Koenig was the pastor of St. William the Abbot parish in Seaford from 2000 to 2009 and then rector of St. Agnes Cathedral from 2009 to 2020. He was given the title monsignor in 2007.
Bishop John Barres of Rockville Centre welcomed the appointment of Msgr. Koenig to lead the Diocese of Wilmington.
“Bishop-elect Koenig is a seasoned and experienced pastor who is known for his pastoral charity, his humility, and his sincerity. He radiates an evangelizing spirit of joy and gentle interior peace that is the fruit of a deep prayer life and years of serving parishioners in a wide range of parishes, ministries, and apostolates on Long Island,” he said.
He added that Koenig is “a champion of Catholic education, Catholic social justice teaching, and the Gospel of human life.”
“He is a Good Samaritan priest servant to youth, the elderly, the poor, the sick, the imprisoned, the migrant, and the refugee. He is known for being a priest’s priest who has the respect, trust, affection, and esteem of priests of every age and generation.”
Bishop-elect James Golka of Colorado Springs is originally from Nebraska. He attended Creighton University in Omaha.
After graduating in 1989 with a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy and Theology, he spent a year as a Jesuit lay missionary volunteer serving in Native American Missions in South Dakota.
He entered St. Paul Seminary in Minnesota and was ordained to the priesthood on June 3, 1994, for the Diocese of Grand Island.
Golka speaks both English and Spanish. He served as pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe parish from 2001 to 2006 and then pastor of St. Patrick’s parish and Catholic school for the next 10 years.
He directed a diocesan youth summer retreat program and was also a Holy Land pilgrimage director. He served as the rector of the cathedral since 2016 and vicar general since 2018. The date of Golka’s episcopal ordination is yet to be announced.
The bishop-elect will be introduced to his new diocese at a press conference at 10 a.m. local time, live-streamed on the Diocese of Colorado Spring’s Facebook page.
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Courtney Mares is a Rome Correspondent for Catholic News Agency. A graduate of Harvard University, she has reported from news bureaus on three continents and was awarded the Gardner Fellowship for her work with North Korean refugees.