For more than fifty years, Msgr. John G. Johnson was one of the quiet constants of Catholic life in central Ohio: a parish priest, a canon lawyer, and for decades a judge on the Diocese of Columbus's own ecclesiastical court. He died on September 30, 2026, at 77, one day after being struck by a vehicle while walking near his home parish in Upper Arlington, Ohio, according to Hoodline.

Johnson was born May 27, 1949, in Waukegan, Illinois, to Gordon and Louise Heller Johnson. His path to the priesthood ran almost entirely through one institution: he graduated from the high school at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus in 1966, earned a bachelor's degree there in American studies in 1970, studied English literature at Loyola University Chicago, and returned to the Josephinum for a master's degree in theology in 1974, the same year he was ordained.

He was ordained a Roman Catholic priest on June 1, 1974, at St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Chicago by Bishop Nevin Hayes, O.P., according to The Catholic Times, the Diocese of Columbus's own newspaper. A doctorate in canon law from the Catholic University of America followed in 1986, and on September 24, 1992, Pope John Paul II named him a monsignor, chaplain to His Holiness.

That legal training reshaped the rest of his ministry. Johnson served as assistant pastor at Immaculate Conception Church, associate pastor at Our Lady of Peace Church and St. Joseph Cathedral, and parochial vicar at St. Brendan the Navigator Church in Hilliard before becoming pastor in his own right at St. Philip, St. Peter, St. Timothy and, again, Our Lady of Peace. Alongside those parish assignments, he spent years on the Diocese of Columbus's Tribunal, serving at different times as defender of the bond, judge, adjutant judicial vicar and judicial vicar, the official who oversees the diocese's canonical cases. He continued that Tribunal work even after retiring from active parish ministry on July 9, 2019. He also sat on the diocese's Presbyteral Council and helped form seminarians at the Josephinum, the school that had trained him.

Colleagues described him as a rare combination of scholar and pastor. Deacon Tom Berg Jr., a fellow churchman who worked with him, called Johnson "a brilliant canon lawyer" with "a heart for the poor."

Johnson was living in residence at St. Agatha Church in Upper Arlington at the time of his death, the parish he had called home since retirement. St. Agatha's parish said he had been "a source of spiritual guidance, and inspiration to countless parishioners throughout his years of priesthood, especially those here at St. Agatha." The Diocese of Columbus said it was "saddened by this tragic event" and called Johnson "a remarkable priest that has invested in the lives of Central Ohioans for many years," adding that he would be missed by priests and parishioners across its 23 counties, according to ABC6.

He was survived by two sisters, Mary Ford and Monica Johnson, and a nephew. His funeral Mass was celebrated October 10, 2026, at St. Agatha Church, with Bishop Earl Fernandes as principal celebrant.

Johnson's influence outlasted any single assignment. He spent years ruling on canon law cases as a Tribunal judge and helped form seminarians at the Josephinum, the school that had trained him. At St. Philip, St. Peter, St. Timothy, Our Lady of Peace and finally St. Agatha, the parishes that claimed him across more than fifty years, Johnson was known less for any one posting than for the range of them: judge, pastor, and teacher, in a diocese he served without interruption from his ordination in 1974 to his death in 2026.