Joseph Charron


Joseph Léo Charron, C.PP.S. is Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Des Moines, Iowa.
Charron was born in Redfield, South Dakota on December 30, 1939. He is one of eight children.
He received his theology B.A. in 1963 and M.A. in 1966 from the University of Dayton. He earned a licentiate in sacred theology at Lateran University in Rome, Italy in 1968, and a doctorate at the Academia Alfonsiana in Rome in 1970.
He made religious profession and became a member of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood on August 15, 1961. On June 3, 1967 he was ordained to the Roman Catholic priesthood in Carthagena, Ohio.
Charron was an Assistant Professor of Theology at St. John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota from 1970–1976. From 1976-1979 he served as Assistant General Secretary and Associate General Secretary of the United States Catholic Conference and the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.
In 1979 Charron became provincial director of the Kansas City Province of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, a post he held until 1987. He returned to St. John's University where he served as Adjunct Professor of Theology 1987–1990.
He was ordained Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis on January 25, 1990. He was named Bishop of the Diocese of Des Moines on January 21, 1994. He announced his retirement on April 10, 2007 for health reasons.

Episcopal succession