will replace retiring Archbishop of Denver Samuel Aquila starting in March, Pope Leo XIV announced Saturday.
Golka, 59, will be installed as Denver’s sixth archbishop in a Solemnity of the Annunciation Mass on March 25, Denver archdiocese officials said in a news release.
Aquila submitted his retirement request to the pope on Sept. 25, his 75th birthday, after 13 years overseeing metro Denver’s more than 600,000 Catholics, 148 parishes and 31 Catholic schools. Pope Leo accepted Aquila’s retirement Saturday.
Aquila introduced Golka, who was named bishop of the Diocese of Colorado Springs by Pope Francis in April 2021,during a news conference at the John Paul II Pastoral Center in Denver on Saturday morning.
Golka understands the challenges facing the U.S. and the world, such as immigration and the dignity of human life, Aquila said.
“I have gotten to know Bishop Golka as a man of prayer and a deep love for Jesus and the Blessed Mother,” Aquila said. He noted, to laughter from the crowd, that Golka is a much better Spanish speaker and served closely with Spanish-speaking communities as a priest in Grand Island, Neb.
Golka found out about the appointment on Monday and is “equally excited and equally sad” about serving in Denver and leaving his community in Colorado Springs, he told the crowd.
He also spoke directly to Spanish-speaking Catholics, telling them in Spanish he dreamed of walking alongside them toward God’s kingdom and plan.
Golka answered several questions from the audience, including his perspective on immigration issues and the narrative that he represents a shift away from Denver’s historically conservative archdiocese.
He described “basic beginning points” found in the faith for addressing immigration concerns.
“Every country has a right to guard their border. Every people a right to seek safer, better land, if they’re not receiving it in their homeland. And as Catholics, what is charity? If someone’s at my door in need, I help them,” he said.
Golka pushed back against the notion that his appointment was a rupture or break from the tradition of conservative leadership in Denver’s archdiocese, noting any “discontinuity” is not the work of the Holy Spirit. Terms such as “conservative” and “liberal” are not helpful, he added.
“I love the term ‘faithful.’ I want to be faithful to Jesus. I want to be faithful to his church. I want to be faithful to his teachings, and I want to be faithful to where the spirit is leading us,” he said.
Golka’s siblings and 92-year-old father, Bob, were in the crowd Saturday morning, and attendees applauded as Golka asked his dad to stand. Golka’s mother, Patricia, died a month ago, he said.
as the fourth of 10 children. After graduating from Creighton University in Omaha with degrees in philosophy and theology, he served as a Jesuit lay missionary volunteer for Native American missions in South Dakota from 1989 to 1990, according to archdiocese officials.
Golka then attended St. Paul Seminary in Minnesota, where he earned a master of divinity and a master’s degree in sacramental theology.
He was ordained as a priest for the Diocese of Grand Island in June 1994 and served as vicar general and pastor of the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary before his 2021 appointment to Colorado Springs.
