Knights of Columbus

Pope Names Bishop Kevin Vann to Diocese of Orange

POPE NAMES BISHOP KEVIN VANN TO ORANGE,CALIFORNIA; ACCEPTS RESIGNATIONS OF BISHOP OF ORANGE

“WASHINGTON—Pope Benedict XVI has named Bishop Kevin W. Vann of Fort Worth,Texas, 61, to be bishop o fOrange,California, and accepted the resignation of Bishop Tod D. Brown, 75, from the pastoral government of the diocese.

The appointments were publicized in Washington September 21, by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, apostolic nuncio to theUnited States.

Bishop Vann was born on May 10, 1951 in Springfield,Illinois. He is the oldest of six children of William M. Vann Jr. and Theresa Jones Vann. He is a graduate of Springfield’s St. Agnes Grade and Griffin High Schools. He attended Springfield College and earned a Bachelor of Science in Medical Technology from Millikin University, located in Decatur, Illinois. After working three years as a medical technologist, he entered the seminary in l976, spending a year at the Immaculate Conception Diocesan Seminary in Springfield and four years at Kenrick Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri, majoring in theology.

After his ordination on May 30, l981, he was assigned to graduate studies in Canon Law at the Angelicum in Rome, with residence at the graduate house of the North American College in Rome, the Casa Santa Maria dell’ Umilta.

Upon returning to the Diocese of Springfield inIllinois, Bishop Vann was involved in the work of the Diocesan Tribunal and the Tribunal of Second Instance in Chicago. He served as pastor of parishes ranging in size from 35 to 1,300 families, two of which had large schools. He taught Canon Law at Kenrick Seminary. Before he was named bishop, he was pastor of Blessed Sacrament Parish in Springfield, Vicar for Priests, and the Diocesan contact for Hispanic Ministry. He celebrated the 25th anniversary of his ordination in 2006.  In 2005, he was named coadjutor bishop of Fort Worth,Texas, to succeed Bishop Joseph Delaney, who died one day before Bishop-designate Vann was ordained bishop.  source:  http://www.fwdioc.org/bishop/Pages/default.aspx

Bishop Brown, a native of San Francisco, was ordained priest of the Diocese of Monterey-Fresno,California, in 1962. He was named bishop of Boise, Idaho in 1988, and Bishop of Orange in 1998.

The Diocese of Orange has 3,166,461people, with 41 percent, or 1,291,505 of them, Catholic.”

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