KANSAS CITY (MO)
Kansas City Star
BY ROBERT A. CRONKLETON
bcronkleton@kcstar.com
Pope Francis has appointed Springfield-Cape Girardeau Bishop James V. Johnston to be the seventh bishop for Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, the Vatican’s press office announced Tuesday morning.
He succeeds Bishop Robert Finn, who resigned in April, nearly three years after being convicted of failing to report suspected child abuse by a priest.
A former engineer who became a priest in 1990, Johnston will continue to lead the Springfield-Cape Giradeau diocese until his Nov. 4 installation as bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph.
During his Springfield tenure, Johnston helped establish Catholic Charities of Southern Missouri, encouraged candidates to become priests and supported the Catholic Worker movement.
He also spoke against the death penalty, same sex-marriage and a proposed Springfield anti-discrimination ordinance that would have added sexual orientation and gender identity to the city’s list of protected classes.
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