3rd Celebrity Sighting

(Post by Tracy)

Since sometime in college, whenever I meet someone from Denver, I am almost always asked if I am related to the Bishop of Denver: Bishop Charles Chaput. (Answer: no relation that we know of.)

As we started to plan this trip, it fell into place that we would be spending Saturday in Boulder, Sunday in Denver and Monday near Vail. When Saturday night came, we were sitting in our Chautauqua cabin planning what we would do about Mass in the morning. Tom voiced his preference for evening Masses, and Dad pulled up the Cathedral’s website to check. Call it fate if you will: there was a 6:30 pm Sunday Mass at the Cathedral, being said by Bishop Chaput.

We arrived at the Cathedral for Mass Sunday evening after leaving Boulder that morning (delicious brunch at the Chautauqua to send us on our way) and leading ourselves on a short driving tour of the Denver area.

So we are all clear: I'm going to file Bishop Chaput as the 3rd celebrity that I have met on this trip. One reason I feel confident in calling this a celebrity sighting: both Mom and I snuck our cameras out from the tenth row of the Cathedral to sneak a picture of the bishop during the opening prayer.

When Mass was over, we joined the line to greet the bishop on the way out. Dad shook his hand first and said, “You and I share the same last name.” Bishop Chaput asked if our family was from North Dakota (not quite), and still told my dad, “It’s always nice to meet a cousin!” Since I had Tom set up as my paparazzi, we were able to snap a quick picture with “Bishop Sha-pew” before heading out.

We went to dinner at Benny’s (Mexican restaurant) and enjoyed a few pitchers of margaritas before calling it a night.