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For women who have
experienced homelessness
and are ready to rebuild their lives
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June 2024
"The month dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus"
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Julia Greeley, "humble and ordinary" in life, is honored 106 years after her death as Denver's "Angel of Charity" | |
"We wish we could call her a saint, but not yet ...." | |
When Julia Greeley collapsed on a street near her Sacred Heart parish on June 7, 1918, it's unlikely "the humble and ordinary" former slave was thinking of herself as a saint.
But on June 7, 2024, to describe Julia as a saint was hardly a stretch for Deacon Clarence McDavid. With her cause for canonization continuing in Rome (that's the "not yet" part) the woman known as "Denver's Angel of Charity" is remembered every year during Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception.
This year, in his homily Deacon McDavid likened Julia to Mother Teresa and her love for the poor. While Julia had every reason to be angry at the world and those who oppressed her, "she was not a woman to express anger, but love."
Today, Julia's love and her courage to carry on in life are continued through your hearts and hands. At the Julia Greeley Home, your gifts and prayers help good women restore their lives after a season of homelessness.
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If she was alive today, Julia surely would be at our JGH door, asking how she could help women who were homeless but seeking a better life. Surely she would have brought prayer cards, as she did for firefighters. She would have asked to pray with our ladies - and she may have stayed to sing songs, which she loved to do!
Certainly she would have asked Jesus to watch over each woman who finds herself alone and suffering. Thanks to you, Julia's work continues today!
| THE ONLY KNOWN PHOTO OF JULIA GREELEY, with Marjorie Ann Urquhart, one of the children she cared for. | |
Deacon Clarence McDavid (in photo at right) delivered the homily in which he compared Julia Greeley's mission to Mother Teresa's. The Mass was celebrated by Rev. John James, CSJ, the parochial vicar of the Cathedral Basilica (Fr James and Deacon Clarence in photo at left) | |
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Coincidence? Or "God Incidents"?!
Julia Greeley loved the devotional prayers and practices to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. She believed His love for each person is especially expressed through His Sacred Heart, and she handed out prayer cards expressing the Sacred Heart devotion to firefighters, whom she prayed for especially in their dangerous work.
Julia died on Friday, June 7, 1918, on her way to Mass at Sacred Heart Parish. That day also happened to be the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In 2024, the anniversary of her death also fell on the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus ... small, sweet facts, duly noted by many, linking Julia's past with the present.
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It takes courage to start over again | |
Ellen and Nicole, who joined us recently, are making fresh starts in life, thanks to your support | |
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Disputes can throw the best of families into chaos and estrangement. If options are slim, the gap between landing in a safe place and homelessness is often as slight as a razor's edge.
When Ellen, 41, found herself separated from her family and without options, the slide into homeless hotels was frightening and demoralizing. The instability and sometimes dangerous conditions of life in a homeless hotel left no time to think, much less seek a new job. When her hotel voucher ran out she was no closer to a new life than before. "I wound up sitting with all my stuff in the front of the hotel. I had nowhere to go."
Ellen was referred to us by the Arapahoe County Outreach Homeless Initiative, and joined us in late May. The future? She has worked as a qualified medications administrator, but also may explore previous positions she's held as an office receptionist.
While she figures it out, Ellen finally has breathing room to live in safety and peace. At this time in her life, "This feels like the right place for me."
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"I think I'm strong now. You guys at Julia Greeley have been really helpful." Nicole remembers "a very tough year" in which she was carrying personal burdens of her own while worrying about her seriously ill father.
She shared an apartment with a roommate whom she says left, leaving her with serious debt.
With few resources, Nicole needed time. She found Gift of Mary, a 30-day shelter run by the Missionaries of Charity. In April, the sisters recommended the Julia Greeley Home.
With us, Nicole was able to stand back and take a deep breath. "The whole house, living with other women in unity, the family atmosphere, really helped," she says. "Now I go to church, I go to counseling. I've seen good stuff happen, and I'm stronger now."
Nicole has found a job as a receptionist at a retail store. She also gained a fresh perspective on helping her dad - "I prayed about it" - and she has decided to move in with him to help out. After a season of hardship, "I'm seeing good things happening."
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Albie Kuhlman, a friend of Julia's from Kansas, knows all about new beginnings | |
She grew up on a farm in Kansas, but life has taken Albie Kuhlman on many journeys beyond the old homestead. So, when you talk about fresh starts, and the challenges facing Julia Greeley women, Albie gets it.
"In life, we all have start over in many different ways," Albie says. In her case, it meant moving from heartland of Kansas to homes in Arizona and Colorado - and then back to Kansas ("Except I didn't want to go back!" she says, laughing.) She's had two happy marriages, the first, to Jim for 30 years, until his death two decades ago. Her second marriage, to Bill, continues to this day and together they watch their family grow and thrive.
Make that their large family: Albie, a retired nurse, is the mother of eight kids (the very definition of of life re-inventing itself.) But there's been deep sadness too -- one of her eight, Katie, lived four days before she passed away, but Albie has learned to find comfort in the thought, "There's one in Heaven praying for the other seven."
Fresh starts even took place in her faith, which grew deeper and richer as the tumultuous 1970's ended.
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One of the catalysts happened to be Father Regis Scanlon, OFM Cap, the founder of the Julia Greeley Home.
"I was a college kid and he was on the faculty at Thomas More Prep," Albie explains. The Capuchin-founded academy in Hays, Kansas, was the launching place to deepen her faith. (Another kind of "new beginning.")
Father Regis began to do retreats that Albie and her husband attended. "Fr Regis was one of those people you'd just sit and listen to. I remember being so wrapped up in him, and so interested in what he was saying.".
Next thing she knew, Fr Regis was founding the Julia Greeley Home.
Albie, whose own life has unfolded in unexpected ways, wants the women of the Julia Greeley Home to know that fresh starts are a good thing, even if some of them are difficult at first.
Trust that God knows what He is doing, she says: "God must have something great in store for you, because He knows what you're about, and He doesn't make mistakes."
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Julia loved and cared for children ...
and still watches over them today!
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HAPPY UPDATE: Servant of God and likely future saint Julia Greeley is keeping her watchful eye over Grace and Tommy, the precious grandchildren of Ann and Paul Mikkelson, longtime friends of the Julia Greeley Home family.
You may have first read their story in our August 2021 Newsletter. Four-and-a-half-year-old Tommy, and his sister Grace, now 18 months old, were born with cystic fibrosis, which can present serious, lifelong health challenges. Besides finding a great medical team, the Mikkelson family turned to prayer - and to Julia Greeley. After all, sainthood's path includes asking Julia to pray to God for healing, up-to-and-including documented, outright miracles.
Today, all the facts suggest that Julia's protection and prayers are guiding Tommy and Grace in God's awesome, healing ways: They are each doing exceptionally well, even exceeding their medical markers, and today are two happy, thriving kids --Tommy, "smart as a little whip," and Grace, "quite vocal," and talking up a storm, according to their grandmother, Ann.
Julia Greeley has become part of the family's everyday life. Her photo is displayed in the home, and daily prayers go up for Tommy and Grace's steady progress to full health. "We credit a big part of that to Julia Greeley," says Ann. "We know she's watching over them and protecting them."
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Julia's anniversary, June 7, is always a special day for the Julia Greeley Guild, official organizer of Julia Greeley events and monitor of Julia's canonization process in Rome. Seated (at right ) is Father Blaine Burkey, OFM Cap, who wrote Julia's definitive biography, "In Secret Service of the Sacred Heart," which is available for purchase through the Guild. Fr Burkey is also one of the founding members of the Julia Greeley Guild. The group gathered here on June 7 at Julia's tomb, which occupies a unique place of honor next to the Cathedral's main altar. No other person, lay or clergy, has a resting place in the Cathedral, as Julia does. | |
Today, you are Julia's heart and hands ...
Your generosity is the reason we can offer a Christ-centered,
faith-based haven to good women like Ellen and Nicole.
Please become a Friend of Julia's,
and give to the Julia Greeley Home!
We count on your continued support
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Your donation is deeply appreciated! Here's how to reach us:
Through our mailing address
Julia Greeley Home Inc
3613 Wyandot St
Denver, CO 80211
Or through our website
juliagreeleyhome.org
(click the "Donate" button and it will take you there)
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"The Lord is a refuge in time of trouble ...
he will not forget the cry of the afflicted."
- Psalm 9: 9-10
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The Julia Greeley Home Inc. is a 501(c)(3) registered in Colorado
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