Pope Names Bishop Kevin Vann To Orange, California; Accepts Resignations Of Bishops Of Orange, Rochester, N.Y.; Names Apostolic Administrator For Rochester

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

WASHINGTON—Pope Benedict XVI has namedBishop Kevin W. Vann of Fort Worth, Texas, 61, to be bishop of Orange,California, and accepted the resignation of Bishop Tod D. Brown, 75, from thepastoral government of the diocese. The pope also accepted the resignation ofBishop Matthew H. Clark of Rochester, New York, 75, from the pastoralgovernance of the Rochester diocese and named Bishop Robert J. Cunningham ofSyracuse, New York, 69, as apostolic administrator of the Rochester diocese untilthe appointment and installation of a new bishop there.

Theappointments were publicized in Washington September 21, by Archbishop Carlo MariaViganò, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

KevinVann was born May 10, 1951, in Springfield, Illinois and was ordained a priestfor the diocese of Springfield in 1981. He earned a doctorate in canon law in1985 from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas (Angelicum) in Rome. In theSpringfield Diocese he served as associate pastor, pastor, and on the staff ofthe diocesan tribunal. In 2005, he was named coadjutor bishop of Fort Worth, Texas,to succeed Bishop Joseph Delaney, who died one day before Bishop-designate Vannwas ordained bishop.

Bishop Brown, a native of SanFrancisco, 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 in1998.

Bishop Clark, a native of Troy, NewYork, was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Albany, New York, in 1962. Heserved in parish and chancery assignments in the Albany Diocese and as aspiritual director at North American College, Rome, from 1972 until 1979, when hewas named bishop of Rochester.

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

# # # # #

MEDIA CONTACTONLY:Sr. Mary Ann WalshO: 202-541-3200M: 301-325-7935Email