New bishop installed for Southern Missouri

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) -- A Roman Catholic priest from Tennessee is the new bishop of the diocese of Springfield-Cape Cape Girardeau in southern Missouri.

The Rev. Vann Johnson Jr. was chancellor and moderator of the curia for the Knoxville diocese when he was named in January to succeed Bishop John Leibrecht.

The 48-year-old Johnson is a former electrical engineer who left that career in 1985 for the priesthood.

His ordination and installation ceremony in Springfield on Monday was attended by about 3,000 people, including 19 archbishops and bishops.

Johnson will serve as the spiritual leader of about 66,000 Catholics in the southern third of Missouri. The diocese includes 66 parishes, 19 missions, two chapels, 22 elementary schools and three high schools.