Appeal Helps Reach Youth in College and Throughout Northern Colorado
This Catholic Center in the heart of Boulder offers a port in the storm and a cup of coffee in the face of challenging university life for young people.
St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Center (St. Tom’s) and Drogo’s Coffee Bar give students a warm and welcoming environment and a chance to live out their faith in a genuine way. Ministries, like this, are supported by the Archbishop’s Catholic Appeal and bring Christ to others throughout northern Colorado.
“[There are] a lot of people who are looking for life and happiness in the things of the world, that just can’t offer it. Here, what we’re able to do is offer real life,” said St. Tom’s pastor Father Peter Mussett in a Denver Catholic article when St. Tom’s opened Drogo’s Coffee in 2015.
Statistically, about 75% of Catholics leave their faith in college, but what St. Tom’s is doing in campus ministry is at the very forefront of the new evangelization, Fr. Mussett said.
“[It’s] a place for us to engage the community,” Fr. Mussett said recently. “We all know that it’s so easy to get trapped in the Catholic bubble. The world’s a little scary.”
In addition to offering an engaging space on Greek Row and an inexpensive cup of coffee, St. Tom’s has been successfully drawing men and women into religious life either through missionary work or vocations. Since 2006, St. Tom’s accounts for 21 priests out of Boulder — 10 of those were specifically CU students.
“Inviting new people, risking ourselves, being personal, creating opportunities for grace. It’s just that God has asked us to do it in a place where it takes courage to do it,” Fr. Mussett said.
The Archbishop’s Catholic Appeal is the Archdiocese of Denver’s largest annual fundraiser. Donations made to the appeal at archden.org/GiveNow help others become rooted in Christ at St. Tom’s and more than 40 other ministries.

“Inviting new people, risking ourselves, being personal, creating opportunities for grace. It’s just that God has asked us to do it in a place where it takes courage to do it.”
Fr. Mussett