Two Episcopal Churches, Two Paths in Boulder, Colorado St. Aidan's Episcopal Church, 1 February 2004 St. John's Episcopal Church, 27 June 2004

Two Episcopal churches, two paths in Boulder, Colorado St. Aidan's Episcopal Church, 1 February 2004 St. John's Episcopal Church, 27 June 2004 Boulder, Colorado, a city of about 100,000 persons, is home to main campus of University of Colorado (CU), with a population of about 25,000. With such numbers, town-gown tensions come as no surprise. For one thing, according to U.S. News & World Report, CU is country's top party school, and townsfolk are frequently annoyed by noise, pranks, litter, alcohol and drugs, sexual aggression, scandalous and even criminal behavior, and general rudeness of some students. But there are deeper issues too. CU draws heavily from local resources and services, while enjoying exemptions from local regulations and taxes as a state-owned institution. It is a recipe for conflict in a host of areas, including law enforcement, housing, planning, architecture, construction, fire safety, and traffic. The arrogance of CU, and resentments of city, are symbolized in university's monstrous Folsom Stadium, which glares down on townsfolk from a high ridge. In 2003 university added two generous levels to height of stadium in order to provide club seats and skyboxes for very affluent; city whose skyscape was blighted was powerless to resist. There are two Episcopal churches in central Boulder: St. John's is located downtown at 14lh and Pine Streets, and St. Aidan's stands just a few paces from Folsom Stadium. St. John's traces its history to a mission from Wyoming in 1873, making it one of earliest Episcopal churches in Colorado Territory; St. Aidan's is outgrowth of Episcopal student ministry begun in 1948. St. John's declares on its website (www.stjohns-boulder.org) that it serves the Boulder community; St. Aidan's identifies itself in its vision statement (www.saintaidans.org) as, first of all, a mission shining light of Christ to University of Colorado. St. John's worships in a century-old sandstone gothic-revival church building, including a tower with castellated roofline, suggesting solidity and tradition; St. Aidan's has a modern church building with ski-chalet roofline and windows looking onto a quiet courtyard, suggesting openness and a contemporary sensibility. It would seem safe to predict that St. John's, long-established town church, is home of Episcopal traditionalists, and that St. Aidan's, with its Celtic patron saint and its aerie among intellectuals, is home of Episcopal radicals. Unexpectedly, however, it is other way around. The websites for two churches, and their advertising in local newspaper, Daily Camera, drive home their differences with current Episcopal Church coding: St. Aidan's is traditional, with word underscored; St. John's is an AIDS-aware faith community. And while it is not unusual for a city to have two Episcopal churches of distinct character, a visitor discovers that circumstances and same-sex issues have pushed these two towards opposite theological poles. St. John's became strongly committed to community service during long ministry of Hubert Walters, pastor from 1912 to 1953, and escalated to a liberal activist social advocacy in 1960s. Its rector from 1961 to 1965, Bruce Ravenel, was a passionate advocate of civil rights movement. His successor from 1965 to 1991, James McKeown, has been described as an outspoken champion of alienated and disenfranchised; for instance, in 1969 he persuaded church to house a hundred hippies and young runaways in church every night, more in summer, for two years, until it could build a hostel for them. Another radicalizing confrontation with world was thrust on St. John's in 1996, when murder of a six-year-old parishioner named JonBenet Ramsey was followed by a bungled police investigation and national media attention; a parish history recognizes this as immensely trying and disruptive experience (The Centennial of A Sanctuary 1903-2003: St. …

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