Richard Charles Patrick Hanifen

Richard Charles Patrick Hanifen (born June 15, 1931) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church.

[2] Richard Hanifen received his early education at the parochial school of St. Philomena Parish in Denver, where he occasionally served as an altar server.

[2] He attended Regis High School in Aurora, Colorado, while working as a delivery boy for a grocery store.

[2] On June 6, 1959, Hanifen was ordained a priest by Archbishop Urban J. Vehr at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Denver.

[4] Hanifen's first assignment after ordination was as an assistant pastor at Our Lady of the Mountains Parish in Estes Park, Colorado.

[2] On November 10, 1983, Pope John Paul II appointed Hanifen as the first bishop of the newly created Diocese of Colorado Springs.

[4] In January 1984, he told The Colorado Springs Gazette:, "A bishop should not be a glaring watchdog of orthodoxy but a good shepherd of his flock.