Aquila Named Archbishop Of Denver

The Pope has named Fargo Bishop Samuel Aquila as the new archbishop for Denver, Colo., filling an important U.S. post left vacant after the current archbishop moved to a new position in Philadelphia.

 

 

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The Pope has named Fargo Bishop Samuel Aquila as the new archbishop for Denver, Colo., filling an important U.S. post left vacant after the current archbishop moved to a new position in Philadelphia.

The 61-year-old Aquila became bishop of the 90,000 member Fargo Diocese on March 18, 2002, when Bishop James Sullivan retired.

The Pope's U.S. representative made the announcement Monday morning. Aquila will be installed as the new Archbishop on July 18 at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Denver.

At a Denver news conference, Aquila said he was surprised when he was sent from Denver to Fargo as Bishop James Sullivan prepared to retire. He was surprised again last week when he was contacted by the Vatican's U.S. representative.

"This past week, I received a phone call from the Apostolic Nuncio, in fact, I was outside gardening in the afternoon and enjoying the sun of Fargo," said Aquila. "The Apostolic Nuncio informed me that Pope Benedict XVI had appointed me Archbishop of Denver. Another surprise, yet one of a different sort, as it meant returning to the place that I had called home."

Bishop Aquila calls North Dakota the "most pro-life environment he has ever experienced" and is grateful for his time here.

Mark Jepperson of Fargo said he got to know Bishop Aquila well as the two are members of a church order that was organized not long after Aquila was appointed bishop 11 years ago.

"I think it's really sort of a bittersweet experience," said Jepperson. "We're really happy for the bishop, many of us, I think, thought it was going to be a matter of time before he would be re-assigned to a higher office. Yet, we're going to miss him. We really appreciate his leadership that he's had with the dioceses over the years."

Aquila won praise from Pope Benedict XVI in March for changing the order in which the children in the diocese receive the sacraments. In the last seven years, children in the Fargo Diocese receive confirmation at a younger age, and before holy communion.

No stranger to controversy, Aquila made himself one of the harshest critics of University of Notre Dame after its president, Rev. John Jenkins, invited President Barack Obama to give the 2009 commencement address.

Aquila has a long history with Denver. He was ordained there in 1976 and served in many rolls within the diocese.

(Photo courtesy Haney’s Photography of Moorhead)

 

Don Haney

   

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