With great joy we announce that, effective immediately, Father Dan Hoehn has been appointed as the new
   administrator of St. John Vianney Parish.  We are blessed to have Father Dan as our new priest, and we warmly welcome him
      to our parish community.  We look forward to getting to know Father Dan as he leads us in faith and service to our Lord!                                                                      MESSAGE FROM FATHER DAN

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I consider it an honor have been entrusted with the leadership of this great parish – named after the patron saint of parish priests – a saint for whom I have always had a special devotion. In fact, St. John Vianney was instrumental in my discernment of a priestly vocation. 
While remaining pastor of St. Dennis and St. Joseph in Lockport, I embrace this new opportunity to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with the good people of St. John Vianney.
I feel a certain kinship with Lockport, inasmuch as my dad grew up in Fairmont. His dad, who was buried from this church in 1961, was born in 1890, and settled here during the Great Depression, raising six children. I had several aunts and uncles in Lockport whom we would visit regularly when I was young, and we would occasionally have family gatherings at Dellwood Park.  
My previous assignments include St. Michael in Wheaton, St. Paul the Apostle in Peotone, St. Patrick in Wilton Center (south of Manhattan), St. Mary Immaculate in Plainfield, and Sacred Heart in Lombard.
I grew up the fifth of six children in Will County just outside of Manhattan — next to the farm where my maternal grandfather earned his living with crops and livestock, plowing the ground in his early years with a team of horses.  My 93-year-old mother still remembers the day when they finally got electricity!
When my grandfather retired from farming in 1967, my dad tore down our old barn and had a new house erected on the site. His mom moved into the farmhouse we vacated, and my other grandparents built a house about 90 feet to the other side of our new house.  I gained an invaluable perspective from my grandparents, hearing many tales of their struggles, always being reminded by them of how grateful we should be for the blessings we enjoyed. 
My younger brother and I, while still in high school, began raising hogs, and continued for 18 years, feeding about 10,000 hogs a year by the time I entered the seminary. I’ve often said that I got used to long hours and low pay, so the priesthood seemed a logical next step!
I am looking forward to being your pastor and am asking for your prayers, that I may be an instrument of Jesus Christ to continue His work of healing and forgiveness through the awesome power of the sacraments for the good people of St. John Vianney Parish!  
                                                                      ___________________________