Pope appoints new bishop for Kansas City-St. Joseph

As bishop of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, Johnston helped establish Catholic Charities of Southern Missouri, according to the release.

A new bishop has been appointed for the Kansas City-St.

He has served on the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on child and youth protection.

He will be installed as bishop in Kansas City on November Fourth. Joseph in Missouri, permanently replacing a cleric who was convicted of failing to report a suspected child abuser. Bishop Johnston will be introduced to Kansas City staff on Tuesday.

Bishop Johnston, 55, was born October 16, 1959, in Knoxville, Tenn. He attended Catholic elementary and secondary school and in 1982 earned a B.S.in Electrical Engineering from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

Archbishop Carlson called it a “privilege to work closely with Bishop Johnston for the past six years” and described him “a man of great compassion and kindness, with a deep sense of loyalty to the Catholic faith”.

In 1985, the bishop left his engineering career in order to pursue the priesthood.

Bishop Johnston has a masters of divinity degree and worked in Knoxville previously. “I can not deny my sadness departing”.

Pope Francis will begin his trip to the United States on September 22nd, making stops in Washington D.C., New York City, and Philadelphia.