John Yanta

Styles of John Walter Yanta
Reference style	His Excellency The Most Reverend
Spoken style	Your Excellency
Religious style	Bishop

John Walter Yanta (born October 2, 1931, in Runge, Texas), is a retired Roman Catholic bishop who served the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Antonio in San Antonio, Texas and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Amarillo in Amarillo, Texas.

Career[]

Yanta was ordained priest for the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Antonio on March 17, 1956 and was consecrated bishop on December 30, 1994, serving as an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of San Antonio.

On January 21, 1997, he was named bishop for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Amarillo, and became the bishop on March 17, 1997. He retired on January 3, 2008.^[1] Upon his retirement from the Diocese of Amarillo, Yanta moved to San Antonio where he was active in socially conservative political causes.

Yanta is an opponent of legal abortion in the United States. In 2006, he was named the recipient of the Cardinal von Galen Award for his political advocacy, which included leading anti-abortion rights demonstrations and publicly declared to women's health workers that, once they'd quit their jobs, they'd be assured of his help finding income. Yanta also issued a press release in the form of an angry letter to the University of Notre Dame; he was dismayed that the university had invited the President of the United States to an event despite Yanta's ideological beliefs.^{[2][3][4][5][6]}

Controversies during tenure[]

When a 17-year-old girl in the Amarillo diocese came forward claiming to have been impregnated by a priest in 2003, Bishop Yanta agreed to a US$27,000 legal settlement to avoid a lawsuit.^[7] Bishop Yanta was critical of "zero tolerance" policies when it came to priests accused of sexual abuse. He argued that one-time offenders who had gone through counseling should not be punished for their actions.^[8]

See also[]

References[]

External links[]

• Roman Catholic Diocese of Amarillo Official Site

Episcopal succession[]