William Robert Johnson

Styles of William Robert Johnson

Reference style	The Most Reverend
Spoken style	Your Excellency
Religious style	Monsignor
Posthumous style	none

William Robert Johnson (November 19, 1918—July 28, 1986) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Orange from 1976 until his death in 1986.

William Johnson was born 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 attended Los Angeles College, the minor seminary of the Diocese of Los Angeles-San Diego, from 1932 to 1938. He completed his theological studies at St. John's Seminary in Camarillo. He was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop John J. Cantwell on May 28, 1944.

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 was named assistant director of the Catholic Welfare Bureau in 1948, and later succeeded Monsignor Alden J. Bell as director in 1956. He was elected to the Board of Directors for the National Conference of Catholic Charities in 1960, becoming president in 1964. He was named a papal chamberlain in 1960, and raised to the rank of domestic prelate in 1965. In addition to his duties as director of the Catholic Welfare Bureau, he served as pastor of Holy Name of Jesus Church, the first Catholic parish for African Americans in Los Angeles, from 1962 to 1968. He was pastor of American Martyrs Church in Manhattan Beach (1968–71), and became parochial vicar for St. Vibiana's Cathedral in 1970.