A 53-year-old Kansas pastor, James D. Conley, will become a second bishop for the Archdiocese of Denver, the Vatican announced Thursday in Rome.
Denver Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, who will ordain Conley as his auxiliary bishop May 30, introduced him Thursday in Denver.
“I’m not allowed to talk much about the details of what goes on in choosing bishops — those decisions are made very carefully by the Holy Father himself and his advisers,” Chaput said at a news conference.
“I can tell you that I’ve known and greatly admired the work of Bishop- elect Conley for a long time,” Chaput said. “He has a special gift for working with young adults and families.”
In its 118-year history, the Archdiocese of Denver has had four auxiliary bishops, who assist the diocesan bishop with administrative and pastoral duties — serving more than 500,000 Catholics in 144 northern Colorado parishes.
The archdiocese’s most recent auxiliary bishop, the Most Rev. Jose H. Gomez, left Denver in 2005 to become archbishop of San Antonio.
Bishop-elect Conley, whose last position was pastor of the Blessed Sacrament Parish in the Diocese of Wichita, had previously served the pope for 10 years in the Vatican Congregation for Bishops in Rome.
Pope John Paul II named Conley a monsignor in 2001.
From the age of 2 to 8, Conley lived in the Denver area, before the family moved back to the Kansas City area.
“I was here long enough to learn how to ski,” he said.
Conley is part American Indian, descended from the Wea tribe on his paternal grandmother’s side. He is one of three Catholic bishops who are part American Indian. Chaput is another.
Conley converted to Catholicism in 1975 as a 20-year-old junior at the University of Kansas. He entered the seminary in 1980.
Conley said he will miss his home in Kansas, yet he is happy to be back in Colorado and working with Chaput.
“Archbishop Chaput has been a big hero of mine over the years,” Conley said in his introductory remarks to the news media.
“His tremendous love for the church, his fidelity to the Holy Father and the magisterium, and his charity and zeal for souls, have always been a model to me,” he said.
Conley is set to become a bishop in a Mass of Episcopal Ordination beginning at 1:30 p.m. May 30 in the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Denver.
Electa Draper: 303-954-1276 or edraper@denverpost.com
