William Robert Johnson

William Robert Johnson (November 19, 1918 – July 28, 1986) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Orange in California from 1976 until his death in 1986. He previously served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in California from 1971 to 1976.

Biography

Early life William Johnson was born on November 19, 1918, in Tonopah, Nevada, to Jorgen and Marie (née O'Connell) Johnson. In the early 1920s, the family moved to Los Angeles, California, where he enrolled at St. Ignatius School. He completed his theological studies at St. John's Seminary in Camarillo, California. After several years of pastoral work, Johnson was sent to the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where he earned a Master of Social Work degree. He celebrated mass with inmates at the Orange County Jail every Christmas, and established a Department of Hispanic Ministries in 1979. Johnson described the Catholic Church before the Second Vatican Council of the early 1960s as "a fairly rigid, centralized structure from the top down to the parish," and declared, "I certainly relish the changes that have occurred in the Church since" the Council. He was an outspoken advocate of nuclear disarmament, and encouraged Catholics to support the settlement of refugees from Southeast Asia.

Death Johnson suffered from kidney disease and related illnesses for the last year of his life, eventually forcing him to use a wheelchair. William Johnson died from a bacterial infection at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, California, on July 28, 1986, at age 67.