Fort Worth, Texas, Jul 14, 2005 / 22:00 pm
It was a mix of happiness and sorrow at the ordination Wednesday of Fort Worth’s third bishop. Bishop Kevin Vann was installed as the new bishop only one day after the death of his predecessor, Bishop Joseph Delaney.
"Change for any of us is never easy," Bishop Vann said. "This is especially true for us with the death of Bishop Delaney. How we are beginning now had not been my plan, or that of Bishop Delaney, or many of us. But this is the moment the Lord has given us."
Bishop Delaney was ordained to the episcopate Sept. 13, 1981 and had served the 425,000-member diocese for nearly 24 years.
In May, Pope Benedict XVI had appointed Msgr. Vann of the Diocese of Springfield, Ill., to serve as coadjutor bishop of Fort Worth, but the monsignor was installed as bishop after Bishop Delaney died suddenly this week.