Today was a great moment in the history of KCHS but a tough one for me personally. Fr. Vann Johnston, also known as Bishop-Elect for Southern Missouri, came and celebrated mass today with the entire school in attendance at All-Saints. Fr. Vann is one of those people you meet who you get a sense is going places. I knew him for maybe an hour and I turned to one of my then Deacon Aspirants, and said, he's not long for his current status. Fr. Vann is an unusual mixture of wisdom, confidence, scholarship, orthodoxy, athleticism, and yet he remains approachable and a guy you want to hang out with. He's a great guy, a wonderful confessor, and smart as a whip. I asked Fr. Vann to be my spiritual director a while back and he was great. He always made time for me even with his impossible schedule, and when you were with him, you felt like he was hanging right there with you, listening carefully to every word. I will miss him, and compared to many others, I hardly know him.
He really hit home our need to find God's will for our lives, and to drink deeply of the Chalice of Christ. It was a good message for our student body to hear as well as all of the teachers. Fr. Vann graduated from KCHS, and also taught here as well. Even as he moved into his position at the Chancery, he kept in close contact with the Religion Dept. and administration. He spoke briefly of his fond memories of Catholic, but mostly preached form the daily readings. He got a standing ovation a the end of mass by the student body, and talked excitedly about the three Catholic high schools in his new diocese.
Fr. Vann is one of 26 graduates of KCHS to enter religious life as a priest, sister, or brother; he is the first one to be ordained a bishop. We are intensely proud of Fr. Vann. He asked us to please pray for him on the day of his ordination and installation as well as afterwards. Please consider adding soon-to-be Bishop Johnston into your daily prayers. Last, please pray for vocations for the priesthood. We are losing a wonderful priest that brought many gifts to bear in our diocese. We need more like him to continue our growth here in East Tennessee. - Deacon Pat
No comments:
Post a Comment