver. With ownership unwilling to splurge on the roster, and Nnaji’s contract sticking out like a sore thumb, the Nuggets may just have to bite the proverbial bullet and be done with it.
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Trammell Crow Company and PCCP inked a massive lease deal for a suburban Denver industrial complex that just began construction.
The development giants landed an undisclosed tenant for a full building at Crossroads 25, a 76-acre industrial complex in Thornton set to encompass roughly 1.1 million square feet once complete, the Denver Business Journal reported.
At nearly 410,000 square feet, the deal marks the largest industrial lease in the Denver area since 2024.
Trammell Crow and PCCP purchased the land, at the northeast corner of Interstate 25 and E-470, from an affiliate of Omaha, Nebraska-based Noddle Companies for $18.9 million. Noddle purchased it in 2020 as part of a nearly 200-acre land acquisition for $19.5 million.
The development will eventually span 1.1 million square feet of industrial space. The first phase consists of 828,000 square feet across four buildings. The recent lease brings the four-building phase one to 49 percent leased.
CBRE’s Tyler Carner represented Noddle in the land sale.
The Denver metro’s industrial market had a direct vacancy rate of 9.3 percent in the first quarter, according to JLL. More than 4 million square feet was under construction, and absorption was negative after hefty completions last year.
The first four buildings in Crossroads 25 are expected to be delivered in the third quarter of next year. The complex is projected to be fully complete in 2030.
The previous industrial lease record in the Denver metro area was held by Georgia-based third-party logistics company BroadRange Logistics, which signed a long-term lease for more than 1.1 million square feet at the 76 Commerce Center industrial complex in Brighton. That property’s landlord, Hyde Development, filed suit against BroadRange last week, claiming the logistics firm defaulted on its leases, and Hyde is seeking more than $32 million in damages.
— Chris Malone Méndez
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Denver’s City Park lost a special piece of history when its bandshell was destroyed by a fire in March. Now, the city says it’s moving forward with rebuilding it.
The original bandstand was constructed in 1896 and has seen a few iterations over the years. It was replaced in 1924, and a replica was constructed on the site in 1984.
Although the structure itself has been replaced, the site has been home to community gatherings, events, concerts and celebrations for the past 130 years. City Park Jazz hosts jazz concerts at the bandshell every week over the summer.
DPR says it holds an important place in local history, and the city has begun the process of rebuilding it.
The recent fire heavily damaged the structure, and a structural assessment found that what remains is not salvageable, DPR explained.
They’ve contracted Mundus Bishop to lead the design for the new bandshell. The city says it’s working to raise the $250,000 needed to cover the insurance deductible and to support construction of the new structure.
City officials say demolition will begin in the fall and that construction of the new bandshell will start by the end of the year. They hope to open it in time for the 2027 CityPark Jazz season.
The city wants the community’s feedback on the new design, and is holding a pop-up event on June 28 to introduce the design team and to share project updates. They invite the community to ask questions and offer input as the project progresses.
More information on the project is available on the city’s website.
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