Grand Island native Bishop James Golka, who currently serves as the Bishop for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Colorado Springs, has been designated to be the future metropolitan archbishop of Denver.
The resignation of current Denver Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila and appointment of Golka was approved by Pope Leo XIV and announced Saturday by the apostolic nuncio to the United States, Cardinal Christophe Pierre. Golka will become the sixth archbishop of Denver.
“While I am excited to discover God’s plan for me in the Archdiocese of Denver, I am also very sad to be leaving the Diocese of Colorado Springs,” Bishop Golka said in an article posted this morning in The Herald, which is the official magazine of the Diocese of Colorado Springs. “I have grown to love the people and parishes of our diocese. Be assured of my continued prayers for you.”
Born in 1966 in Grand Island, Golka attended St. Mary Elementary until it closed when he was in the second grade, and graduated from Grand Island Central Catholic High School in 1985. He graduated from Creighton University in 1989 with degrees in philosophy and theology, and entered seminary in 1990. After his ordination to the priesthood in 1994, he would serve in parishes across central and western Nebraska, including Alliance, Grand Island, Kearney, North Platte, and Scottsbluff.
Golka was named the bishop of the Diocese of Colorado Springs in April of 2021, and has served in that position since.
Despite his busy schedule as bishop, Golka has stayed involved with GICC and central Nebraska. He attended the ribbon cutting for Grand Island Central Catholic elementary in 2024, and celebrated mass at GICC in December when he was inducted into the school’s hall of fame. Golka is also on the governing board for St. Gregory the Great Seminary in Seward.
The Archdiocese of Denver was established in 1887, and elevated to an archdiocese in 1941, spanning 25 counties in Northern Colorado. The archdiocese includes three suffragan dioceses in Cheyenne, Colorado Springs, and Pueblo.
