UpDoNA is happy to welcome Holy Ghost Church and Father Paul Nguyen, church pastor. Father Paul said that good mentors and prayer inspired him to join the priesthood. He moved around a lot to different churches growing up and the Oblates of the Virgin Mary set a good example by teaching faith and morals and the meanings of the religious order. There are under 200 members of the oblates in the world and 2026 is the 200th anniversary of the order. They are only in five locations in the U.S.: Long Beach, Boston, St. Louis East, South Florida and Denver.
Fr. Paul attended the seminary in Boston and studied for 8 years there. He was assigned to Denver 3 ½ years ago and loves all the outdoor activities that Denver has to offer like cycling and skiing. Fr. Paul enjoys living downtown with all the activities even with the drop in business in recent years. Father Paul was inspired to join UpDoNA at the recommendation of Denver police’s community resource officers due to some unfortunate events that happened. The church has been serving desperate people since its. Father Paul has enjoyed meeting members of UpDoNA at the monthly neighborhood cleanup and a recent UNO.
Holy Ghost church was dedicated in 1924 in the space that is now the lower level of the church, which houses offices and a community room. The current main church was dedicated in 1943 and used to include parish residence, which was torn down when a local skyscraper purchased the land. The priests currently live a few blocks away in Five Points.
The church has a sandwich line six days a week which is staffed by paid staff members and volunteers from the community, the sandwich program is funded in part by a grant from the Daniels Fund (a philanthropic fund set up for those in need).
When asked if he wants to see anything from UpDoNA, Father Paul said that he would like to see problem solving. There is always going to be a need to make the neighborhood better and we need to do whatever we can to make the neighborhood a place to live versus just a place to do business. Father Paul emphasized that Holy Ghost is our neighborhood church and offers activities for children, families and couples and can coordinate events offsite. While it is a neighborhood church, the congregation spans from up to 40 miles away and all are welcome, it is a place of hope and guidance.
For more information on the church please visit https://holyghostchurch.org/.
Please join us in welcoming Holy Ghost Catholic Church as an UpDoNA business member!
