SALT LAKE CITY — Nearly one month after one of the highest-ranking leaders in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, President M. Russell Ballard passed away, the church has appointed a new leader.
Elder Patrick Kearon is the newest member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles within the church, which is the second highest group of leaders within the organization, second only to the First Presidency.
While the announcement of a new apostle has traditionally been delivered during the church's semi-annual General Conferences, Kearon was called and appointed to the position on Thursday, December 7.
Kearon served as the senior president of the Seventy, another group of leadership within the church, since August 2020 and has been in top church leadership positions since April 2010.
Kearon met his wife, Jennifer Hulme, while she was on a study abroad trip in London and the two lived in England for nearly two decades after being married. They had four children, Sean, who died as a baby, Elizabeth, Susannah and Emma.
Church officials said Kearon was raised in the United Kingdom and the Middle East as his father worked in the defense industry. As a child, he went to a boarding school in England while his parent remained in Saudi Arabia.
Kearon lived and worked in the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia and the United States in industries including running a communication consultancy.
He came to know the church while staying with an LDS family in California and became a member after meeting church missionaries in London a few years later.
Kearon was called to fill the vacancy left by President M. Russell Ballard, who died in November at the age of 95.
Ballard had served in church leadership positions for more than two decades at the time of his passing and was fondly remembered during the funeral service as a man who loved to serve and loved his family.
Kearon's work as an apostle began Friday, as the church said he would speak at the fall 2023 commencement ceremony for Brigham Young University-Hawaii.
Officials said Kearon would be sustained by church members at the April 2024 General Conference.
