Patrick Kearon

Elder Patrick Kearon of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Elder Patrick Kearon is the newest 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 Russell M. Nelson and the other members of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Elder Kearon was sustained at the April 2024 general conference.

Elder Kearon, who had served as the senior president of the Presidency of the Seventy since August 2020, filled the vacancy created by the death of President M. Russell Ballard, who passed away on Sunday, November 12, 2023. The British and Irish national has been a General Authority Seventy since April 3, 2010.

In May 2017 he was assigned to serve in the Presidency of the Seventy effective August 1, 2017. He had been serving as a member of the Third Quorum of the Seventy in the Europe Area when he was called to serve in the First Quorum of the Seventy at General Conference in April 2010.

Elder Kearon first came to an understanding of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when he lived in California with a Latter-day Saint family. A few years later he met missionaries on the street in London. After joining the Church of Jesus Christ on Christmas Eve 1987, Elder Kearon has served in numerous Church callings, including assistant ward clerk, ward Young Men president, counselor in a bishopric, branch president, stake president, and Area Seventy.

Kearon was born in Carlisle, Cumberland, England on July 18, 1961. He has two middle names but prefers not to use a middle initial. “It’s just Brits don’t do that,” Elder Kearon told the Deseret News.[1] He was educated in the United Kingdom and the Middle East, where his father worked in the defense industry. At age 10, he attended boarding school in England while his parents remained in Saudi Arabia. He has lived and worked in the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, and the United States in various industries, including health care, food, automotive, and transport. He ran his own communications consultancy. His civic and community involvement has included service on the boards of a charity, a school, an enterprise agency and a college.

He married Jennifer Carole Hulme in 1991 and they are the parents of four children, one of whom is deceased. The Kearon family lived in Frankfurt, Germany, where he served in the Church’s Europe Area presidency from 2012 to 2017. They returned to Utah in 2017 when he was called to serve in the Presidency of the Seventy.

Apostleship

Soon after his call to the Quorum of the Twelve, Elder Kearon accompanied Elder David A. Bednar on a ten-day ministry to Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, and the Ivory Coast. During their time in the Africa West Area of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Elder Bednar and Elder Kearon spoke to youth, young single adults, missionaries, Church members, area leaders, and interfaith and government leaders. “What we have experienced is a people who are just so full of joy and energy and vigor in their faith. And I think that is an example for all of us,” Elder Kearon said. They were accompanied by their respective wives and other leaders of the Church.[2]

Elder Kearon met with Philippines President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr. during a 40-minute visit at Malacañang Palace in the capital city of Manila on August 19, 2024. Elder Kearon was accompanied at the presidential palace by Elder Carlos G. Revillo Jr., General Authority Seventy and the Church’s Philippines Area president, and Haidi Fajardo, the area communications director. The room they met in was the same one that in October 1980, Church President Spencer W. Kimball met with Philippines President Ferdinand E. Marcos, who is the father of the current President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr. His wife, Jennifer Kearon, accompanied him to the Philippines for his eight-day ministry, as did Elder Chi Hong (Sam) Wong, General Authority Seventy and first counselor in the Philippines Area presidency, and his wife, Sister Carol Lu Wong; and Elder Michael B. Strong, General Authority Seventy and second counselor in the Philippines Area Presidency, and his wife, Sister Cristin Strong. They met with missionaries and members. Elder Kearon delivered a keynote address at the 2024 International Forum on Law and Religion.[3]

Quotes from Elder Kearon

“Your Father in Heaven is real. He lives, and He loves you, adores you and cherishes you — every single one of you. To those of you who are thinking, ‘Well, not me,’ He especially loves you.”

Facebook post, February 14, 2024

“You can heal, and you can trust that with the power and grace of Jesus Christ, you will overcome and conquer. Jesus specializes in the seemingly impossible.”

Church News, "‘Jesus specializes in the seemingly impossible,’ Elder Kearon says in new video"