Bishop Williams reflects on his first year of episcopal leadership

Before the one-year anniversary of his Jan. 25 ordination and installation, Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Williams reflected on helping lead the Archdiocesan Synod and its focus on evangelization while serving as a part-time pastor, enjoying the leadership of Archbishop Bernard Hebda and rejoicing in the Jan. 5 appointment of a second auxiliary bishop, Bishop-elect Michael Izen.

The Jan. 5 interview has been edited for length and clarity. Video excerpts of the interview are included.

Q) Bishop Williams, congratulations on your first year as a bishop. What most surprised you as you took on this mantle of leadership?

A) I would say the overwhelming love of God’s people for their bishops and the confidence that they have in us. It’s been a turbulent time for the Church and certain things have eroded that confidence. But I’ve been overwhelmed by the support. It’s really a gift. I think the gift is rooted in the archbishop’s leadership here. They have confidence in him. Bishop Andrew Cozzens of Crookston, whom I succeeded as auxiliary bishop, I shared with him before he left, ‘Thank you for ennobling the office of auxiliary bishop.’ That’s really what he did with his holiness, his apostolic generosity. It’s nothing I earned. I inherited it from those who have gone before me.

Q) You mentioned difficult times for the Church. Can you share some examples of what you mean?

A) In general, I think — and the bishops are coming to terms with this — the failure to protect the most vulnerable of our flock is part of our recent past, and it’s sad, and it’s a painful episode. It’s not something we want simply to forget about. The hurt is out there. I’m encouraged by these initiatives to accompany those who have been victimized, who have been hurt or abused, and to realize healing is possible with God, and with God, there’s always hope. But the Church needs to draw close and to accompany. And I see that happening in some beautiful ways in the local Church now.

Q) What’s been the most rewarding part of your new role?

A) Serving. Serving Archbishop Hebda. It has been a joy. I mentioned the confidence that the people have shown in me from the beginning. He’s shown the same confidence. He said at my press conference, you might remember, it surprised me. He said, “and by the way, he’s in charge of the Synod,” something like that. I said, “Okay, note to self.” But I think I was ready for that charge. I was grateful for that confidence. So, having a leader like Archbishop Hebda, who recognizes and discerns people’s giftedness in such a remarkable way. I said, “Okay, if he’s discerned this and he has confidence, then I can have confidence.”

Q) Do you recall your ordination, or is it all a blur at this point?

A) I recall it. You know, I was tired. I didn’t get much sleep the night before. I can share that. It was bitter cold. I think minus 20, maybe. Omicron (a COVID-19 variant) peaked on the 24th. I was ordained on the 25th. In spite of that, the Church was nearly full. And it was such a beautiful view of the Church in a multicultural sense. A good half of those people, of course, were Latinos. I’ve had the joy to serve them for almost 17 years (as pastor of St. Stephen and Holy Rosary in Minneapolis). So, that was memorable. I was a father to them, and I was asked to be a bishop for the Church. Both of those emotions were there at that moment. And yeah, I guess, you know, Archbishop (Christophe) Pierre (the apostolic nuncio to the United States) bringing the mandate and walking through the Cathedral and to see the joy of God’s people in that. That’s a personal touch from the nuncio. He knows the interplay between the Church and God’s people. It’s a joyful moment.

Q) A term I’ve heard you use more than once about being a bishop and being a priest is being fishers of men and women for Christ. In effect, evangelizers. Have you seen fruits of that in your first year as bishop?

A) First, I love that title. You know, priests, we make a promise of celibacy when we become transitional deacons in view of the priesthood. That really is a dropping of the nets. Bishop-elect Izen and I talked about what that was for him, the cost it was, and we can never forget that when we drop our nets of whatever we were living for at that moment, it is to become fishers of men and women.

And maybe some first fruits. I don’t know that right now is the time for harvest, you might say. Or I think the miraculous catch is yet to come. I do believe we’re going to have a miraculous catch. But sometimes you have to spend the night laboring in disappointment until the Lord leads you to those deep waters, which I think he’s doing.

Q) The Synod effort, the evangelization teams being formed of about 12 people in each parish, these things building up to maybe a bigger, better harvest?

A) Absolutely. But it’s never other than what Jesus has given us or what he lived. He promised the mustard seed. There can be lightning strikes, as our dear late Pope Emeritus Benedict says. But more often, the images of the kingdom that we have in the Scriptures are from the harvest. It starts with the mustard seed. And I think, as you said, this calling of the 12 from each parish, it creates the mustard seed of the new evangelization in every Catholic parish. And that’s hopeful. Spring doesn’t give the harvest. It foretells a future harvest.

Q) One distinguishing feature of your ministry thus far is staying on as pastor for a time at St. Stephen and Holy Rosary in south Minneapolis, and then taking the appointment of priest-in-solidum with Father James Bernard, effectively co-pastors, with you as the moderator or the lead at Our Lady of Guadalupe in St. Paul. Why is continuing pastoral work important to you?

A) I think, first of all, because it’s important to the archbishop. He asked me to be a pastor and I trust his discernment on that. I would say that there’s obedience and there’s fruitfulness for the local Church, and for myself, spiritually and apostolically. But more than that, I think there’s a divine providence or a gift to the Synod process. It’s one thing to be a leader, but being in a parish, I’ve got to do the same thing other pastors are being asked to do. I’ve got to go up the mountain to pray. I’ve got to come down and with consultation, you know, rally the troops, if you will, and see and make sure the model continues to be refined for different cultures and different contexts. I’m with you in the trenches. And to be quite honest, I’m at home in a parish. I always have been. I’ve heard it said before, that parishes are where you really touch the people, where you can really make a difference in their lives. I’ll never, ever tire of that, although it has to take on a different form as a bishop.

So, kudos to Father James Bernard. Maybe I’m the moderator, but he’s the heavy lifter of that relationship, and I share that with him and with the archbishop.

Q) There are challenges.

A) Maybe the biggest challenge is, if I am a co-pastor, I’m not a full-time bishop the way maybe Bishop Cozzens was. When people have expectations of how a bishop can respond to all the phone calls or all the requests that come in, I have to accept my limitations and say, “OK, I wish I could do more than I can.” I’ll do as much as I can within the parameters the archbishop has set for me. That’s probably not being able to respond as maybe people would desire and might have been used to. But that changed today, didn’t it?

Q) You’ll have some help.

A) Yes. With Bishop-elect Izen, and it’s music to our ears. Good news for the local Church and to have a brother bishop supporting Archbishop Hebda and meeting the needs and the requests of the people. They said if they call and request you, that’s part of a love, right? It’s because they love their bishop. Bishop-elect Izen’s presence, well, it just means we can say yes more than ever.

Q) It’s got to be a gift from the Church itself. Pope Francis said you needed three guys.

A) At the end of the day, this is discernment, right? The archbishop made the request. And then you trust that the Church could see our situation and the multicultural dimensions that we have here. I think part of my calling had to do with my history of service to the Latinos. And so, I’m serving them both out of the parish, and I remain vicar for Latinos (for the archdiocese).

Q) I’ll close with this, if I might. What would you most like the people of this archdiocese to know?

A) That they have a great leader in Archbishop Hebda, and he deserves their confidence. And the Synod that he’s dreamed of for us is not just another corporate rollout. It’s the possibility to change our Church culture, to turn the tide, the decline that we’re seeing. It doesn’t have to be inevitable.

And I think I want them to know that there is a springtime of hope, but they have to be a part of that. It’s only going to be the miraculous catch, as we say in (Archbishop Hebda’s) pastoral letter, if every baptized, confirmed Catholic realizes that, “I am the new evangelization, and I am a protagonist. I have the right and the duty to the apostolate given through my baptism.” Of course, it comes from a true encounter with Christ. Understanding that can change you.

Tags: Bishop Joseph Williams, Bishop Williams, First year of episcopal leadership, One-year anniversary

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