Patrick Kearon

{{Infobox LDS biography

| name = Patrick Kearon

| birth_name = Patrick Robert David Kearon{{cite web | url=https://www.thechurchnews.com/1998/1/17/23251198/new-stake-presidencies-183 | title=New stake presidencies | date=11 January 2024 }}

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=y|1961|7|18}}

| birth_place = Carlisle, England, United Kingdom

| spouse = Jennifer Carole Hulme

| children = 4

| position_or_quorum1 = Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

| called_by1 = Russell M. Nelson

| start_date1 = {{start date|df=y|2023|12|07}}

| position_or_quorum2 = LDS Church Apostle

|called_by2 = Russell M. Nelson

| ordination_reason2 = Death of M. Russell BallardAs verified [https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders/2023/12/22/24006931/how-apostles-are-called-looking-back-current-15-apostles here].

| start_date2 = {{start date|df=y|2023|12|7}}

| position_or_quorum4 = First Quorum of the Seventy

| called_by4 = Thomas S. Monson

| start_date4 = {{start date|df=y|2010|04|03}}

| end_date4 = {{end date|2023|12|7|df=y}}

| end_reason4 = Called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

| position_or_quorum3 = Presidency of the Seventy

| called_by3 = Thomas S. Monson

| start_date3 = {{start date|df=y|2017|08|01}}

| end_date3 = {{end date|2023|12|7|df=y}}

| end_reason3 = Called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

}}

Patrick Robert David Kearon (born 18 July 1961) is a British religious leader serving as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).{{cite news |url= https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/elder-patrick-kearon-called-quorum-of-the-twelve-apostles |title=Elder Patrick Kearon Called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles|date= 8 December 2023 |newspaper= Church Newsroom }} He has been a general authority of the church since 2010 and was a member of the Presidency of the Seventy from August 2017 to December 2023.{{cite web |last1=Tribune |first1=The Salt Lake |title=Leadership changes give Mormon council a more foreign flavor |url=https://www.sltrib.com/religion/local/2017/10/01/leadership-changes-give-mormon-council-a-more-foreign-flavor/ |website=sltrib.com |publisher=Salt Lake Tribune |access-date=25 April 2019}} On 1 August 2020, Kearon became the senior president of the seventy,[https://www.thechurchnews.com/callings/2020-04-16/new-2020-area-leadership-assignments-worldwide-181174 See the church’s new 2020 leadership assignments around the world], Church News, 16 April 2020. Retrieved 19 May 2020. becoming the first in this role to have been born outside the United States since the reconstitution of the Presidency of the Seventy in 1975.{{cn|date=May 2020}} As a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, Kearon is accepted by the LDS Church as a prophet, seer, and revelator. Currently, he is the junior and fifteenth most senior apostle in the church.Apostolic seniority is generally understood to include all ordained apostles (including the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Seniority is determined by date of ordination, not by age or other factors. If two apostles are ordained on the same day, the older of the two is typically ordained first. See Succession to the presidency and {{cite journal |last= Heath |first= Steven H. |url=https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V20N02_46.pdf |title=Notes on Apostolic Succession |journal=Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought |volume=20 |issue=2 |pages=44–56 |date=Summer 1987 |doi= 10.2307/45216003 |jstor= 45216003 }}.

Early life and biography

Kearon was born on 18 July 1961 in Carlisle, England. He spent part of his youth in Saudi Arabia, where his father worked. After his father's death when Kearon was 19, he gave up on additional formal education and entered the workforce.{{Cite web|author=R. Scott Lloyd|date=8 May 2010|title=Elder Patrick Kearon: Finding joy through service|url=https://www.thechurchnews.com/2010/5/8/23228362/elder-patrick-kearon-general-authority-seventy-2010}} His first job was working for a Member of Parliament, and he later worked for Nestlé in England, Saudi Arabia, and the United States. He owned his own public affairs consulting company before his fulltime roles with the church.{{Cite web |date=2023-12-08 |title=Elder Patrick Kearon called and ordained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles |url=https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders/2023/12/8/23993658/elder-patrick-kearon-called-and-ordained-as-a-member-of-the-quorum-of-the-twelve-apostles |access-date=2023-12-11 |website=Church News |language=en}}

Kearon was first introduced to the LDS Church in the mid-1980s while staying with a Latter-day Saint family in Laguna, California. He met missionaries in London several years later and began learning about the church. He was baptized on Christmas Eve 1987.

LDS Church service

In the LDS Church, Kearon has been the president of the Bristol England Stake and an area seventy. Kearon delivered his first general conference address in October 2010 and spoke of being healed spiritually through the atonement of Jesus Christ.

At the time of his call as a general authority, Kearon was living in Clevedon, which is a town in North Somerset, England. In 2011, he was appointed as an assistant executive director of the church's priesthood and media services departments. From August 2012 to August 2015, he served as a counselor in the presidency of the church's Europe Area, before becoming the area's president in August 2015.[https://web.archive.org/web/20150505061636/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865627718/Area-leadership-assignments-announced.html?pg=all "LDS First Presidency announces area leadership assignments"], Church News, 2 May 2015. In May 2017, it was announced that Kearon would become a member of the Presidency of the Seventy on August 1, with responsibility for the church's North America Northwest and North America West areas.{{cite news |url= http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865679195/First-Presidency-announces-changes-in-area-leadership-assignments.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170505170406/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865679195/First-Presidency-announces-changes-in-area-leadership-assignments.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= 5 May 2017 |title=First Presidency announces changes in area leadership assignments|date= 3 May 2017 |newspaper= Church News }}

Kearon has been vocal on the topic of religious freedom, stating that "religious freedom means nothing if you protect your own religious practice while neglecting the practice of others, especially those who might be less secure and able to defend themselves. It only works if you protect the rights of everyone."Tabin, Sara. [https://www.sltrib.com/news/2019/06/19/religious-freedom-one/ "Religious freedom for one must include religious freedom for all, Latter-day Saint leader says"], The Salt Lake Tribune, Utah, 19 June 2019. Retrieved on 21 February 2020. In 2016, he addressed European Commission officials at a European Union summit asking for assistance during the refugee crisis.Noyce, David. [https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=4659979&itype=CMSID "Mormon leader pushes for refugee relief at European summit"], The Salt Lake Tribune, 13 December 2016. Retrieved on 21 February 2020. Kearon was quoted in a New York Times op-ed with regards to his work with refugees saying, “Their story is our story, not that many years ago.”Coppins, McKay. [https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/13/opinion/campaign-stops/donald-trumps-mormon-problem.html "Donald Trump’s Mormon Problem"], The New York Times, 13 June 2016. Retrieved on 21 February 2020. While serving as president of the church's Europe Area, Kearon initiated programs to assist refugees in the area and also led out in the church working to support existing programs to help refugees.{{cn|date=July 2020}}.

On 1 August 2020, Kearon became the senior president of the Seventy.[https://www.thechurchnews.com/callings/2020-04-16/new-2020-area-leadership-assignments-worldwide-181174 The church’s 2020 worldwide leadership assignments], Church News, 16 April 2020. Retrieved 3 October 2020.

Kearon has spoken in the general conference on several occasions. In October 2010, he spoke on obedience, relating a story of how he was stung by a scorpion as a child after he disregarded his parents' instruction to wear shoes in the Arabian desert and elected to wear flip flops instead.{{cite web | url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2010/10/come-unto-me-with-full-purpose-of-heart-and-i-shall-heal-you?lang=eng | title="Come unto Me with Full Purpose of Heart, and I Shall Heal You" }} In April 2016, he spoke of church members' efforts to help refugees.{{cite web | url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2016/04/refuge-from-the-storm?lang=eng | title=Refuge from the Storm }} In April 2022, he spoke to those who have survived abuse, violence, or oppression.{{cite web | url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2022/04/24kearon?lang=eng | title=He is Risen with Healing in His Wings: We Can be More Than Conquerors }}

On 7 December 2023, he was called and ordained an apostle, then set apart as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, filling a vacancy created by the death of M. Russell Ballard the prior month.

Personal life

Kearon is married to Jennifer Carole Hulme. They met while Hulme was a student at Brigham Young University spending a semester studying abroad in London, and they were married in the Oakland California Temple in 1991. They have four children, the oldest of whom died from a heart condition at three weeks old.{{cite web |title=Elder Patrick Kearon called and ordained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles |url=https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders/2023/12/8/23993658/elder-patrick-kearon-called-and-ordained-as-a-member-of-the-quorum-of-the-twelve-apostles |publisher=Deseret News |access-date=8 December 2023}}