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By HUEY FREEMAN - www.herald-review.com
Monsignor Kevin Vann, former pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, has been appointed by Pope Benedict XVI to serve as the next bishop of Fort Worth, Texas.
“With the help of God, I welcome this,” Vann, 54, said in a phone interview from Springfield’s Blessed Sacrament Church, where he serves as pastor. “I embrace it as a further call on my life as a priest.”
Vann will first serve as coadjutor bishop, a helper to current Bishop Joseph P. Delaney. He will take over the diocese when Delaney retires.
This will be a big change for Vann, who was born and raised in Springfield and whose parents live there.
“I’m leaving Central Illinois for the rest of my life,” he said. “It is difficult to leave, but I have to believe this is where Christ wants me to go, so I have to follow him.”
He will be ordained July 13 at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Arlington, Texas.
Vann said the Fort Worth Diocese has about 400,000 Catholics in a 28-county area around Fort Worth and Wichita Falls. About 40 percent are Hispanic…
Full article
Monsignor Kevin Vann, former pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, has been appointed by Pope Benedict XVI to serve as the next bishop of Fort Worth, Texas.
“With the help of God, I welcome this,” Vann, 54, said in a phone interview from Springfield’s Blessed Sacrament Church, where he serves as pastor. “I embrace it as a further call on my life as a priest.”
Vann will first serve as coadjutor bishop, a helper to current Bishop Joseph P. Delaney. He will take over the diocese when Delaney retires.
This will be a big change for Vann, who was born and raised in Springfield and whose parents live there.
“I’m leaving Central Illinois for the rest of my life,” he said. “It is difficult to leave, but I have to believe this is where Christ wants me to go, so I have to follow him.”
He will be ordained July 13 at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Arlington, Texas.
Vann said the Fort Worth Diocese has about 400,000 Catholics in a 28-county area around Fort Worth and Wichita Falls. About 40 percent are Hispanic…
Full article