Muslims in Colorado celebrate Eid al-Adha
Plus, a Trinidad nun’s long-lasting legacy and religion's place in the predicaments of Park Hill's struggles
This week, Muslims in Colorado and across the world will celebrate Eid al-Adha. The holiday marks the end of the Holy Pilgrimage of Hajj, when Muslims travel to Mecca, and it commemorates the Quranic telling of Abraham sacrificing a ram to God instead of his son Isaac, which God originally asked Abraham to do as a test of his faith.
The Islamic Outreach Center of Colorado hosted Eid Salaah, the prayer traditionally held around Eid Al-Adha, at the Great Lawn Park that seemed to draw a lot of people. Muslims in Fort Collins listened to a sermon on “checking on the needy and the ones who recently lost their loved ones,” the speaker said. “Brothers and sisters, these are the days of mercy.”
Then, on Saturday, July 24, there will be an Eid Al-Adha barbecue at Rosamond Park, hosted by the Islamic Circle of North America, Downtown Denver Islamic Center, Colorado Muslim Society, the Denver Islamic Society, and the Muslim American Society (MAS) of Colorado. The same day, the Denver Afghan Society is hosting an Afghan community Eid celebration in Brighton. Also, we found a lot of helpful information on the “Colorado Muslims” Facebook page, where folks were posting events and sharing the names of their favorite halal meat stores.
It’s worth noting that while searching for any news coverage of how the holiday is being observed in Colorado this year, your correspondents came up empty-handed. In our introductory newsletter, we mentioned the hollowing out of the religion beat as one reason we wanted to start Have Faith, Colorado. As fewer local papers have dedicated community beat reporters, it's harder to cover things like religious holidays that don’t have hard news value.
This especially seems to be the case for observances that are less well-known or don’t have as many practitioners — Christmas, Easter and Hanukkah will probably get some column inches, but that might be it. (And we aren’t saying this to point fingers at our peers — neither of our papers covered Eid al-Adha either.) As the journalism industry starts to talk more about how to build bridges with communities that have historically been underrepresented or negatively portrayed in our pages, covering a broader range of cultural events could be a good place to start.
A saint of the Wild West
Reporter Heidi Beedle of the CS Indy has a story about the resurgence of Trinidad, a former mining town that’s undergoing a revitalization. Earlier this month the Mt. Carmel Wellness and Community Center opened the Sister Blandina Wellness Gardens, a recreation space in the heart of downtown Trinidad designed to nurture the “mind, body and spirit,” according to the article. Its namesake, Sister Blandina Segale, was a nun who moved from Cincinnati to to Trinidad in the 1870s and opened a school. In 2014 the Catholic Church opened a case to consider Blandina for sainthood, which is still pending. If Blandina is deemed eligible, she would be the first saint with ties to Colorado. Read the full article to learn more about this fascinating nun — including how she crossed paths with notorious criminal Billy the Kid.
Several people of faith, two journalists, and one neighborhood
For decades, the story of the Park Hill neighborhood in Denver has been one of socioeconomic difference. Religion is a big part of that story.
The first reference to religion in Conor McCormick-Cavanagh’s cover story for this week’s issue of Westword was about churchgoers who formed a group to promote integration in Park Hill in 1960, a time of white flight in the area. So, the group, the Park Hill Action Committee, started Actionnews, a publication to report on “actions residents were taking to improve the neighborhood,” McCormick-Cavanagh writes. The Park Hill Action Committee lives on today as Greater Park Hill Community Incorporated.
What also continued were racial and economic divides. South Park Hill, one of three statistical divisions in the neighborhood, is predominantly white, and middle and upper-income. Meanwhile, Northeast Park Hill is majority non-white, lower-income, and vulnerable to displacement, according to Westword.
But let’s put Westword down for a second and start listening to Colorado Public Radio. Because also this week, CPR’s Allison Sherry wrote and produced a story about Northeast Park Hill being one of “five violent crime hotspots,” as classified by Denver police. Sherry talked to police, local business owners, a state lawmaker, and the imam of the local mosque. Imam Abdur-Rahim Ali told Sherry that he doesn’t like to see African-Americans in the neighborhood being harassed by police, but that Masjid Taqwa has also relied on police when it has received threats.
Ali told Sherry, “It’s a difficult job and balancing act for the police. We know that but that’s their job.”
Okay, back to Westword, but now in South Park Hill. There, residents are facing off with Park Hill United Methodist Church, which is currently hosting a safe-camping site for people experiencing homelessness in its parking lot. Neighbors who have protested the site will present a challenge to a city zoning board next week. But UMC Pastor Nathan Adams wants to see the site stay. Adams told McCormick-Cavanagh, “We have the ability to help folks experiencing homelessness. This is something that we can do and, frankly, something that God is calling and expecting us to do.”
Briefly noted
Historian Kristin Kobes du Mez’s breakout book Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation got a write-up in the Washington Post, including a mention of how Colorado-based writer John Eldredge sparked du Mez’s interest in the project.
The U.S. House passed Rep. Jason Crow’s bill to increase the number of immigration visas available to Afghans who assisted the U.S. military in the fight against the Taliban.
The CS Indy remembered former Catholic priest and longtime community activist and advocate for the poor Steve Handen in an obituary.
A development company wants to build a senior living facility on the site of a former LDS church in Golden, according to the Golden Transcript.
“Have Faith, Colorado” is a weekly roundup and analysis of local religion articles in the Centennial State. It’s by Liam Adams and Carina Julig. Liam covers local news for Colorado Community Media and religion news as a freelancer. Carina covers education and other Aurora news at the Sentinel Colorado. To connect with us about the newsletter please email liamadams.journalism@gmail.com and carina.julig@colorado.edu, and follow us on twitter at @liamsadams and @CarinaJulig.