Bishop Robert Vasa Assumes Leadership of the Diocese of Santa Rosa

...He is succeeded by Coadjutor Bishop Robert F. Vasa

Not only are the people of Santa Rosa fortunate to have this Bishop, the whole Church and Nation is fortunate to have him at a critical hour when the moral foundations of the West are being shaken. Pray for Bishop Vasa as he assumes his new responsibility as a successor of the Apostles.

P>SANTA ROSA, CA. (Catholic Online) - Everyday I receive the news from the Vatican Information Service. In addition to reports of the Holy Father's travels, addresses and apostolic work, it contains his daily activity with Bishops. Thursday morning I read that he "Accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Santa Rosa, U.S.A., presented by Bishop Daniel F. Walsh, in accordance with canon 401 par. 2 of the Code of Canon Law. He is succeeded by Coadjutor Bishop Robert F. Vasa."

Bishop Robert F. Vasa, DD, was named Coadjutor Bishop of the Diocese of Santa Rosa in January of this year.  Now, without any further action, he assumes the Diocese. I met Bishop Vasa few years ago at the Catholic Leadership Conference.  Though I had pneumonia that year, I drove to the conference anyway. It is always a source of great encouragement in my work. However, I especially wanted to meet this Bishop who is a hero to all who are concerned about fidelity to the Catholic faith in the public square.

Bishop Vasa (pronounced Vasha) had served as the Bishop of the Diocese of Baker, Oregon. He was beloved by the clergy and lay faithful of his Diocese and well known nationally and internationally for his orthodoxy of doctrine, which is accompanied by a compassionate and pastoral heart.  Born in 1951, he is young and has many years of service to offer the Church. 

He received his theological training at Holy Trinity Seminary in Dallas and his License in Canon Law from the Gregorian University in Rome. He was ordained to the Holy Priesthood in Christ in 1976 for Lincoln, Nebraska where he was born. He spent almost two decades serving the Diocese of Lincoln, under the leadership of Bishop Glennon Flavin and then Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz.  In his service as a successor of the Apostles, the Bishop has been a champion of orthodoxy and orthopraxy.

In 2004 he issued a profound pastoral letter entitled "Giving Testimony to the Truth". It called all lay men and women in any form of service to the Church to make an affirmation of fidelity. In an introductory letter he wrote, "I am grateful to you for your willingness to serve the Church in a variety of ministries. This willingness speaks of a love for the Church and a desire to have Her message spread and received even to the "ends of the earth". I suggest that this "Affirmation of Personal faith" could serve as a template for other Dioceses.

Bishop Robert Vasa is unapologetic in his defense of the fundamental Human Right to Life. He also insists that every Catholic serving in public life live in a manner which is morally coherent. This was evident in his outspoken words during the controversies concerning Catholics in public office who have not been morally coherent over the years.

He does not back down from exposing infidelity in Catholic institutions under his Episcopal oversight. He removed sponsorship of St. Charles Medical Center-Bend when the hospital refused to follow Catholic teaching on sterilization. He wrote, "It is my responsibility to ensure the hospital is following Catholic principles both in name and in fact. It would be misleading for me to allow St. Charles Bend to be acknowledged as Catholic in name while I am certain that some important tenets of the Ethical and Religious Directives are no longer being observed."

He shared his pastoral insights concerning marriage in an interview with Kathleen Gilbert of Lifesite News on June 23, 2011, during the U.S. Bishops conference in Seattle.He was asked to comment on the efforts to force legal recognition of what proponents call "same sex marriage." 

He told Gilbert that the "emphasis on equality and civil rights completely misses the point of the debate. The real controversy revolves around "a proper philosophical understanding of the nature of the human person, and the nature of sexual interaction between persons of the opposite sex."

"It also stems from a general "failure to recognize and understand that sexual love is not about self-gratification and pleasure," but about "entering into a relationship with another person which is by its nature capable of being fruitful."

"In some ways homosexual relationships try to imitate [the marital relationship between a man and a woman], but that's all it is: an imitation," he said. "Some semblance of union which can never be fruitful or productive cannot really be an expression of love, it can only be an expression of self-gratification."

While supporters "may not recognize this," said Vasa, calling homosexual relationships by the name of marriage amounts to a "corruption" of an institution reserved for a union that is "faithful, permanent, and child-oriented."

"Marriage is unique, it has its own internal dynamism and internal definition, and you cannot change the nature of a homosexual relationship by calling it 'marriage,'" he said. "It is still not marriage, because marriage has its own identity..."

Not only are the people of Santa Rosa fortunate to have this Bishop, the whole Church and Nation is fortunate to have him at this critical hour when the moral foundations of the West are being shaken. We ask our readers to pray for Bishop Vasa as he assumes his new responsibility as a successor of the Apostles.

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