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	Priest to Serve As Bishop in Missouri Johnston 2nd in Local Diocese Named to High Office Recently By Ina Hughs Knoxville News Sentinel January 25, 2008 http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/jan/25/priest-to-serve-as-bishop-in-missouri/ For the second time in less than a year, a Roman Catholic clergyman in the Diocese of Knoxville has been appointed to a high office. Pope Benedict XVI announced Thursday the appointment of the Rev. James Vann Johnston Jr. as bishop of the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, Mo. Johnston, a Knoxville native, is currently chancellor and moderator of the curia for the Diocese of Knoxville and is the pastor of Our Lady of Fatima Parish in Alcoa, along with its mission, St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Townsend. Last June, Pope Benedict appointed Joseph E. Kurtz, then bishop of the Knoxville diocese, to lead the Archdiocese of Louisville, Ky. The bishop's position in Knoxville is still unfilled, which is not unusual, according to the Rev. T. Allen Humbrecht, diocesan administrator; he's serving as the interim until another bishop is appointed, a process that on average takes about a year and a half. "When Bishop-elect Johnston shared the news with me about his appointment," said Humbrecht, "I reminded him that all he had to do in the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau is be himself, and the priests and faithful there will love and respect him as our priests and faithful here do. He is a very talented priest who is generous in sharing his gifts with the church." At a press conference at the Chancery on Thursday, Humbrecht said, "This is huge. This is the first time a priest in our diocese in all of its 20-year history has been chosen to become a bishop." Johnston was born and raised in Knoxville, the oldest of four children of Vann and Patricia Huber Johnston. His two sisters, Amy Iverson and Beth Schmitt, live in Knoxville, and a brother, Steve, lives in Jackson, Tenn. Johnston received a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Tennessee, and before responding to a call to the priesthood, worked from 1982-85 for an engineering consulting firm in Houston. He earned his master of divinity degree from St. Meinrad College and School of Theology, and in June 1990 was the first priest ever to have been ordained at Holy Ghost Church in Knoxville. In 2005, Johnston was among three Tennessee priests, two from the Diocese of Knoxville, given national recognition after saving a father and two of his children from plunging over a waterfall during a hiking vacation in Montana. "I wish to acknowledge and thank all those I love in East Tennessee," Johnston said in a prepared statement following his appointment. "My church family of the Diocese of Knoxville, my brother priests, and in particular my mother and father and family. Through their love and prayers, I have been blessed in overflowing measure, and I thank God for the precious gift of my Catholic faith, for the priesthood, and for the Holy Catholic Church." The Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau in southern Missouri covers 26,000 square miles and 39 counties and serves 65,000 Catholic residents. The Diocese of Knoxville, divided into four deaneries - Chattanooga, Cumberland Mountains, Five Rivers and Smoky Mountains - covers about 14,000 square miles and serves approximately 56,000 members, or about 2 percent of the population.
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