Bishop of Honolulu, Coadjutor of Fort Worth Named

Father Clarence Silva succeeds Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo who was named bishop of Richmond, Virginia in March, 2004, announced the Vatican press office today.

Clarence Silva was born in Honolulu, but his family moved to California while he was still a child.

He attended St. Joseph College Seminary and St. Patrick Seminaries in the Diocese of Oakland, and was ordained in 1975.

Father Silva was made vicar general and moderator of the curia of Oakland in January, 2004.

The diocese of Honolulu comprises all of the Hawaiian Islands. It has a Catholic population of 234,588 in a total population of approximately 1.2 million.

The newly named coadjutor bishop of Fort Worth, Kevin Vann, was born in Springfield, Illinois.

He attended elementary and high school in Springfield, and earned a bachelor's degree in medical technology at Milikin University in 1974. After college, he worked for three years at St. John's Hospital in Springfield.

In 1976 Vann entered Immaculate Conception Diocesan Seminary in Springfield, finished his training at Kenrick Seminary, St. Louis, and was ordained for the Diocese of Springfield in 1981. He earned a doctorate in Canon Law at the University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome in 1985.

Established in 1969, after almost 80 years as part of the Dallas Diocese, the Diocese of Fort Worth comprises 28 counties in North Central Texas. It has a Catholic population of over 400,000 in a total population of about two million.