![]() Pastor (719) 542-9248 Ext. 116 cwertin@gmail.comHello Christ The King Parish Family! May Christ bless you, give you all good, and welcome you into the fullness of His church in this parish family by building us up to be on mission for Him and our sisters and brothers. I am excited to begin serving you as pastor at Christ The King Parish. We are all truly blessed by the incredible ministry of Father John Ozella. His joy, his dedication, his care has truly been and will continue to be a source of grace for our parish. Be assured that we will be seeing him around frequently after he has a month straight of pure vacation. As he is always welcome and has our prayers. Happy retirement Fr John! Before sharing some thoughts of who I am, I’d like to share about my connection with Christ The King. I first set foot in this church one of the first weekends that I lived in Pueblo upon starting studies at CSU- Pueblo. Monsignor Tom Adrians invited me to dinner after the first Mass I attended. From there I enjoyed praying with and seeing Monsignor Tom, Monsignor Howard Delaney, and Monsignor Len Racki who all would offer Masses that I attended throughout my three years of college. The reality that I am walking in the footsteps of giants is not lost to me. Some of your faces I even remember from morning Mass those 15 years ago. Thank you for your prayers then and now. As for a brief introduction, I was born and raised in Lamar, Colorado. My family has always been and remains a strong support and a true gift from our Lord. I grew up hunting and fishing, enjoying outdoor activities, skateboarding, working construction and wildlife management. I began playing guitar later in life. Upon discerning my call to the priesthood while in college, Bishop Tafoya accepted me as a Seminarian and sent me for formation in Indiana at Saint Meinrad Seminary. I was thrilled to be able to come back to Colorado as a priest after seven years of philosophy and theology studies. I had various summer assignments involving Spanish studies, parish living, helping at Catholic Charities here in Pueblo, and assisting at the Catholic Summer Camp in Texas. This past June 19 I celebrated my sixth anniversary of priesthood. I love being a priest! The role as Pastor of Christ the King is not something I take lightly. This will be my first assignment that I serve as Pastor. However, rest assured that the opportunity to serve as Associate Pastor with Father Steve Murray at Holy Trinity in Trinidad Colorado as well as Vocation Director of the Diocese of Pueblo has afforded me many graces and much growth so as to humbly step into this new beautiful opportunity. I will remain full time Vocations Director alongside being full time Pastor at the parish. I will be leaning heavily on the Vocations Coordinator at the Diocese and the staff at the parish, for whom I am very grateful. Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.Luke 12:48bYou and I have been entrusted with much and more. Let us love well so as to express gratitude for such riches, to accompany one another as we seek to be missionary disciples of Jesus Christ. |
![]() Rev. Jeganmari Thangavel, HGN Fr.. Jeganmari was appointed Parochial Vicar on July 1, 2022.
Cor Deacon Corey Compton came to Christ the King on August 7, 2017 from St. Benedicts in Florence where he served a variety of ministerial roles. He is a lifelong Catholic who answered the call to the diaconate and was ordained in August 2017. He is married to Louise and they have three children.
John Chavez Deacon John Chavez was assigned to Christ the King on August 6, 2021. He has been a member of Christ the King for about 16 years. |
![]() Pastoral Associate for Religious Education (719) 542-9248 ext. 113 lescalera@ctkpueblo.orgLaura Fisher Escalera has 21 years of experience in Religious Formation at Christ the King. She holds a Master’s degree in Pastoral Ministry from the Franciscan School of Theology in Berkeley, CA. She has two children, Anika and James. |
![]() Pastoral Associate for Liturgical Music (719) 542-9248 Ext. 118 judkins.lori@yahoo.com*Born and raised in Montana and Idaho *USN Veteran; Mother of 3; “Grammie” of 2 *Bachelor of Arts Degree in Music Education, CSU-Pueblo *Teacher of private piano and voice 35 years *Serving the Diocese of Pueblo since 2006; CTK since 2008 *Additionally, Artistic Director of Fremont Civic Choir; Accompanist for Pueblo Children’s Chorale; Accompanist for All-City High School Honor Choir |
![]() Sarah Nelson Over the past 16 years, Sarah Nelson has served in a variety of ministerial roles in several Parishes, including Coordination of Children, Youth and Adult Formation and Sacramental Preparation. She grew up Protestant and came into Full Communion with the Catholic Church in 2002. Feeling called to serve in the Church, she obtained her degree in Theology from Franciscan University of Steubenville Ohio. She is married to a wonderful Catholic man and has 3 beloved children. She comes with a deep sense of Gods’ great love, and has a strong desire to invite others into this great love of Jesus to experience it for themselves. |
![]() Mary Meissner April 15, 2023 marked my 25th year at Christ the King. I am the Administrator of our Parish Webpage and Facebook page. I am married and the mother of two children. Please email me if I can be of assistance. |
I have been attending Christ the king for 12 years starting out in the third grade. Throughout the years I grew up in the Religious Education program here. I attended High School Discipleship through all four years of High School. Immediately following my High School Graduation I knew I wanted to take part in a bigger role in the High School Discipleship program, so I asked the people who were in charge at the time, Jacob Mutz and Lauren Bartolo, if I could help them out. I now have two years of volunteering with this outstanding program with the last year being under Courtney Taylor. I am currently working on a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering. I am also an Air Force ROTC cadet with the plan to commission in the Air Force upon graduation. This is going to be an interesting and challenging year by no doubt considering the current medical crisis going on. I plan on making the most of the year with all this considered. Through my development in my four years of High School Discipleship, the leaders of the time kindled a flame in my soul that is now a raging fire; this is my ultimate goal for this program. I hope to build a fire in the souls of all the students so they may also have that raging fire. I hope to develop them into outstanding disciples of Christ so that they may also work diligently to spark that fire in other people. I want to build the next leaders of the Church. Again, I am excited to take on this position and support this beautiful parish family to the best of my ability. Sharlyn Garduno Colleen Russ Randy Pfeffer Joe Cawlfield Sally Meissner
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