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 iuris, sui juris Latin Church in full communion with the pope of Diocese of Rome, Rome. It encompasses in the U.S. state of Texa ...

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 The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or simply Planned Parenthood, is a nonprofit organization that provides reproductive health care in the United States and globally. It is a tax-exempt corporation under Internal Reve ...

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 pregn ...

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 severity ...

. 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 John Ignatius Jenkins, C.S.C. (born December 17, 1953) is a Catholic priest of the Congregation of the Holy Cross and the current president of the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. He previously served as its vice-president and associate pr ...

, 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 research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...

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 (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

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 The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is the episcopal conference of the Catholic Church in the United States. Founded in 1966 as the joint National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) and United States Catholic Conference (US ...

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.

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