From a Press Release:
Bishop James V. Johnston, Jr. to Head Kansas City – St. Joseph Diocese
Pope Francis names Springfield – Cape Girardeau Bishop as 7th Bishop of Kansas City – St. Joseph.(Kansas City, MO) The Holy See Press Office this morning reported Pope Francis has appointed Springfield – Cape Girardeau Bishop James V. Johnston, Jr. as 7th Bishop of Kansas City – St. Joseph. Bishop Johnston was Consecrated as Bishop for the Diocese of Springfield – Cape Girardeau on March 31, 2008. He will continue as Administrator of that diocese until his Installation as Bishop of Kansas City – St. Joseph on November 4.
Most Reverend Joseph F. Naumann, Apostolic Administrator of Kansas City – St. Joseph, will introduce Bishop Johnston to Chancery staff at 10:00 a.m. this morning in the Catholic Center, 20 W. 9th St. in Kansas City. Press are invited and Bishop Johnston will answer questions following his presentation.
Bishop Johnston was born on October 16, 1959 in Knoxville, Tennessee. He attended Catholic elementary and secondary school and in 1982 earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.
Bishop Johnston left a career in engineering in 1985 in order to pursue a call to the priesthood. He attended St. Meinrad School of Theology in Indiana, obtained his Master of Divinity Degree there in 1990 and was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Knoxville on June 9, 1990. He earned a Licentiate in Canon Law from the Catholic University of America in 1996.
In Knoxville, he served in parish ministry and as Chancellor and Moderator of the Curia. In 2005, Bishop Johnston and two other priests were awarded the Citizens Award for Bravery by the U.S. Department of the Interior for helping save a family in danger of plunging over a waterfall in Glacier National Park.
As Bishop of Springfield – Cape Girardeau he has successfully encouraged vocations to the priesthood, helped establish Catholic Charities of Southern Missouri and supported the Catholic Worker movement.
Among his national commitments, Bishop Johnston served on the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Child and Youth Protection and is currently Episcopal Liaison to the National Council of Catholic Women.
A Curriculum Vitae, short biography, photo and diocesan statistics are attached to this release and will be available in hard copy for reporters who attend this morning. Bishop Johnston’s Episcopal Motto is “THE LOVE OF CHRIST URGES US ON”.
Congratulations to the bishop and to the people of the diocese.
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A quick bit of googling seems to reveal that the good Bishop is friendly toward the Extroirdinary Form of the Mass!
As a resident of the Springfield-Cape Girardeau diocese, I sure with these press releases had a little info about who might succeed Bishop Johnston here.
Any insider info you want to share Fr. Z??? :)
I cannot imagine a better appointment for Kansas City-St. Joseph than Bishop Johnston. Everyone should be happy, except perhaps the faithful in Springfield-Cape Girardeau and the unfaithful in KC-StJo.
As Chancellor of Diocese of Knoxville, he warmly supported our Latin Mass community here, and played a key role in our TLM indult approval (required in those pre-SP days). I understand that one of his first official actions in Springfield was to initiate a Sunday (and also daily) TLM in his cathedral there.
As pastor of a local parish here the year before his first episcopal appointment, he moved the Tabernacle back into the sanctuary, centered right behind the altar, and started replacing the usual flimsy stuff with serious sacred music (like a book of chant propers for the pew racks). I recall that he initialed the introduction of the ordinary in Latin with a parish insert entitled “Latin and Lima Beans”, in which the basic message was that while you might not like either one, they’re both good for you.
As a fellow resident of the Springfield-Cape Girardeau diocese with Beau, I had the same question.
My parish is not a diocesan parish, but affiliated with a Benedictine monastery, so I’m not sure how deeply this affects me.
Bishop Johnston is a very good man. I hope his successor is at least almost as good.
I was afraid to read the comments.
I’m glad I did.
Thank you to the people who have shared such positive information!
I will be praying for Bishop Johnston.
BadgerCatholic has some words and photos of Bishop Johnston and his support of the TLM.
HERE
No dig here, Father Z, but I am always happy to hear that a priest/bishop has worked at least a few years out here with us tax-paying plebeians. I have never thought it good for a young woman to go directly from her daddy’s house to a groom and marriage vows nor a young man to go directly from high school to seminary and Holy Orders. Glad to hear this bishop has at least 3 years experience working as an engineer.
I don’t know anything about him, but I saw he wrote something on his diocesan website about the evil of Planned Parenthood. A good sign!
“… I am always happy to hear that a priest/bishop has worked at least a few years out here with us tax-paying plebeians. I have never thought it good for a young woman to go directly from her daddy’s house to a [bride]groom and marriage vows nor a young man to go directly from high school to seminary and Holy Orders.”
On the contrary, when I consider the grievously evil things that American tax dollars support, I am happy that there are souls unpolluted by the world giving themselves directly to God in Matrimony and Ordination.
I understand that one of his first official actions in Springfield was to initiate a Sunday (and also daily) TLM in his cathedral there.
Based on a cursory review of information available at the ecclesiadei.org website, it appears that no Cathedral in the USA or Canada offers more weekly TLMs than that of Springfield-Cape Girardeau. (That doesn’t count an FSSP-administered chapel of the Harrisburg cathedral.) It will be a (non-felt!) banner day when one or more additional dioceses’ cathedrals can rival that claim; might Kansas City-St. Joseph’s be the first?