John Walter Yanta (October 2, 1931 – August 6, 2022) was an American prelate of the
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
. He served as bishop of the
Diocese of Amarillo
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Amarillo ( la, Dioecesis Amarillensis) is a Roman Catholic diocese in Amarillo, Texas. It was founded on August 3, 1926 out of territory taken from the Diocese of Dallas and the Diocese of San Antonio on the same day ...
in Texas from 1997 to 2008 and as an auxiliary bishop in the
Archdiocese of San Antonio
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Antonio is an archdiocese of the Catholic Church in the United States, and sui juris Latin Church in full communion with the pope of Rome. It encompasses in the U.S. state of Texas. The Roman Catholic Archd ...
in Texas from 1994 to 1997.
Biography
Early years
On March 17, 1956, Yanta was ordained into the priesthood for the Archdiocese of San Antonio by Archbishop
Robert Lucey.
In 1957, Yanta was assigned as assistant pastor at St. Ann’s Parish in San Antonio.
During this period, Yanta would frequently join protests in front of a
Planned Parenthood clinic in San Antonio, protesting its
abortion
Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...
services to women. He was arrested during one protest for disturbing the peace.
In 1981, Yanta and Father Larry Steubben founded
Catholic Television of San Antonio (CTSA).
Auxiliary Bishop of San Antonio
On December 30, 1994, Pope John Paul II appointed Yanta as an
auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of San Antonio. He was consecrated by Archbishop
Patrick Flores
Patricio Fernández Flores (July 26, 1929 – January 9, 2017) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served from 1979 to 2004 as archbishop of the Archdiocese of San Antonio in Texas, bishop of the Diocese of El Paso in Texa ...
at the Immaculate Conception Church in
Panna Maria, Texas
Panna Maria (Polish for ''Virgin Mary'') is a small unincorporated community in Karnes County, Texas, United States. It is the oldest Polish settlement in the United States.
History
A Franciscan missionary, Father Leopold Moczygemba, started rec ...
.
Bishop of Amarillo
On January 21, 1997, Pope John Paul II named Yanta as the bishop of the Diocese of Amarillo. He was installed on March 17, 1997.
On July 10, 2002, Yanta and the Diocese of Amarillo were named in a lawsuit for the rape of a teenage girl in 2000 by Rosendo Herrera, a diocese priest. When the plaintiff was aged 17, Herrera raped and impregnated her. The suit claimed that the diocese was aware of previous offenses by Herrera, and had failed to notify authorities as required by state law.
By September 2002, eight priests had resigned from the diocese due to sexual abuse allegations. On February 28, 2003, Yanta agreed to a US$27,000
legal settlement
In law, a settlement is a resolution between disputing parties about a legal case, reached either before or after court action begins. A collective settlement is a settlement of multiple similar legal cases. The term also has other meanings in t ...
with the family of the girl raped by Herrera in 2000.
Retirement
Yanta retired on January 3, 2008. Upon his
retirement
Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload.
Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...
from the Diocese of Amarillo, Yanta moved to San Antonio where he was active in
socially conservative
Social conservatism is a political philosophy and variety of conservatism which places emphasis on traditional power structures over social pluralism. Social conservatives organize in favor of duty, traditional values and social institution ...
political causes. In 2011, Yanta established the Polish Heritage Center Foundation and bought land in Panna Maria to build the Polish Heritage Center, a museum about Polish immigrants to Texas. In 2021, Yanta spent a week in the hospital due to a case of
pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...
.
John Yanta died in San Antonio on August 6, 2022 at age 90.
Viewpoints
Politics
On May 14, 2009, Yanta sent a letter of protest to Father
John I. Jenkins, the president of the
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...
about the university inviting
President Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
to its commencement ceremony. In the letter, Yanta stated:
I also see Notre Dame crucifying Our Lord once again. Our Blessed Mother must be sorrowful for what you are doing to her Son, using her name in doing so.
Sexual abuse scandal
In 2002, Yanta criticized the "
zero tolerance
A zero tolerance policy is one which imposes a punishment for every infraction of a stated rule.zero tolerance, n.' (under ''zero, n.''). The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd Ed. 1989. Retrieved 10 November 2009. Italy, Japan, Singapore China, Indi ...
" policies on sexual abuse by priests that were adopted by the
US Conference of Catholic Bishops in June 2002. He argued that one-time
offenders who had gone through counseling should not be punished for their crimes. However, Yanta admitted that his predecessor, Bishop
Leroy T. Matthiesen, had recruited many of the problem priests out of treatment programs and kept that information secret from parishioners.
See also
*
Catholic Church hierarchy
The hierarchy of the Catholic Church consists of its bishop (Catholic Church), bishops, Priesthood (Catholic Church), priests, and deacons. In the Catholic ecclesiology, ecclesiological sense of the term, "hierarchy" strictly means the "holy or ...
*
Catholic Church in the United States
With 23 percent of the United States' population , the Catholic Church is the country's second largest religious grouping, after Protestantism, and the country's largest single church or Christian denomination where Protestantism is divided i ...
*
Historical list of the Catholic bishops of the United States
This is a historical list of all bishops of the Catholic Church whose sees were within the present-day boundaries of the United States, with links to the bishops who consecrated them. It includes only members of the United States Conference of Cat ...
*
List of Catholic bishops of the United States
The following is a list of bishops of the Catholic Church in the United States, including its five inhabited territories.
The U.S. Catholic Church comprises:
* 176 Latin Church dioceses led by bishops
* 18 Eastern Catholic eparchies led by ...
*
Lists of patriarchs, archbishops, and bishops
This is a directory of patriarchs, archbishops, and bishops across various Christian denominations. To find an individual who was a bishop, see the most relevant article linked below or :Bishops.
Lists
Catholic
* Bishop in the Catholic Chur ...
References
External links
Roman Catholic Diocese of Amarillo Official Site
Episcopal succession
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yanta, John
1931 births
2022 deaths
People from Karnes County, Texas
American people of Polish descent
20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in the United States
21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in the United States
Bishops appointed by Pope John Paul II
Roman Catholic bishops of Amarillo