Bishop Kevin W. Vann was born on May 10, 1951 in Springfield, Illinois. He is the oldest of the six children born to William M. Vann, Jr. and Theresa Jones Vann. Bishop Vann 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 for three years as a medical technologist, he entered the seminary in 1976, 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, 1981, 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, the Casa Santa Maria dell’ Umilta.

Upon returning to the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois, then-Father 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.

Bishop Vann was ordained and installed as the third bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth on Wednesday, July 13, 2005, at Texas Christian University’s Daniel-Meyer Coliseum.

In Texas, he collaborated closely with other bishops through the Texas Catholic Conference and Region X, which includes dioceses of States of Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. He is the former Texas Bishops’ Liaison to the Texas Mission Council and Texas Catholic hospitals. And, through the U.S. Conference of Bishops, he works with bishops across the United States as well as globally.

Bishop Vann was a leader in the Texas Conference of Bishops, providing leadership for various initiatives at the national level, including service on ad hoc committee which assisted the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) to guide the incorporation of Anglican groups into the Catholic Church of the United States.

On September 21, 2012, His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI announced the appointment of Bishop Kevin W. Vann as the fourth Bishop of Orange. Bishop Vann has led the Diocese of Orange — the 11th largest diocese in the country and the second-largest west of the Mississippi — in its multicultural mission to meet the social, economic and spiritual needs of the region’s increasingly diverse Catholic population. He continues to lead the historic effort to transform the former Crystal Cathedral from a world-renowned center of Protestant worship into the West Coast’s most visible center of Catholicism.

Introduction to the new edition of BFG
Dear friends all,
Following the publication, reception and use of the first two editions of Built for Greatness, [The Christian Edition of the Tao Te Ching] and having reflected the prayed with Archbishop Sylvain LaVioie and Keith D. Hoang, it seems like time is upon us to continue the journey of Built for Greatness with the foundation that has been built in the first two volumes. We turn now to the volume which has been researched and composed by Archbishop LaVioie OMI, which contains Bible verses and verses of the Tao Te Ching, which has been well researched and composed by Archbishop LaVioie. Knowing the importance of the application of Sacred Scripture to daily life, what my work has been here is to take the Bible verses and verses of the TTC, and to apply them to pastoral situations that often find their way into our daily lives: In this way the wisdom and the presence of God which shine forth in the words of the volume of the Bible verses may illuminate the presence of God in all moments of our lives.

Bishop Kevin W. Vann