Texas Priest to Take over As Bishop of Orange

By Doug Irving and Daniel Langhorne
The Orange County Register
September 22, 2012

http://www.ocregister.com/news/bishop-372349-diocese-orange.html

"I am proud to be part of your family," incoming Bishop Kevin Vann said as he was introduced in Orange County.

ORANGE – The incoming leader of the Diocese of Orange – a bishop from North Texas with the Virgin of Guadalupe stitched into his cowboy boots – promised to "love you and do my best to serve you" as he was introduced Friday.

Fort Worth Bishop Kevin Vann will succeed Bishop Tod D. Brown in December, becoming the fourth bishop to lead the nation's fastest-growing diocese. Brown has led the diocese through 14 years of growth, change and painful revelations of clergy sex abuse; he reached the mandatory retirement age of 75 late last year.

Q. and A. with Bishop Tod D. Brown Vann said he sees similarities between Orange County and his diocese in North Texas, especially the fast pace of its growth and its diversity. In introducing him as the new bishop, the Orange County diocese highlighted his work to encourage immigration reform. He also oversaw the construction in Texas of one of the largest Catholic churches in the nation to serve a Vietnamese congregation. He made headlines in 2004 when, as a church priest in his hometown of Springfield, Ill., he said he would be hesitant to give Communion to Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, because of Durbin's support for abortion rights. Q. and A. with Bishop Kevin Vann Among Vann's immediate challenges will be overseeing the development of the Crystal Cathedral as the Catholic center of Orange County. He also takes over a diocese that has struggled for more than a decade with a clergy sex-abuse scandal. Vann once publicly criticized his predecessor in Fort Worth for mishandling abuse cases: "I can't defend the indefensible," he said in a newspaper interview at the time. He also oversaw several abuse settlements during what the Fort Worth Star-Telegram described as a "tumultuous period of gut-wrenching exposure of child abuse." In Orange County, Vann pointed to a covenant authored by Brown that promised more accountability and help for victims as a "tremendous way to live and address that." Victims and their attorneys have said the church's actions have not lived up to those words. Vann was formally introduced to Orange County during a press conference at the Marywood Pastoral Center on Friday morning, hours after Pope Benedict XVI announced that he would be the new bishop. Vann yanked off one of his black cowboy boots to show that it was embroidered with the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, the patron saint of the Diocese of Orange. The Diocese welcomed him with gifts of Oakley sunglasses, flip-flops, an Angels hat and a basket of oranges. Monsignor Michael Heher gave him a bottle of Windex: "You're going to have a cathedral that's made of glass." Vann noted that Spanish-speakers in his North Texas congregation describe the church as "la familia de Dios," the family of God. He delivered his remarks in English and then in Spanish – and it was in Spanish that he added in an unscripted aside: "I'm very proud to be part of your family here in Orange." He ended his remarks with the words, "In the name of the father, the son and the Holy Spirit, amen" – spoken in Vietnamese.