Archbishop José Gomez this week announced several administrative appointments in leadership positions for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, all effective July 1.---Msgr. Joseph V. Brennan has been named Moderator of the Curia and Vicar General. He has served as pastor of Holy Trinity Church, San Pedro, since 2004.
---Father John F. Provenza has been named Assistant Vicar for Clergy and Vicar for Clergy Designate. He has been pastor of Mary Star of the Sea Church, San Pedro, since 2008.
---Father Stephen V. Davoren will become Associate Director for Vocations. He has been pastor of Our Lady of the Assumption Church, Ventura, since 2007, after becoming its administrator in 2005.
---Msgr. Royale M. Vadakin, P.A., who has been Moderator of the Curia since 2003, will become Senior Advisor to the Archbishop and continue as a Vicar General.
Archbishop Gomez said he made the appointments “after wide consultation and with prayerful thought. These priests have been successful in pastoral ministry and will bring their experience to the ACC and the Archdiocese. I am grateful to these priests for accepting their new ministry in the Archdiocese. Please keep them in your prayers as they make this transition to their new ministries.”
Msgr. Brennan, 58, was born in Van Nuys where he attended St. Elisabeth School and later Notre Dame High School (Sherman Oaks), and was ordained from St. John’s Seminary, Camarillo, in 1980. He was an associate pastor at Immaculate Heart of Mary, L.A.; St. Linus, Norwalk; and St. Vibiana Cathedral, L.A. In 1992 he was appointed pastor of St. Linus, Norwalk, serving for 12 years until his appointment at Holy Trinity. He was named a chaplain to his holiness (monsignor) in 2005.
Father Provenza, 48, was born in West Covina, attended Queen of Angels High School (Mission Hills), and was ordained from St. John’s in 1990. He was an associate pastor at St. Gregory the Great, Whittier, then taught at St. Bernard and St. Paul High Schools. He was later pastor at St. Helen, South Gate, before being named pastor of Mary Star of the Sea, and has also been a dean of Deanery 17 in the San Pedro Region.
Father Davoren, 50, was born in Pasadena, attended St. Christopher School (West Covina) and Bishop Amat High School (La Puente), and was ordained from St. John’s in 1996. He was an associate pastor at St. Raymond, Downey; St. Luke, Temple City; and American Martyrs, Manhattan Beach, before coming to Our Lady of the Assumption Church as administrator in 2005. He was named pastor in 2007.
Msgr. Vadakin, 74, is a Detroit native who grew up in Los Angeles and was ordained from St. John’s in 1964, serving initially as associate pastor at All Souls, Alhambra. He was later pastor at St. Paul, L.A.; St. Vibiana Cathedral, L.A.; and St. Anastasia, Westchester, and has served on numerous archdiocesan commissions, boards and committees, perhaps most notably as chair and director of the archdiocesan Commission on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs (1974-91).
