Bishop Shawn McKnight named new archbishop

by John Sorce
john.sorce@theleaven.org

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — On April 8, Pope Francis appointed Bishop W. Shawn McKnight as the fifth archbishop and 12th bishop of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas.

Archbishop-designate McKnight currently serves as bishop of Jefferson City, Missouri, and has held that title since 2018. He will succeed Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann, who has served the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas since 2005.

“I look forward to seeing what God wants to do through him to enrich the already vibrant faith life of the archdiocese,” Archbishop Naumann said. “I’m confident that the priests, deacons, religious and laity will welcome Archbishop McKnight — as they did me 21 years ago.”

The archbishop-designate opened with a brief greeting to those Spanish- speakers listening, saying he wanted them not only to “feel welcome in your parish communities” but that he wanted “your parish community to be a sanctuary of mercy.”

He went on to say he learned of his new assignment from Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio to the United States, who called him just a few minutes before he was to celebrate a confirmation Mass in Indian Creek, Missouri, on Sunday, March 23.

“You really enter a liminal moment, and I had to keep it all to myself for two weeks,” he said. “It’s the strangest experience when you get the call and know it’s happening, you’re not allowed to say anything to anyone, and you just need to keep going on with things. It’s an isolating time, but I could feel the beginnings of the transition occurring.”

A native Kansan, Archbishop-designate McKnight was born on June 26, 1968, in Wichita, and is very grateful to be back in his home state.

“A homecoming has a very good feeling about it,” he said. “I’m just savoring the whole experience of the grace that this moment is and I’m very happy to be back in my home state.”

“I want the people of the Archdiocese of Kansas City to know I pledge my loyalty to Pope Francis and to the  College of Bishops in union with him,” he added. “I firmly believe in the teachings of the Second Vatican Council, and I will work diligently to implement the call for us to be a church on mission together.”

Archbishop-designate McKnight has six brothers and one sister and attended Catholic schools growing up.

He received a Bachelor of Science in biochemistry from the University of Dallas in 1990. Following his admission as a seminarian, he graduated from the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio, with a Master of Arts in Theology and a Master of Divinity in 1994.

He was then ordained a priest at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Wichita by Bishop Eugene Gerber on May 28, 1994, for the Diocese of Wichita.

After his ordination, the diocese assigned Father McKnight as parochial vicar at Blessed Sacrament Parish in Wichita. He then traveled to Rome in 1997 to study at the Pontifical Athenaeum of St. Anselm, receiving a Licentiate in Sacred Theology in 1999.

After his return to Kansas that year, the diocese appointed him as parish administrator for St. Patrick Parish in Chanute.

Archbishop-designate McKnight served as chaplain at Newman University in Wichita from 2000 to 2001, where at the same time he was an adjunct professor of theology and visiting scholar at the university’s Bishop Gerber Institute of Catholic Studies.

He earned a Doctorate of Sacred Theology in 2001, also from the Athenaeum, and wrote a dissertation on the permanent diaconate.

In 2003, Archbishop-designate McKnight went to Ohio to become director of liturgy and a faculty member at the Josephinum. He was also assigned to the pastoral staff of St. Mary Parish in the Diocese of Columbus.

After coming back to Kansas in 2008, the Diocese of Wichita assigned him as pastor of Blessed Sacrament Parish in Wichita, a position he would hold for three years.

From 2010 to 2016, he served in Washington, D.C., as executive director of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat for Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations.

He was pastor at the Church of the Magdalen in Wichita from July 2016 to January 2018 before being ordained the fourth bishop of the Diocese of    Jefferson City on Feb. 6, 2018.

Archbishop-designate McKnight will remain with the Diocese of Jefferson City until he is installed as Archbishop of Kansas City in Kansas on May 27 at Church of the Nativity in Leawood.

He views the assignment as a way to serve the people within the archdiocesan community.

“As I see it, Pope Francis is not so much giving the archdiocese to me,” he said. “But rather, he is giving me to you in service to God to teach, sanctify and shepherd the people of our local church.

“Working together is what brings joy to my heart. I hope and pray that in being a bishop for you, you may tangibly see my personal faith and love for Christ and for you, his people.”

To view more photos from the press conference, click here.