The Holy Father Pope Francis has appointed Father John Edward Keehner, of the Diocese of Youngstown as the eighth bishop of the Diocese of Sioux City. A press conference introducing the bishop-elect was held last week at the Central Catholic Offices in Sioux City.
Father Keehner, 59, is a native of Youngstown, OH, and is one of five children. He attended Austintown schools and graduated from Austintown Fitch High School in 1984.
Father Keehner earned a B.A. in English in 1988 from the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, OH. He then began studies at Mount St. Mary Seminary of the West in Cincinnati where he earned his M.Div. and M.A. in biblical studies in 1993.
He was ordained a priest in 1993 by Bishop James Malone at St. Columba Cathedral. His first assignment was parochial vicar for St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Boardman, OH. Father Keehner began canon law studies at the University of St. Thomas Aquinas (the Angelicum) in Rome and earned a licentiate in canon law in 1999. The priest was then assigned as a judge to the diocesan Department of Canonical Services.
Father Keehner has served as vice rector and later rector of the St. Columba Cathedral, director of campus ministry at Youngstown State University. He has served as pastor of St. Casimir Parish, St. Christine Parish in Youngstown as well as St. Luke in Boardman, St. Paul in North Canton and Holy Spirit in Uniontown.
The bishop-elect currently serves as dean in Ashtabula County, OH, and is pastor of four parishes in the Diocese of Youngstown:

• Our Lady of Peace Parish in Ashtabula, OH
• Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Geneva, OH
  • Corpus Christi Parish in Conneaut, OH
  • St. Andrew Bobola Parish in Sheffield, OH