Robert Francis Vasa | |
---|---|
Bishop of Santa Rosa | |
Archdiocese | San Francisco |
Diocese | Santa Rosa |
Appointed | January 24, 2011 |
Installed | June 30, 2011 |
Predecessor | Daniel F. Walsh |
Orders | |
Ordination | May 22, 1976 by Glennon Patrick Flavin |
Consecration | January 26, 2000 by John George Vlazny, Thomas Joseph Connolly, and Fabian Bruskewitz |
Personal details | |
Born | |
Previous post(s) |
|
Motto | Unless a grain of wheat |
Styles of Robert Francis Vasa | |
---|---|
Reference style | |
Spoken style | Your Excellency |
Religious style | Bishop |
Robert Francis Vasa (born May 7, 1951) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. On Monday, January 24, 2011, Vasa was named the coadjutor bishop to Bishop Daniel F. Walsh of the Diocese of Santa Rosa in California by Pope Benedict XVI. Until then, he had been the fifth bishop of the Diocese of Baker in Oregon. On June 30, 2011, Walsh's resignation was accepted by Benedict XVI and Vasa succeeded him as bishop.
Robert Vasa was born on May 7, 1951, in Lincoln, Nebraska, to Joe and Leona Vasa. [1] From 1972 to 1976, he studied at Holy Trinity Seminary in Dallas, Texas, where he obtained a Master of Divinity degree. [1]
Vasa was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Lincoln by Bishop Glennon Flavin on May 22, 1976. [2] After his ordination, Vasa served as a curate at the Cathedral of the Risen Christ Parish. He also taught at Pius X High School in Lincoln until 1977, when he became an advocate on the diocesan Marriage Tribunal. [1] In 1979, Vasa entered the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, earning a Licentiate of Canon Law in 1981. [1]
Following his return to Nebraska, Vasa was named assistant chancellor of the diocese and afterwards father prior of the local Columbian Squires chapter. [1] He was appointed judicial vicar of the diocesan tribunal and pastor of St. James Parish in Cortland, Nebraska, in 1985. [1] He directed the remodeling and fund drive for St. Stephen Parish in Exeter, Nebraska.
In addition to his duties as judicial vicar, Vasa was appointed pastor of St. Peter Parish in Lincoln in 1990. He was raised by the Vatican to the rank of honorary prelate in 1995. [1] In 1996 Vasa was named vicar general of the diocese and moderator of the curia. [1] He became chair of the Diocesan Building Commission in 1996 and served as pastor of St. Michael Parish in Cheney, Nebraska, from 1997 to 1999. [1]
On November 19, 1999, Vasa was named the fifth bishop of the Diocese of Baker by Pope John Paul II. [2] He received his episcopal consecration on January 26, 2000, from Archbishop John Vlazny, with Bishops Thomas Connolly and Fabian Bruskewitz serving as co-consecrators. [2]
In a 2006 column, Vasa implied that Catholics who support abortion rights for women are guilty of a so-called heresy of murder. [3] According to a Catholic News Service article, Vasa stated in February 2010 that St. Charles Medical Center in Bend, Oregon, located within the diocese, had "gradually moved away" from the church's ethical directives and could no longer be called Catholic. As a result, mass is no longer celebrated in the hospital chapel and the hospital returned all Catholic religious items to the diocese. However, the hospital retained the St. Charles name and the cross on his facility.
On January 24, 2011, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Vasa as coadjutor bishop for the Diocese of Santa Rosa. Vasa was installed on March 6, 2011. On June 30, 2011, he succeeded Bishop Walsh. [4] [5]
Vasa served as the episcopal advisor to the Catholic Medical Association until 2014. [6] He currently serves that role for the online religious education provider, CatechismClass. [7]
On July 22, 2019, Vasa suspended from ministry Oscar Diaz, the pastor of Resurrection Parish in Santa Rosa, California, after Diaz admitted to stealing $95, 000 from the parish. While local prosecutors said they did not have a strong enough case for criminal charges, Vasa said that Diaz would never be allow to work as a priest again. [8] In December 2022, Vasa announced that the diocese would seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in order to deal with a large volume of sexual abuse lawsuits against the clergy. [9] On March 13, 2023, the Santa Rosa Diocese filed its Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California, Santa Rosa Division. The case is The Roman Catholic Bishop of Santa Rosa, Bankr. N.D. Cal., Case No. 23-10113. [10]
The Diocese of Santa Rosa in California is a Latin Church diocese, or ecclesiastical territory, of the Catholic Church in the northern California region of the United States. It is a suffragan diocese of the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of San Francisco.
Daniel Nicholas DiNardo is an American cardinal of the Catholic Church. He is the second and current archbishop of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston in Texas serving since 2006. He previously served as bishop of the Diocese of Sioux City in Iowa from 1998 to 2004.
Fabian Wendelin Bruskewitz is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as bishop of the Diocese of Lincoln in Nebraska, from 1992 to 2012. He is known for often taking conservative stands on social issues.
The Diocese of Baker is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Eastern Oregon in the United States. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Portland.
The Diocese of Lincoln is a Latin Church diocese in Nebraska, United States, and comprises the majority of the eastern and central portions of the state south of the Platte River. It is a suffragan see to the archdiocese of Omaha. The episcopal see is in Lincoln, Nebraska. Bishop James D. Conley is the current ordinary of the Diocese. The Cathedral of the Risen Christ is the cathedral parish of the diocese.
John Charles Wester, is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who has been serving as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe in New Mexico since 2015. He previously served as bishop of the Diocese of Salt Lake City in Utah from 2007 to 2015 and as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of San Francisco in California from 1998 to 2007.
Mons. Michael Owen Jackels is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was the metropolitan archbishop of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Dubuque from 2013 to 2023. He previously served as the bishop of the Diocese of Wichita in Kansas. Jackels was consecrated bishop on April 4, 2005.
James Peter Sartain, better known as Peter Sartain, is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the fifth archbishop of the Archdiocese of Seattle in Washington State from 2010 to 2019.
Michael William Warfel is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who was bishop of the Diocese of Great Falls-Billings in Montana from 2007 to 2023. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Juneau in Alaska from 1996 to 2007.
Bernard Joseph Harrington is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Winona in Minnesota from 1999 to 2009 and as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Detroit in Michigan from 1993 to 1999.
Daniel Francis Walsh is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Florencia is an archdiocese located in the city of Florencia, Caquetá in Colombia.
Christopher James Coyne is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He serves as coadjutor archbishop of the Archdiocese of Hartford in Connecticut and the administrator of the Diocese of Burlington. Coyne previously served as the bishop of Diocese of Burlington from 2015 to 2023 and as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis in Indiana from 2011 to 2015.
The Diocese of San Jose in the Philippines is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in the Philippines.
Kevin William Vann is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was named bishop of the Diocese of Orange in Southern California by Pope Benedict XVI, succeeding the retiring bishop, Tod Brown, on September 21, 2012. Vann previously served as bishop of the Diocese of Fort Worth in Texas from 2005 to 2012.
Cirilo B. Flores was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as bishop of the Diocese of San Diego in California from 2013 until his death in 2014. He previously served as coadjutor bishop of the same diocese from 2012 until 2013 and as an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Orange in California from 2009 until 2012.
Paul Dennis Étienne is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who has been serving as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Seattle in Washington State since 2019.
Alberto Rojas is a Mexican prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who has been serving as bishop of the Diocese of San Bernardino in Southern California since 2020. He previously served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago in Illinois from 2011 to 2019.
John Thomas Folda is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who has been serving as bishop of the Diocese of Fargo in North Dakota since 2013.
Jeffrey Michael Fleming is an American bishop of the Catholic Church and is the bishop of the Diocese of Great Falls-Billings in Montana. Fleming was named coadjutor in 2022 and bishop in 2023.