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John Edward Keehner

Bishop of Sioux City

Bishop

1965

1993

Ordained

2025

Consecrated Bishop

Sioux City

Diocese

United States

Country

The Life

John Edward Keehner was born on November 19, 1965. Ordained a priest of the Diocese of Youngstown in 1993, he taught canon law before his appointment to Sioux City.

He was appointed Bishop of Sioux City on February 12, 2025 - the day Bp. Nickless's retirement was announced - and was ordained and installed on May 1, 2025.

Major Works & Initiatives

Bishop of Sioux City (2025- )

A Youngstown priest and canon-law instructor, appointed 12 February 2025 and ordained and installed on 1 May 2025, succeeding Bp. Nickless.

In His Own Words

I kept asking the Lord to reveal his will to me so that I might, as my episcopal motto suggests, allow him to increase in me so that my own will, my own desires might decrease,

At the conclusion of his ordination as 8th Bishop of Sioux City, May 1, 2025, on his motto 'He must increase; I must decrease'; Renee Webb, Lumen Media, the diocese's own outlet

Fast forward a few weeks to Feb. 12 when after it was announced that I was named the eighth bishop of Sioux City, I walked into this beautiful Cathedral of the Epiphany for the first time to join Bishop (Walker) Nickless and some of the priests and faithful of the diocese to celebrate the Eucharist,

At the conclusion of his ordination, May 1, 2025 - he had walked 500 miles of the Camino the previous September and had been praying for 'an epiphany' ever since; Lumen Media

I received my 'Epiphany.' God is good.

At the conclusion of his ordination, May 1, 2025, on first entering the Cathedral of the Epiphany as bishop-elect; Lumen Media

The Old Mass, See by See

Sioux City2025-05-01 – presentNo act of his own

1 site → 1 site

What he inheritedBp. Nickless's framework: the cathedral Latin Mass at the Cathedral of the Epiphany, continued on the diocese's 2021 assurance of no change. No act of Keehner's own has altered it.

Since the SSPX decree of 2 July 2026: No statement recorded as of 2026-10-22.

Reviewed 2026-10-22Confidence: mediumSee the diocese on the scorecard ›

Domus Dei’s Verdict

The Bishop & the Mass of Ages

Inherited continuity

He inherited the cathedral Latin Mass at Sioux City as Bp. Nickless left it; no act of his own on the old Mass has been published.

References & Further Reading

John Edward Keehner - Catholic-Hierarchy — Catholic-Hierarchy.org · catholic-hierarchy.org · 2026Episcopal dates.

Portrait: Own work / Wikimedia Commons

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