Pope accepts resignation of Colorado Springs bishop, names successor

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of 76-year-old Bishop Michael J. Sheridan of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and has named as his successor Father James Golka, vicar general of the Diocese of Grand Island, Nebraska. The changes in the Colorado diocese were announced April 30 in Washington by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio. Bishop Sheridan, a native of St. Louis and former auxiliary bishop there, was named coadjutor bishop of Colorado Springs in 2001 and became bishop in 2003 upon the resignation of the first bishop of the diocese, Bishop Richard C. Hanifen. In addition to being vicar general, Bishop-designate Golka, 54, has served since 2016 as the rector of the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Grand Island, his hometown. He attended schools in the city before enrolling at Creighton University in Omaha. After earning his bachelor's degree in philosophy and theology in 1989, he spent a year with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.