David Laurin Ricken
David Laurin Ricken was born November 9, 1952, in Dodge City, Kansas. He studied at Conception Seminary College, the Pontifical College Josephinum, St. Meinrad School of Theology, and the Catholic University of Leuven (M.Th., 1980). Ordained a priest of the Diocese of Pueblo, Colorado, on September 12, 1980, he later earned a Licentiate in Canon Law from the Gregorian University in Rome (1989).
Named coadjutor bishop of Cheyenne, Wyoming, in 1999, Ricken was consecrated a bishop by Pope John Paul II at St. Peter's Basilica on January 6, 2000, and succeeded as Bishop of Cheyenne in 2001. In Wyoming he co-founded Wyoming Catholic College (2005), a school known for its classical, Latin-and-tradition-friendly formation. On July 9, 2008, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him the twelfth Bishop of Green Bay, Wisconsin, and he was installed August 28, 2008.
As of mid-2026 Ricken, age 73, remains the sitting Bishop of Green Bay, with no successor appointed. He reaches the retirement age of 75 in November 2027, so his tenure is in its final stretch. In 2025-2026 he has been occupied with a major parish-consolidation program across the diocese, effective July 1, 2026.
The deed-based record in Green Bay is favorable. Well before the Traditionis Custodes crisis, Ricken actively strengthened the traditional apostolate in his diocese: in July 2014 he gave the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest a permanent home in the historic St. Patrick's Church, upgrading its status and renaming it St. Patrick's Oratory. That oratory offers exclusively the Traditional Latin Mass, along with the traditional sacraments, catechism, and reception of converts. Handing a religious institute a full church for the old rite is a concrete, generous act, not mere toleration.
When Traditionis Custodes landed in 2021, Ricken's response consolidated the diocese's public 1962-Missal celebration to a single location. On its face a restriction, the practical effect preserved the strongest possible outcome: the daily Traditional Latin Mass continues at a dedicated ICKSP oratory -- an oratory rather than a parish church, which is precisely the canonical form the motu proprio steers such Masses toward. No FSSP presence is documented in the diocese; the ICKSP oratory is the sole and thriving traditional site. There is no evidence Ricken suppressed the Mass, capped attendance, or restricted the traditional sacraments at the oratory.
His broader profile reinforces the read: co-founder of the classically-formed Wyoming Catholic College, and the bishop who granted the United States its only Church-approved Marian apparition at Champion -- a decidedly traditional devotional act rooted in supernatural realism. The honest caveat is the single-site consolidation, which does concentrate rather than expand access. But weighed on deeds with dates, Ricken has protected and even enlarged the space for Tradition in Green Bay. Verdict: a friend of Tradition, judged by what he has actually done.