David Austin Konderla (born June 3, 1960) is an American prelate of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, who was appointed the fourth bishop of the Diocese of Tulsa in Oklahoma on May 13, 2016.

Biography

Early life

David Konderla was born on June 3, 1960, in

Bryan, Texas Bryan is a city in and the county seat of Brazos County, Texas, United States. It is located in the heart of the Brazos Valley (East and Central Texas). As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 83,980. Bryan borders the city of C ...

, the second of twelve children of David and Ann Konderla. He graduated from Bryan High School in 1978 and then worked as a

machinist A machinist is a tradesperson or trained professional who operates machine tools, and has the ability to set up tools such as milling machines, grinders, lathes, and drilling machines. A competent machinist will generally have a strong mechan ...

for several years. Konderla entered

Holy Trinity Seminary Holy Trinity Seminary is a Roman Catholic seminary residence in Irving, Texas, United States, in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas, Diocese of Dallas, Texas that is located within the University of Dallas campus, founded in 1964. It is headed ...

at the

University of Dallas The University of Dallas is a Private university, private Catholic church, Catholic university in Irving, Texas, United States. Established in 1956, it is Higher education accreditation in the United States, accredited by the Southern Associat ...

in Irving, Texas, in 1985. He continued his education at St. Mary's Seminary at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, receiving a

Master of Divinity For graduate-level theological institutions, the Master of Divinity (MDiv, ''magister divinitatis'' in Latin) is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America. It is the most common academic degree in seminaries and ...

degree in 1989.

Priesthood

Konderla was ordained a priest at San Jose Church in Austin, Texas, on June 3, 1995, for the Diocese of Austin by Bishop

John McCarthy John McCarthy may refer to: Government * John George MacCarthy (1829–1892), Member of Parliament for Mallow constituency, 1874–1880 * John McCarthy (Irish politician) (1862–1893), Member of Parliament for the Mid Tipperary constituency, ...

. After his ordination, the diocese assigned Konderla as

parochial vicar A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...

at the following parishes in Texas: * St. Louis in Austin (1995 to 1997) * St. Luke's in

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

(1997) * St. Mary's Catholic Center at

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

in College Station (1997 to 2001). Konderla left the Catholic Center in 2001 after being appointed vocations director for the diocese. Four years later, he returned to Texas A&M to serve as pastor and director of campus ministry. He would remain in these positions for the next 11 years. Konderla also served the college of consultors, the presbyteral council, and the priest personnel board for the diocese.

Bishop of Tulsa

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

appointed Konderla as bishop of Tulsa on May 13, 2016. His consecration by Archbishop Paul Stagg Coakley occurred on June 29, 2016, at the Donald W. Reynolds Center at the University of Tulsa, with Bishops Edward Slattery and Joe S. Vásquez serving as co-consecrators. In October 2019, Konderla released a list of nine priests and two deacons from the diocese with credible accusations of sexual abuse of children. Konderla withdrew the diocese from the Oklahoma Conference of Churches in October 2020. The director of the conference, Reverend Shannon Fleck, said that Konderla objected to the inclusion of

LGBTQ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, Gay men, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (sexuality and gender), questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, Asexuality, asexual, ...

individuals in a statement against discrimination. However, in November 2020, Konderla said his reason for leaving was that the conference would not address discrimination against "unborn children". In February 2022, Korderla joined a vigil outside the

Oklahoma State Penitentiary The Oklahoma State Penitentiary, nicknamed "Big Mac", is a prison of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections located in McAlester, Oklahoma, on . Opened in 1908 with 50 inmates in makeshift facilities, today the prison holds more than 750 male o ...

in McAlester, Oklahoma, to protest the upcoming execution of Gilbert Postelle. He had been convicted of four murders in 2005. Postelle was executed by

lethal injection Lethal injection is the practice of injecting one or more drugs into a person (typically a barbiturate, paralytic, and potassium) for the express purpose of causing death. The main application for this procedure is capital punishment, but t ...

on February 17, 2022. Konderla's hobbies include carpentry and woodworking. He made his own

crosier A crozier or crosier (also known as a paterissa, pastoral staff, or bishop's staff) is a stylized staff that is a symbol of the governing office of a bishop or abbot and is carried by high-ranking prelates of Roman Catholic, Eastern Catho ...

prior to his 2016 episcopal consecration, having made crosiers for four other bishops previously.

References

External links

Diocese of Tulsa official site

at Catholic-Hierarchy.com

Episcopal succession

{{DEFAULTSORT:Konderla, David 1960 births Living people People from Bryan, Texas University of Dallas alumni University of St. Thomas (Texas) alumni 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in the United States Bishops appointed by Pope Francis Members of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre