Knoxville priest to become bishop for MO diocese

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of Bishop John J. Leibrecht, 77, of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, Mo., and has named the chancellor of the Diocese of Knoxville, Tenn., Father J. Vann Johnston Jr., as his successor.

The resignation and appointment were announced in Washington Jan. 24 by Archbishop Pietro Sambi, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

Bishop-designate Johnston’s episcopal ordination will be March 31.

In a statement released in Springfield, he pledged “to serve in generosity and charity all of the priests, deacons, consecrated religious, seminarians and lay faithful of southern Missouri with the help of God’s grace and wisdom.”

“I will strive to serve you as a shepherd after the heart of Christ,” he said. “Likewise, I will seek out those who have fallen away from the practice of their Catholic faith, reach out to the unchurched, and seek to meet brothers and sisters of other faith communities and churches on areas of common belief and shared concerns.”

He expressed gratitude to Bishop Leibrecht “for extending such a gracious welcome” and said it was an honor to follow a man “who has served our diocese so faithfully for over two decades.”

Bishop Leibrecht, who was ordained a priest of the St. Louis Archdiocese in 1956, had headed the diocese since December 1984.

Bishop designate-Johnston said he was “eager to learn more about the church in southern Missouri, my new home, and to become a part of God’s family here.”

The Springfield-Cape Girardeau Diocese covers more than 25,000 square miles. The Catholic population is about 63,000 out of a total population estimated at more than 1 million.

Born James Vann Johnston Jr. Oct. 16, 1959, in Knoxville, he is the oldest of four children of Vann and Patricia (Huber) Johnston. He has two sisters and a brother. He attended Catholic primary and secondary schools. As a youth he was active in the Boy Scouts of America and was awarded the rank of Eagle Scout.

He earned a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville in 1982. From 1982 to 1985, he worked in Houston for an engineering consulting firm and for an electric utility.

In 1985, he left his occupation to pursue a call to the priesthood. From 1985 to 1990 he attended St. Meinrad College and School of Theology in Indiana, where he obtained his master of divinity degree.

He was ordained a priest of the Knoxville Diocese June 9, 1990, at his home parish, Holy Ghost Church in Knoxville. After ordination he held a number of pastoral assignments, including chaplain and teacher at Notre Dame High School in Chattanooga, Tenn.

He has a canon law degree from The Catholic University of America in Washington. He has been Knoxville’s chancellor since 1996. He is also moderator of the curia for the diocese and pastor of Our Lady of Fatima Church in Alcoa, along with its mission, St. Francis in Townsend.

He serves on the priests’ council, is a member of the Catholic Public Policy Commission of Tennessee and is active with the Knights of Columbus, Catholic Engaged Encounter and the Catholic Cursillo movement.

In his free time, Bishop-designate Johnston enjoys sports and spending time hiking and exploring the mountains, woods and terrain of east Tennessee and other portions of the United States and Canada.

In 2005 he, along with two other priests from Tennessee, received the Citizen’s Award for Bravery from the U.S. Department of the Interior for helping save a father and two of his children from plunging over a waterfall in Glacier National Park in Montana.

The award is given to “private citizens for their heroic acts or unusual bravery in the face of danger.”

Before he was named to head the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Giradeau, Bishop Leibrecht was superintendent of schools in the Archdiocese of St. Louis from 1962 to 1981. He has a doctorate in education from The Catholic University of America.

In 2001 the Catholic Campus Ministry Association honored him with its Archbishop Paul Hallinan Award, recognizing the “priority he has given campus ministry in his own diocese through his personal presence and financial support” and for his “national impact on the church’s mission in higher education” through his work on the committee that worked on the norms.