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WHO WE ARE
St. Aidan's is part of the Christian faith and life that has its foundation in the person of Jesus Christ, and has been carried forward through the centuries by apostles, martyrs, bishops, priests, deacons and laity of all ages and races. We count ourselves part of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church and share with many other Christians key elements of faith including scripture, creeds, sacraments and the historic Episcopate. We have a similar worship style, follow the same liturgical calendar and share many comonly held beliefs and traditions with the Lutheran and Roman Catholic Churches.
We were born out of the Church of England, whose roots extend back to the earliest days of Christianity. As Anglicans, we uphold and proclaim a catholic and apostolic faith, "based on scripture, and interpreted in in light of tradition and reason." We are part of the Anglican Communion, with over 77 million Anglicans in 38 national churches or provinces. We are linked directly to the Church of England and its head, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who is one of four symbols of unity between the Communion churches. For more about the Anglican Communion and the Archbishop of Canterbury, go to the Anglican Communion website.
We sprang from the missionary movement that began in the former British colonies after the American Revolution as "The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America." With over 2.2 million members across the United States, the Episcopal Church is a national church that was established after the American Revolution with the 1789 Book of Common Prayer. We currently worship according to the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. We are part of the Diocese of Colorado and under the authority of Bishop Rob O'Neill. For more on the Episcopal Church, go to the Episcopal Church website.
in the Diocese of Colorado, which has 118 congregations spread throughout the mountains, valleys and palins of our great state. Our Diocese is committed to living out the mission of the Church through the ministries of evangelism (proclamation), Christian formation (discipleship), and service to all (servanthood). The misionary work St. Aidan's undertakes is both local and global in scope, and we look to support all who seek a deeper understanding and relationship with Jesus Christ. We worship according to the doctrine and discipline of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer.
In 625 A.D., the monastic community of Iona in the Scottish Hebrides consecrated him bishop and sent him to the kingdom of Northumbria. Aidan chose the island of Lindisfarne, off the northeast corner of England, as the site of the first Christian church and monastery in the district. You can read more about Aidan's life and work in The Story of Lindisfarne, which is avaiable in St. Aidan's church library.
It is appropriate that our parish should be named for Aidan. Aidan was sent to bring the light of Christ to Northumbria. He was also concerned with education, founding a school for boys at Lindisfarne and encouraging the establishment of "double monasteries" which housed both men and women.
Our parish was established in 1948 to bring the light of Christ to the students, faculty and staff of the University of Colorado at Boulder. More than 60 years later, we continue to carry on the missionary tradition of Aidan as stated in our vision statement: St. Aidan's is a mission-based Anglican community of faith shining the light of Christ to the University of Colorado, Boulder and the world.
We are the home of Canterbury Colorado, the Episcopal Ministry on the campus of the University of Colorado, Boulder. A chaplain on the staff of St. Aidan's serves the Canterbury ministry and St. Aidan's parish. Through Canterbury Colorado, students at the University find a warm and welcoming Christian family to tend to their spiritual needs during their undergraduate and graduate years, and we also welcome faculty and staff at the University.
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