The following is printed with permission from “Catholic Times,” the magazine of the Diocese of Springfield, Illinois.
BISHOP KEVIN W. VANN is the bishop of the Diocese of Orange, California. Ordained a priest in 1981 in the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois, he served in various pastoral roles in his home diocese before being appointed the bishop of Fort Worth, Texas, in 2005. In 2012, he was then named the bishop of Orange. In September, Bishop Vann returned to Springfield for the celebration of the 100th anniversary of Blessed
Sacrament Parish where he started as a priest and was pastor before being called by the Holy Father to become an Apostle of the Church. Catholic Times Editor Andrew Hansen sat down with Bishop Vann on the diocese podcast, Dive Deep. Answers here are edited.
Q. What do you miss most about Springfield and Central Illinois?
A. It’s a blessing to come back. I have a lot of memories in Springfield so for me, it’s good to touch base with people here every now and then. I’ve been grateful for every place I’ve ever been sent to and been, so you don’t compare. My time here was a great foundation for me, but I’m grateful to be where I am now.
Q. What has surprised you the most when you think about your vocation to the priesthood and then becoming a bishop?
A. I guess how I learned in the seminary how God’s Providence truly guided the whole thing. This was the parish where I was baptized (Blessed Sacrament). This is a parish where my grandparents belonged to for many years. So, I have a kind of history here. The faith was always part of growing up. When I was here, I was young —5 years old — and we’d go back and forth to see my grandparents, but coming to Mass was always really important for all of us, and one particular time (at Blessed Sacrament), there were five of us and we were probably kind of antsy as kids are, and my mother said at the consecration, “Well, Jesus is here. Jesus is here when the consecration bells ring.” So, I had that memory of really beginning my faith journey at Blessed Sacrament, and then when I was 5 years old, we moved to St. Agnes Parish (in Springfield). So, I really grew up in St. Agnes Parish. So, the foundation I had really continued on at St. Agnes with our families and the Dominican Sisters of Springfield as well.
Q. Before you became a priest, you graduated from Griffin High School in Springfield and then Millikin University in Decatur. You then worked as a medtech at St. John’s Hospital. When did you hear the call to the priesthood?
A. I think most of us have a gradual sort of thing. I kind of always had in the background (becoming a priest). I think because of the examples and the way I grew up, but when I worked at St John’s Hospital, I worked in the laboratory drawing blood and ran the test, and when you work in the hospital and you work at night especially, people are really sick. So, spending all that time with them on the floor and drawing blood and those kind of things, working in the lab, that made me think more about what I had thought about earlier. I thought about the priesthood earlier (in my life), but then I went to work and all that, and I dated, but being with the folks who were sick and dying made me think about what I call “eternal realities.” So, eventually I decided in 1975 to enroll in the seminary and give it a try.
Q. In 2005, you were appointed coadjutor bishop of Fort Worth to assist Bishop Joseph Delaney who was in poor health. Bishop Delaney then died the day before you were to be consecrated as coadjutor bishop. So, you were then consecrated bishop of Fort Worth. Take us to those days and what you were thinking, the stress, and what was your prayer to God as you took over this tremendous responsibility?
A. That’s another one of those moments where your life flashes before your eyes because you know you get the phone call that you’re going to become bishop. I say, “OK, I’ll do that,” but then Bishop Delaney was found dead in bed the day before my ordination as a bishop, but then you do what you have to do. You just take over. It was an unusual experience because you had to go into being a bishop right away to a local church and you don’t know anybody down there.
Q. When you received that phone call to become bishop of Fort Worth, take us to that moment. What went through your mind as that’s a big phone call to receive.
A. Let me tell you the story because I was the pastor of Blessed Sacrament, and that day, my secretary said, “You have a phone call.” I said, “I have to go to St Louis. I have a meeting there in two hours. Take a message.” She said, “No, I think you better take it.” So, I took the phone call and was told (by an archbishop) that I was appointed coadjutor bishop of Fort Worth Texas by the Holy Father. “Do you accept,” he said. I said to him, “Archbishop, yes, but you know, I’m late, I have to go to St. Louis. I don’t want to be late.” On the way down (to St. Louis), at that time I had had a car phone, not the cell phones that we had now. The car phone rang, and it was then Bishop George Lucas (now Archbishop of Omaha). He’s a good friend of mine. He said, “Your Excellency, I wouldn’t wish this on anybody, but you’re the right person for the job.” So, I ended up spending eight years in Fort Worth, which was wonderful. I love Texas. I love the people, and I learned a lot about that part of the history of our country and the Church.
Q. You are now in the Diocese of Orange. What is the most challenging thing as a bishop you think lay Catholics don’t know or underappreciate?
A. Like Texas and then California, I really have been grateful for every appointment and every assignment. I don’t look at how tough it is, I just am grateful that I have the possibility to serve the Lord, and it’s complicated, but life is complicated. We have a lot of different things to be accountable for and people you work with, but you have to be faithful to what the Lord wants you to do, and I always go back to what my father taught me years ago, that you have to do the right thing. So, that’s what I try. You just do it with the help of God. That’s what I did, I followed God’s voice.
Q. How often do you return to Springfield and who do you like to see and what do you like to do?
A. When I first went to Fort Worth, I came back a lot because my mother and father were still living, so I came back a lot to see them. In fact, my first year was when American Airlines made a flight from Fort Worth to Springfield, and so it was easy to get up here. So, I would fly up and have dinner with my mother and father and then fly back the next day. Some people called that flight the “Vann Express,” but it really made life handy for me and easier to come home. When I come back, I still have friends here, and I think I’m going to try to go to Saputo’s (a restaurant in Springfield) for lunch or dinner sometime. I have some of those kinds of hangouts.
Q. You served in several parishes in Central Illinois. What is your fondest memory as a priest in this diocese?
A. I guess the opportunity to restore the church here (at Blessed Sacrament). That was my big job when I was here. One of my favorite parishes was St. Benedict in Auburn which was when my life was very easy. It was a wonderful parish in the midst of the cornfields, and there were also in Auburn a number of retired Italian coal miners. So, I was able to use my Italian there. So, I loved Auburn. I loved the people. Then I got transferred to Our Lady of Lourdes in Decatur, where I was for nine years. That was a bit challenging at the beginning, but I learned a lot by being there, and then I went from there back to Blessed Sacrament.
Q. What have you learned about God in your role as a priest and bishop?
A. It’s a great responsibility to teach and to govern, especially in the name of the Lord and to take that responsibility seriously and never take it for granted.
Q. What’s your message to the people of Central Illinois?
A. Thank you for what you did to get me started when I was here. I want to thank you for having been part of my life growing up, for having taught me, and for having given me a great foundation of family and faith in Springfield that I take with me always.
Answers taken and edited from Hansen’s interview with Bishop Vann on Dive Deep, the official podcast of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois. See the entire interview by going to youtube.com/diospringfield or search “Dive Deep” on all the major podcast platforms.