Elder Patrick Kearon called to Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Dec 8, 2023, 10:16 AM | Updated: 5:52 pm
SALT LAKE CITY — Elder Patrick Kearon has been called as the newest member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Church officials said Elder Kearon was called on Thursday and ordained by President Russell M. Nelson and the other members of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles later that day. He has served most recently as the senior president of the Presidency of the Seventy and has served as a General Authority Seventy since April 3, 2010.
“This sacred call is so very daunting and humbling to me,” Elder Kearon said. “I will need to place all my trust in the Savior as I seek to become what He needs me to be and share my witness of His love and light. The abundance and grace of Jesus Christ have brought immense joy into my life, as well as healing balm in times of trial. I love Him. I will strive to serve Him to the best of my ability.”
Elder Kearon fills the vacancy created by the death of President M. Russell Ballard, who died on Nov. 12.
Elder Kearon, 62, was raised in the United Kingdom and the Middle East, where his father worked in the defense industry. He attended boarding school in England when he was 10, while his parents remained in Saudi Arabia. The significant trial of that separation fostered lasting insights and sensitivities that have come to mark his ministry.
Elder Patrick Kearon has been called as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was called on Thursday, December 7, 2023, and ordained later that day by President @NelsonRussellM and the other members of the First… pic.twitter.com/6L6voBAkAy
— The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (@Ch_JesusChrist) December 8, 2023
“Of course in so many ways we are all far from home,” Elder Kearon once taught Brigham Young University students. “The metaphor here with our eternal home is clear…Our Eternal Father has not let any of us leave home, leave His presence, without the opportunity to access His love and His guidance — every day of our lives.”
Elder Kearon has lived and worked in the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia and the United States in a range of industries, including running his own communication consultancy. He came to know the Church while living with a Latter-day Saint family in California and joined the Church when he met missionaries on the street in London in 1987.
Two years after his baptism, he met his wife, Jennifer Hulme, a Brigham Young University student who was visiting London on a study-abroad trip. They were married in the Oakland California Temple and lived in England for 19 years before relocating to Utah after his call to serve as a General Authority Seventy.
Before his call as a General Authority, Elder Kearon’s Church assignments included Area Seventy, stake president, and branch president. He will be sustained at the April 2024 general conference.
This is a developing story. It will be updated.
