Built on Love, Renewed in Mission: Mullen Residences Continues the Little Sisters' Spirit of Mullen Home

An aerial mockup of the Mullen Residences community, scheduled to open in 2029 following extensive renovations. (Courtesy photo)

When the Little Sisters of the Poor announced their departure from the Archdiocese of Denver in 2022, they took with them a treasured ministry to the elderly whose absence has surely been felt. 

The place where the Little Sisters lived and served for over a century, Mullen Home for the Aged, has stood mostly vacant in Denver’s Highlands neighborhood ever since, its now-quiet halls still teeming with a rich legacy of Catholic care and compassion. In the deed to the property, J.K. Mullen declared that should the Little Sisters ever leave, the ownership of the property would revert to the Archdiocese. After a period of prayer and discernment, it became clear that the legacy of Mullen Home should live on through a new ministry, one still devoted to serving and upholding the dignity of older adults. 

Mullen Residences at the Highlands will be a vibrant senior living community rooted in the same Catholic values that Mullen Home exemplified, but guided by a renewed mission for today’s world. Inspired by the voices of former residents, staff and volunteers, this transformation honors the fact that Mullen was never just a place to live. It was a true home.  

“For many years, the Mullen Home was a place where older adults were cared for with dignity and love,” Denver Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila wrote in a letter to the faithful of the archdiocese. “Founded by J.K. and Catherine Mullen and entrusted to the Little Sisters of the Poor, it stood as a constant reminder that Christ is present in the poor and the aged. Their legacy is not something we simply remember — it is something we are called to continue. 

“Mullen Residences is being built for the people of our archdiocese, whether you live in the city, the suburbs, the plains or the mountains,” he continued, even noting that he himself plans to call the new community home following his retirement as archbishop. “It will also be a home for our retired clergy, whose presence will be a great blessing and a source of inspiration.” 

The Little Sisters of the Poor ran the Mullen Home for the Aged in Denver's Highlands neighborhood for nearly 100 years. Now, they are overjoyed that their compassionate and merciful work will continue in Mullen Residences, Mother Julie Horseman told the Denver Catholic. (File photo provided)

A Faith-Centered Senior Living Community 

The Little Sisters of the Poor were founded by Jeanne Jugan in 1839, when she lifted an elderly, blind and infirm widow from the streets of Saint-Servan in France on a cold winter night and took her home to care for her.  

From their arrival in Denver in 1917 until their departure in 2022, the Little Sisters and Mullen Home were synonymous in the Denver Catholic community. In the same spirit of their order’s namesake, the Little Sisters quietly and humbly served the elderly here in Denver with no fanfare whatsoever and peacefully accompanied their residents in the final years of their lives until their last breath on this Earth. 

“For over a century, the Mullen Home has been a witness to Christ’s love, as the Little Sisters of the Poor have served the home’s residents with love, compassion, and dignity, aided by the charity of so many who have supported the mission, and initially made possible by a generous gift from J. K. Mullen and his family,” Archbishop Aquila said, following the Little Sisters’ announcement of their plans to leave Denver. “On behalf of the bishops who came before me and the Archdiocese of Denver, please know we have been inspired by your witness to live out the call of the Gospel in the 100-plus years you have served here.” 

When it came time to decide what would become of the Mullen Home after the Little Sisters left, Archbishop Aquila asked local Catholic entrepreneur and business leader Tom Heule to head a committee and prayerfully discern how the property could be best utilized. The committee prayed in the very same chapel that the Little Sisters prayed in every day at Mullen Home and asked the Lord to guide their decision. 

“The archishop formed this committee, and that committee, through prayer, discerned the need to continue to honor the legacy of the Little Sisters of the Poor, to provide a very strong Catholic identity in a senior living environment, and to accommodate the potential to serve retired clergy,” Heule said. 

To that end, Mullen Residences has partnered with Christian Living Communities, a trusted leader in senior care for over 50 years, to breathe new life into the campus. The property will see a major renovation to welcome older adults to the new senior living community by 2029. However, despite all the major reconstructions, they intend to preserve the original chapel as a way to honor the Little Sisters’ legacy. 

Different from other senior living communities, Mullen Residences was founded as a non-profit organization, meaning that any profits will be reinvested back into the Archdiocese of Denver and its ministries to support the Church's mission in Northern Colorado.  

But, most of all, Heule said, Mullen Residences will stand out in comparison to other communities for older adults because of its integrally, intentionally and uniquely Catholic identity. From daily access to the sacraments to the presence of retired clergy to a holistically Catholic approach to community and care, “the primary difference is the fact that we’re uniquely Catholic.” 

(Video courtesy of Mullen Residences)

A Lasting Legacy and New Mission 

With Mullen Residences, the archdiocese is further responding to the need to shift from maintenance to mission in this new apostolic age. While Mullen Home historically served the poor elderly for over 100 years primarily through charitable donations, Mullen Residences is responding to the times and trying something new for the benefit of the wider Church and various ministries in the archdiocese.  

For Patrick Brady, archdiocesan executive director of real estate, that means following the Holy Spirit and finding new and more sustainable ways to support the various missions and ministries that the Church has been called to carry out. 

“A thought we have in the Archdiocese here, but [also] around the world, is that maybe God's calling us to look at past generations and things like the Mullen Home in a new way, and we've been calling that a ‘Margin for Mission,’” Brady explained. 

In other words, the Archdiocese aims to use the assets entrusted to it over many generations by faithful donors in new, innovative ways to support the next generation of the faithful’s needs in this apostolic age. Rather than sell the property, the Archdiocese hopes to determine “if a thriving, beautiful, authentically Catholic ministry like Mullen Residences can find enough support in the market to sustain not just itself, but also to give back to build up the Catholic community across Northern Colorado.” 

By operating independently and as a “Margin for Mission” project while also continuing the beautiful work of mercy and compassion that the Little Sisters engaged for over 100 years, Mullen Residences can look toward to the future and hopefully create a means to give back to other ministries in the archdiocese. If Mullen Residences becomes financially successful, the archdiocese will be able to re-allocate the surplus of profits to fund other ministries. 

Although there is a cost associated with living at Mullen Residences, the community remains devoted to caring for older adults with compassion and dignity, in keeping with the teachings of the Church. The pricing model is designed for those who have long called Colorado home and are seeking to downsize while staying rooted in their community. Importantly, the cost of living at Mullen Residences also helps sustain ministries across the archdiocese — including those serving the elderly poor — allowing residents to support the Church’s mission even as they enjoy a faith-centered home. 

“All older adults need to be ministered to,” Brady said. “They love their faith, and just because they’ve experienced a degree of financial success in life and choose to live in this beautiful property doesn’t make them less worthy of being evangelized and worshiping sacramentally.” 

At the same time, Brady is hopeful that generous donors will make it possible for Mullen Residences to offer grants to residents who aren’t as well off, including retired priests, through a charitable fund that will be established after the property is up and running. This sort of generosity would enable Mullen Residences to invite more of the faithful to spend their twilight years living in a vibrant Catholic community, without relying on government grants, programs and assistance, which often come with strings attached that could endanger the community’s Catholic identity. 

Although the mission of Mullen Residences will be carried out differently than its predecessor, the legacy of the Little Sisters of the Poor will endure through its merciful ministry to the elderly. 

“We are overjoyed that our work over the last century at Mullen Home will continue through Mullen Residences,” said Mother Julie Horseman, provincial of the Little Sisters of the Poor. “It is a great gift to the Denver community that this important work of compassion, service and mercy will continue. We’re happy to support the vision of this new community for the century to come.” 

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For more information, visit mullenresidences.org.