Early life

David 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.^[2] He attended Saint Bernadette school in Westlake, Ohio and then Saint Ignatius High School in Cleveland, Ohio.^[1]

Walkowiak earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in government and international studies from the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana, in 1975 and his Master of Divinity degree 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 Doctor of Canon Law degree in 1987.^[1]

Priesthood

Walkowiak was ordained to the priesthood at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Cleveland by Bishop James A. Hickey for the Diocese of Cleveland on June 9, 1979.^{[1] [3]}He served the diocese as:

• Pastoral vicar of Saint Mary Parish in Lorain, Ohio (1979–1984)
• Vice-chancellor (1988–2006)
• Professor of canon law at Saint Mary Seminary in Wickliffe (1988–2006)
• Pastor of Saint Joan of Arc Parish in Chagrin Falls, Ohio (2006–2013)^[1]

Additionally, Walkowiak was a member of the diocesan council of priests and served as an associate judge of its court of appeals.

Bishop of Grand Rapids

On April 18, 2013, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Bishop Walter A. Hurley of Grand Rapids and appointed Walkowiak as his successor. He was consecrated by Archbishop Allen Vigneron on June 18, 2013, Walkowiak's 60th birthday, at the Cathedral of Saint Andrew in Grand Rapids. Assisting Vigneron as co-consecrators were Bishop Hurley, Apostolic Nuncio Carlo Viganò, and twenty other American bishops.^[1][3]

Walkowiak released a statement on November 27, 2019, in which he supported the decision of Reverend Scott Nolan, pastor of St. Stephen Parish in East Grand Rapids, Michigan, to withhold the eucharist from Sara Smolenski. A town judge, Smolenski told the local media that Nolan notified her before mass that she could not receive communion because of her same-sex marriage. She also said that Nolan had given her communion the week before.^[4][5]

On May 27, 2021, Walkowiak announced that Pope Francis had laicized Reverend William Langlois. The diocese had received allegations in 2018 that Langlois had sexually abused a parishioner when they were a minor between 1999 and 2006. The diocese immediately suspended Langlois, notified local authorities, and started an internal investigation.^[6]