James Vann Johnston, Jr.
James Vann Johnston, Jr. was born October 16, 1959, in Knoxville, Tennessee. An Eagle Scout, he earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Tennessee and worked about three years for an engineering firm in Houston before entering the seminary in 1985. He completed his theology at Saint Meinrad and was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Knoxville on June 9, 1990, later earning a Licentiate in Canon Law from the Catholic University of America. In Knoxville he served as chancellor, moderator of the curia, and pastor.
On January 24, 2008, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him the sixth Bishop of Springfield–Cape Girardeau, Missouri; he was consecrated March 31, 2008, by Archbishop Raymond Burke. On September 15, 2015, Pope Francis named him Bishop of Kansas City–St. Joseph, succeeding Robert W. Finn, who had resigned in 2015 following his 2012 misdemeanor conviction for failing to report suspected child abuse. Johnston was installed November 4, 2015, brought in explicitly to heal a diocese scarred by that scandal, and in June 2016 publicly apologized to abuse victims for both the abuse and the cover-up.
As of mid-2026 Johnston remains the sitting Bishop of Kansas City–St. Joseph. He inherited a diocese with an unusually strong traditional presence: Old St. Patrick Oratory — the oldest church in Kansas City — erected by Bishop Finn in 2005 as the diocese's designated Traditional Latin Mass church under the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest (ICKSP). Johnston has preserved and publicly honored that apostolate. He is generally regarded as friendly to the old Mass while saying he holds no strong personal attachment to it, and he is firmly loyal to Rome.
Judged by deeds, Johnston lands as a friend of Tradition. He inherited from Bishop Finn one of the strongest institutional traditional footholds in the American Midwest: Old St. Patrick Oratory, the oldest church in Kansas City, erected in 2005 as the diocese's designated Traditional Latin Mass church and entrusted to the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest. Johnston did not merely tolerate it — in October 2018 he came to the oratory in person, preached the homily at a Solemn Mass of Thanksgiving, and presided at the Te Deum and Benediction.
The decisive test was Traditionis Custodes (July 2021), and Johnston issued no public suppression. The ICKSP oratory continued uninterrupted and, as of 2026, still offers a full 1962 schedule — three Sunday Masses including a High Mass, plus daily and First Friday/Saturday Masses. Because the oratory is served by a traditional institute operating under its own canonical status, it sat in a stronger position than a diocesan territorial parish; but the point stands that Johnston preserved rather than dismantled his diocese's traditional life while many neighbors were cutting.
The honest caveat: Johnston is a Rome-loyal bishop, not a movement partisan. He has said he holds no great personal attachment to the old Mass, and in July 2026 he firmly rejected the SSPX's illicit consecrations — warning the faithful away from its sacraments while offering its members pastoral care. That is the posture of a shepherd who protects the licit traditional Mass under the Church's authority rather than one who prizes the old rite for its own sake. For a diocese with a thriving ICKSP oratory left intact through the harshest years, the verdict is Friend — his friendship pastoral and institutional rather than ardent.