EXCLUSIVE: Denver Archbishop James Golka Responds After Meeting with President Trump
The three-hour October 22 meeting offered the archbishop the opportunity to raise concerns with national leaders. The prayer was a chance to ask God’s help. The mixed response that followed has weighed heavily on him.
Months ago, Denver Archbishop James Golka received a special invitation: to meet alongside other Catholic bishops with Trump Administration officials at the White House to discuss topics of concern to Catholics. Following the meeting, organized by the White House Faith Office — not by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) — the bishops were to have a few moments with President Trump in the Oval Office and were invited to pray with the president.
The invitation came following a June meeting in which faith leaders raised issues of serious concern, including immigration, religious freedom and visas for religious workers.
Following the June meeting, task forces were created to examine the issues raised, and major progress was made, which encouraged him as he considered the invitation to the White House, Archbishop Golka told the Denver Catholic.
Honored by the invitation but concerned about various administration policies and about how the meeting might be interpreted, he said he took the whole thing to prayer.
“I wasn’t sure what to do. On one hand, it was a great opportunity to raise important issues for the Church’s benefit. On the other hand, I knew people might be upset. Though I originally thought it would be a private meeting, I knew that it could be shared and that some might use it for political purposes,” the archbishop said. “But as I prayed about it, I thought that this is what Catholics do. We pray for people. No matter whether we agree or disagree on anything, we always pray for our country and leaders.”
With that clarity from prayer, Archbishop Golka accepted the invitation and began plans to head to Washington, D.C. It wasn’t until just before the October 22 meeting that Archbishop Golka was asked to lead the prayer with President Trump.
Archbishop Golka and his brother bishops made their way to the White House to meet with the Faith Office in a three-hour meeting that covered such important topics as immigration issues including religious worker visas, the protection of life, religious freedom and school choice.
Of course, the archbishop noted, one meeting won’t solve things. Continued dialogue, prayer and witness are the call of every Catholic. While faith is personal, it is not private, Archbishop Golka emphasized.
“One meeting does not change policy. I was able to say what the Church teaches, and I would say the same to a president of either party,” he said. “As Catholics, we’re called to share our faith in season and out of season and to witness to the dignity of every human person.”
The reaction to the video of the archbishop’s prayer, which only caught about a third of what he prayed, has been overwhelming, Archbishop Golka said.
“I understand that many people saw the video, posted by the Administration twelve days before an election, as an endorsement. That was never my intention,” the archbishop emphasized. “The bishops of the United States teach that the Church cannot champion any candidate or party. I hold to that. However you vote, you ultimately belong to Jesus who loves you infinitely more than you can imagine.
“I’ve had a lot of people, really good friends, ask me, ‘What were you doing?’ ‘Why did you do that?’ I just answer, ‘I was being a Catholic priest,’” Archbishop Golka explained. “We pray for people. We bless people who need blessing. And we all need blessing, every single one of us. That’s what we do.”
Since the October 22 meeting, the mixed response, especially online, where disunity has been on full display, has weighed on Archbishop Golka. While some have celebrated the prayer and others have accepted it as a Christian call, some are deeply hurt.
“I’m heartbroken that people are hurt, and that there are people intentionally using this moment to sow disunity. That’s not a fruit of the Spirit,” he noted. “As Christians, we’re called to look beyond the headlines, which are often crafted to provoke, towards the full truth.”
Being invited to the White House to discuss these issues was a great honor — and a profound responsibility, the archbishop said.
“Catholics benefit when their bishops bring the concerns of ordinary families directly to people in power,” he explained. “Nationwide, many in our communities have been living in fear amid increased immigration enforcement. Our priests, too, have been caught up in religious worker visa issues as the government reevaluates those programs. Colorado families are waiting on the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether the state can exclude Catholic families from its universal preschool program.”
For countless individuals affected by immigration enforcement, one in five priests in the archdiocese serving with religious visas and thousands of students in Catholic schools, these topics were of paramount importance in Colorado.
“Unborn children, immigrant families and the poor all need advocates. This work helps only if the Church carries the same message to leaders of both parties. We will,” Archbishop Golka said. “I will keep praying for our president, our governor and everyone who serves in public office, regardless of their party or position on divisive topics.”
No matter what, Christians are always invited to hold their leaders in prayer, archbishop said. It’s a tradition stretching back to the early Church, when St. Paul asked “that supplications, prayers, petitions and thanksgivings be offered for everyone, for kings and for all in authority, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all devotion and dignity” (1 Timothy 2:1-2).
