Archbishop Aquila's Legacy: A Rock-Solid Shepherd Who's Kept Denver a 'City on a Hill'
- Roxanne King
- 5 minutes ago
- 9 min read
A man of prayer.
A father to his flock.
A faithful apostle.
A rock-solid shepherd.
That's how those who know Denver Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila well describe him.
On February 7, 2026, Archbishop Aquila’s request to retire was accepted by Pope Leo XIV. At the same time, it was announced that Bishop James R. Golka of the Diocese of Colorado Springs would take the helm of the Denver Archdiocese, serving as its ninth bishop and sixth archbishop.
As the episcopal transition draws near, Archbishop Aquila and some of his associates and friends shared their thoughts on his ministry in the Denver Archdiocese and the legacy he will leave.
For starters, that he was named archbishop of the archdiocese where he was ordained a priest is unusual. Being installed as archbishop on July 18, 2012, in the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Denver, where his priesthood ordination took place in 1976, was something he said he “never imagined” would happen.
He ministered in the archdiocese for 25 years, in parishes and in leadership positions, including as secretary of Catholic schools and as first rector of St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver, before being raised to the episcopacy in 2001 for Fargo, N.D. He served there for 11 years before returning to Denver as its eighth bishop and fifth archbishop. He marked his 13th year shepherding the archdiocese last July.
“It has been an incredible gift to be able to serve here as the archbishop,” the prelate told the Denver Catholic, adding that people often approach him to say that as a priest he baptized or married them decades ago. “It’s very satisfying being able to observe the fidelity of people, the living out of their faith and the joy that it has brought to them.
“And being able to ordain men to the diaconate and to the priesthood is a great gift and blessing,” he added.
Thirty-eight of his 49 years of priestly ministry have been spent in the archdiocese. A highlight was Denver’s World Youth Day 1993, during which time then-Father Aquila was archdiocesan director of liturgy and helped plan the WYD liturgies.
“World Youth Day 1993 stands out as an event in terms of its impact on the archdiocese and the New Evangelization,” Archbishop Aquila said, “especially the fruit of it with the number of lay apostolates that have begun here — FOCUS, the Augustine Institute, Amazing Parish, Families of Character, Endow, the list goes on and on — and all the fruit those apostolates have borne. You can really see Jesus’ faithfulness to his promise that if you stay attached to the vine, you will bear fruit.”
Thriving Vocations
Denver’s two flourishing seminaries, St. John Vianney and Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary, which form priests for the archdiocese and dioceses across the nation and the globe, were also born from WYD ’93. Since the seminaries' inception, Denver has ordained 220 priests — 112 for the Denver Archdiocese.
Last fall welcomed the most men — 27 total — entering formation to be priests for Denver at St. John Vianney (23) and Redemptoris Mater (4). The newest class is the largest in recent archdiocesan memory, increasing the number of Denver seminarians by nearly 40%, besting the prior year's 16 percent increase, the Denver Catholic previously reported. Continued growth impelled the addition of a recently dedicated recreation center.
Denver is one of the leading dioceses in the U.S. for vocations by size, reported Catholic News Agency. Despite that, the archbishop launched the Called by Name initiative last year to increase homegrown vocations, as only a small minority of priests serving the archdiocese are from here. Most are incardinated from other U.S. or foreign dioceses or religious communities.
“It’s like myself,” Archbishop Aquila said. “I grew up in California. But I became a priest of this archdiocese.”
The campaign was a resounding success, as more than 900 names were submitted by local faithful. At a “Come and See” retreat last fall, the seminary saw nearly 100 of those nominated begin discerning a priestly vocation.
A Father to His Flock
Centennial residents Steve Paolucci, a financial advisor, and his wife, Madeleine, a family life ministry director, are parents to eight children and grandparents to 25. They have known Archbishop Aquila since his seminary days. He has celebrated sacraments for many of their children — from Confirmation to Marriage — and has baptized most of their grandchildren. One son is a seminarian at St. John Vianney.
For WYD ’93, then-Father Aquila recruited the Paoluccis to help organize the distribution of Communion at Cherry Creek State Park for the Mass with Pope St. John Paul II. They also chauffeured visiting cardinals and bishops. Six years after that joyous international sensation, they witnessed Father Aquila show up to a prayer vigil at St. Frances Cabrini Parish in Littleton after the Columbine High School massacre to minister to those reeling from the deadliest mass shooting in Colorado history. Just two days after being installed as archbishop, he ministered to the victims and families of the Aurora theater massacre. He did the same after the deadly 2021 Boulder grocery store shooting.
“He has always had an incredible heart for people and for youth, particularly,” Madeleine Paolucci said. “He was there to pray with the community, to pray with the families. To be there.
“It’s obvious he’s a father at heart,” she continued. “His spiritual fatherhood has touched us incredibly throughout our years of knowing him.”
During the challenging COVID-19 pandemic, Steve Paolucci said he appreciated how the archbishop balanced compassion with firm adherence to the Church’s mission despite political pressures and public health uncertainties. As for the archbishop’s legacy, he cited several things: his vital role in WYD ’93, an event the pope called “a spiritual revolution”; his role as founding rector of St. John Vianney and tireless work promoting vocations; his Marian devotion and strong pro-life advocacy locally and nationally.
“He’s always been … out among the community, not just preaching and shepherding,” Steve Paolucci said. “His great legacy is that he was out among his flock.”
“He has been on the front lines to show the Church is relevant and has a voice,” Madeleine Paolucci said, highlighting his courage in addressing life issues and upholding Christian values amidst increasingly secular and liberal societal changes.
A Man of Prayer
Archbishop Aquila’s leadership style is marked by clarity, decisiveness and principled decision making, balanced with a compassionate heart that cares deeply for priests, parishioners and families, said longtime friend Msgr. Bernie Schmitz. Now “retired,” the former vicar for clergy still serves as a spiritual director at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver.
Bernie Schmitz, a Denver native, met Sam Aquila, who was born in Burbank, Calif., at St. Thomas Seminary (now St. John Vianney). Their paths crossed during theological studies in the early 1970s. They shared common interests such as skiing and traveling.
As with the Paoluccis, Sam Aquila became close with Bernie Schmitz’s family since he had no family in Denver. The two young priests served as first-time pastors simultaneously in different parishes beginning in 1982.
“That’s when the Christmas Blizzard came, and he was determined to get home. Once the archbishop is determined about something, he’s gonna do it,” Msgr. Schmitz said with a laugh. “He brought his car over and we managed to get to the airport. He went to the counter and took any flight that was going anywhere. And he did get home.”
Father Aquila visited Father Schmitz when the latter was on mission in Colombia. Father Schmitz visited Father Aquila when he was studying for his licentiate in sacred theology (STL) degree in Rome.
The archbishop is a man of prayer, Msgr. Schmitz said.
“He’s taught me how to pray,” Msgr. Schmitz said, pointing to the archbishop’s own devotional practice. “He’s taught me to have a real hunger for Jesus Christ. He’s taught me how to be a friend to lay people.”
Msgr. Schmitz echoed the Paoluccis’ assessment of the prelate’s legacy, adding the arch- bishop’s efforts to strengthen the Catholic identity of schools and enhance priests’ spiritual life and identity.
“He didn’t want to have schools that were Catholic in name only,” Msgr. Schmitz said, emphasizing the archbishop’s desire that all Catholics really know who Jesus is, particularly in a post-Christian world.
The archbishop implemented the Rescue Project — a re-proclamation of the Good News — starting with priests during a three-day convocation.
“He said to them: ‘Don’t be a priest who just kind of goes through the motions,” Msgr. Schmitz recalled. “Be in love with Jesus … be an image of the Lord.’”
A Faithful Apostle
When Seila Gennarini, who with her husband Francesco leads the Neocatechumenal Way in Colorado, first caught sight of Archbishop Aquila 11 years ago, he was exiting a car wearing dark sunglasses.
“I thought, He looks like a cool guy!” she recalled with a laugh.
The couple, missioners from Spain and Italy respectively, have come to know the archbishop as a true father figure — personally and for his wider flock — whose accessibility, openness and pastoral heart have borne significant fruit in vocations and evangelization.
The Way, a catechumenate, was invited to the archdiocese by then-Archbishop, now Cardinal, J. Francis Stafford in 1990. Six years later, Redemptoris Mater (one of 122 such international seminaries worldwide) was established here to form priests for the archdiocese with a missionary charism. Its vocations come from local and global Way communities.
St. John Vianney, which forms priests for Denver and other dioceses, was established three years later under Archbishop Charles Chaput, OFM Cap. The seminaries share the same campus and academics but have different spiritual formation.
Archbishop Aquila’s tenure has been marked by significant growth in vocations, Francesco Gennarini said. Since 2012, 31 men from local Way communities have entered seminaries, including three Denverites who were ordained priests in the last three years. In just the last two years, 12 young women have entered discernment for consecrated life, Gennarini said.
The Way is known for catechumenal formation, door-to-door evangelization and sending hundreds of youths on pilgrimage to World Youth Days and last year's Jubilee for Youth. Annually, some adults evangelize in pairs as itinerants for a week, including during the pandemic.
“To send us to announce the Good News precisely in the gravest moment of crisis in the world, [the archbishop] showed the heart of an apostle — that at the center of everything is the announcement of the Good News,” Francesco Gennarini said.
Like the Paoluccis and Msgr. Schmitz, the Gennarinis credit Archbishop Aquila with advancing the renewal of faith and New Evangelization ignited by WYD ’93 and cultivated by Archbishops Stafford and Chaput. His legacy, they said, is one of steadfast leadership, providing stability and paving the way for the New Evangelization to continue to thrive.
“What matters most to the archbishop is that the people of this archdiocese may have a true encounter with Jesus Christ. He always repeats this,” Seila Gennarini said.
“This is absolutely part of his legacy,” affirmed Francesco Gennarini. “You think of St. John. At the end of his life, people would ask him, ‘What did the Lord tell you?’ All he would say is, ‘Love one another,’ which is only possible if we have an encounter with the love of God in the person of Jesus Christ, which has the power to change your life.”
A Rock-Solid Shepherd
Originally from New Jersey, Chris Stefanick was a veteran youth minister when he arrived in Denver in 2006 to head youth, young adult and campus ministry under Archbishop Chaput. He made the Mile High City home.
Now an internationally acclaimed author and lay evangelist, he founded the renewal ministry Real Life Catholic in 2015. He also hosts the Augustine Institute’s popular video series The Search. For Lent 2021, the Augustine Institute and he partnered with the Archdiocese to offer the series free to all parishioners.
Married to wife, Natalie, they have six children and five grandchildren. As with the other lay leaders, Archbishop Aquila has become a fatherly figure to the Stefanick family, screening the suitor of the most recently married daughter and baptizing the newest grandchild.
Like Msgr. Schmitz, Stefanick admires the archbishop’s deep prayer and interior life, which expresses itself in solid leadership and patience, and serves as a model for his own work and family. Like the Gennarinis, Stefanick said the archbishop’s support makes carrying out his own ministry easier.
“He’s served as archbishop during a really turbulent time in the Church and in the world,” Stefanick noted. “One of the greatest gifts a father can give his family is a sense of stability. He is a genuinely rock-solid leader and a pillar of faith … a competent, solidly orthodox person who has common sense, loves Jesus and loves his people. … He’s a genuinely good shepherd.”
Stefanick said Archbishop Aquila doesn’t just minister to do a job; rather, it springs from his intimacy with the Lord. He emphasized what the others also noted: the archbishop is approachable, has a sense of humor and knows how to enjoy life.
“Whether he is hanging out and enjoying a drink or a good meal or preaching, it’s the same guy in every situation,” Stefanick said. “He’s doing it all with the Lord. That always comes across to me. There is peace and a genuine, easy-going joy, which isn’t just a personality trait — it’s holiness.”
Archbishop Aquila has maintained Denver’s reputation as a center of vibrant Catholicism born from WYD ’93, Stefanick said.
“Denver is ‘a city set on a hill,’” he said. “I know from traveling all around the country and around the world that people see this as a place that stands out and it’s special. … Ever since John Paul II was here, it’s been a hub. It’s been a shining light for truth spoken unapologetically, but also with relevance, joy and love.
“The words dynamic orthodoxy come to mind when I think about the charism of Denver, and he has guarded that charism and has kept this place a city on a hill,” he added. “I think that’s a phenomenal legacy. It’s very much up to all the people of God to carry that torch, to keep that going here.”
