Former president of St. Viator called to lead Viatorians

Just four years after the former president of Saint Viator High School, the Rev. Robert M. Egan, left to serve at a Viatorian-staffed parish in suburban Las Vegas, he has been called back to Arlington Heights to lead 160 Viatorians.

Viatorians in the U.S. and in Colombia, South America, gathered on Tuesday to elect a new provincial superior to lead them for the next four years, electing Egan, a native of Wheeling and 1969 graduate of Saint Viator.

He succeeds the Rev. Thomas von Behren, who has led the Chicago province for the last 12 years and was only the second Viatorian to be elected to three consecutive terms.

Egan will be the pastoral leader of nearly 160 associates, brothers and priests, serving in this country and in Colombia, the site of two Viatorian schools and a growing number of vocations.

Egan and his council will be installed in June. It will be his second time as provincial. He also held the office from 1992-2001, before leaving to serve as pastor of St. Viator Parish in Chicago and later as president of Saint Viator High School from 2005-2013.

His election means he will leave St. Thomas More Catholic Community in Henderson, Nevada, where he has served since July 2013, first as associate pastor and then as pastor for the last two years. The parish of more than 6,000 families with 1,000 children in its religious education program is one of the largest in the Diocese of Las Vegas after being started by Viatorians more than 25 years ago.

Viatorians also voted for two members to serve on the provincial council: the Rev. Mark Francis, president of Catholic Theological Union in Chicago and former Superior General of the Viatorian Community for 12 years and the Rev. Daniel Hall, who has served on the council for the past seven years and who was named last year as vice president of Viatorian identity and mission at Saint Viator High School, where he is a social studies teacher and coach.