After powerfully encountering Jesus in the Eucharist as a teenager, Fr. Josh Johnson dedicated his life to becoming a wholehearted disciple of Jesus Christ. Ordained for the Diocese of Baton Rouge in 2014, Fr. Josh has dedicated his priesthood to inviting all people to become saints in their walk toward eternity.
Fr. Josh travels widely as a speaker at conferences, retreats, and youth events, and was one of 3 MCs at the historic National Eucharistic Congress in 2024. He is well-known for his popular Ascension podcast Ask Father Josh as well as his Q&A videos on Ascension Presents, one of the largest Catholic YouTube channels in English.
Fr. Josh has written several books with Ascension, including the best-selling Pocket Guide to Reconciliation co-written with Fr. Mike Schmitz and On Earth as It Is in Heaven: Restoring God’s Vision of Race and Discipleship. He appears in many Ascension video programs including Connected: Catholic Social Teaching for This Generation, and his latest book—the Pocket Guide to Overcoming the Seven Deadly Sins—is the topic of the 2025 Lenten program in the Ascension App.
Fr. Josh is the vocations director for the Diocese of Baton Rouge, as well as pastor of Sacred Heart of Jesus parish. He can often be found praying the Rosary and walking in the neighborhoods of his parish, inviting those under his pastoral care to become intentional disciples of Jesus Christ.
Fr. Josh is best known for:
- Ask Fr. Josh (Ascension podcast)
- Ask Fr. Josh (The Catholic Question and Answer Show on the Ascension Presents YouTube Channel)
- Broken and Blessed: An Invitation to My Generation
- On Earth As It Is in Heaven: Restoring God’s Vision of Race and Discipleship
- Pocket Guide to Adoration
- Pocket Guide to Overcoming the Seven Deadly Sins
- Pocket Guide to the Sacrament of Reconciliation
- Set Free: Daily Lenten Reflections on Overcoming the Seven Deadly Sins (Ascension App)
See more from Fr. Josh:
- The 99: An Evangelization Mission Series
- Altaration: The Mystery of the Mass Revealed
- Connected: Catholic Social Teaching for This Generation
- Received: Your Journey to First Communion (Parent videos)
- Renewed: Your Journey to First Reconciliation (Parent videos)
- Rejoice! Advent Meditations with Mary
- Rejoice! Advent Meditations with Joseph
- Rejoice! Advent Meditations with the Holy Family
- Rejoice! Finding Your Place in the Advent Story
- Rejoice! An Advent Pilgrimage into the Heart of Scripture, Year A
- Venture: The Bible Timeline for High School
- You: Life, Love, & the Theology of the Body