David John Walkowiak


The Most Reverend David John Walkowiak, J.C.D. is a prelate of the Roman Catholic Church, who is currently serving as the twelfth bishop ordinary of the Diocese of Grand Rapids.

Early life and education

David John Walkowiak was born in East Cleveland, Ohio on June 18, 1952 to Dr. John and Virginia Walkowiak. He has three sisters, and the family is of Polish descent. He attended in Westlake, Ohio and, later, Cleveland's Saint Ignatius High School.
Walkowiak earned his Bachelor of Arts in government and international studies from the University of Notre Dame in 1975 and Masters of Divinity four years later from Saint Mary Seminary in Wickliffe, Ohio. Beginning in the early 1980s, he studied at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., earning his licentiate of Canon Law in 1984 and his doctorate in 1987.

Priesthood

Walkowiak was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop James A. Hickey for the Diocese of Cleveland on June 9, 1979, and served the diocese as;
Additionally, he was a member of the Council of Priests of the Ecclesiastical Province of Cincinnati and served as an associate Judge of its Court of Appeals.

Episcopate

Bishop of Grand Rapids

On April 18, 2013, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of the Diocese of Grand Rapids' eleventh bishop, Walter A. Hurley, and appointed Walkowiak as his successor. He was consecrated to the episcopate and installed as the diocese's bishop by Detroit metropolitan archbishop Allen Vigneron on his 60th birthday at the Cathedral of Saint Andrew. Assisting Vigneron as co-consecrators were Hurley, Apostolic Nuncio Carlo Maria Viganò, and twenty other American bishops.