JW Brother Priests 2021 Father Peter Williams, left, and Bishop-elect Joseph Williams, right, flank their parents, Dr. Gary and Mary Williams, as the Williams celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in May 2021. Father Williams and Bishop-elect Williams were ordained priests of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis two years apart. Father Williams is pastor of St. Ambrose in Woodbury. COURTESY THE WILLIAMS FAMILY
“Stay in your lane, but keep your door open.”
Father Peter Williams said that is how he expects to approach supporting his older brother, Bishop-elect Joseph Williams.
“Stay in the lane is just, like, ‘OK, you got this.’ But then, certainly for support and anything that he’d need, to be there,” said Father Williams, 46, pastor of St. Ambrose in Woodbury.
It’s similar to the way Father Williams describes growing up in St. Michael in Stillwater with his eight siblings and two loving, faith-filled parents, and still now as adults: Always there for each other, but with a healthy respect and room to develop as individuals.
Having four boys born within four years guaranteed a certain closeness, said Father Williams, who is 20 months younger than Bishop-elect Williams. As children, they shared the same bedroom, loved sports and played all of them. They were competitive, Father Williams said, and their father, Dr. Gary Williams, broke up the occasional argument.
A foundation to that family life was consistent attendance at daily Mass, at least until junior high, when school started too early to make morning Mass, Father Williams said. The church was only five blocks away. They could hear the church bells from their house and walk or bicycle there. They knew the priest well and enjoyed serving at and learning the Mass, he said.
JW Brother priests kids
Bishop-elect Joseph Williams, right, and Father Peter Williams are pictured together as kids in this undated family photo. COURTESY THE WILLIAMS FAMILY
“We were not angels,” he said. “We had our moments where we would, at different ages of kids, get home from Mass and get disciplined or lose some privileges because of our behavior at Mass. So, this is no unblemished kind of reality, by any means. But it was just ingrained and so much a part of what we do. We could look around and say there’s any number of our peers or the majority who are not here. And, of course, that raises questions and makes you wonder about where it fits in your own life. But for our family, it was just what we did.”
For the two Williams brothers destined to the priesthood, attending the University of Minnesota Morris together also included daily Mass — particularly as a mutually supportive Lenten practice. Bishop-elect Williams’ time as a junior and senior in Morris overlapped with his brothers’ arrival in 1994 as a freshman and in his sophomore year. After Bishop-elect Williams graduated in 1996 with a biology degree, Father Williams transferred to the University of Minnesota in the Twin Cities and graduated in 1998 with a degree in finance and accounting.
At daily Mass at the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Morris, the Williams brothers met Dr. George Jay and his wife, Joan, who invited them to a Bible study with college students in their home. Their faith lives matured in that group as they learned, questioned and formed their adult lives around the teachings of the Catholic Church, Father Williams said.
That propelled them to Franciscan University of Steubenville, in Steubenville, Ohio. First Bishop-elect Williams, who spent two years (1996-1998), then Father Williams, who also spent two years. It was a period of discernment while learning theology and philosophy that served them well as they later entered The St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul and then the priesthood, Father Williams said.
Steubenville’s 14 hours away from home helped him find time and space alone to wrestle with his vocation, Father Williams said. Family and friends helped to fund their studies so the brothers didn’t have to work, but instead could focus on their studies and discernment.
“It was just a great gift to me and Joseph at that time to have space to pray, space to grow and space to learn and listen,” Father Williams said.
It led to their priestly ordinations, with Bishop-elect Williams ordained in 2002 and Father Williams in 2004. As priests, their mutual support continued, as the brothers’ assignments and ministries took them to different parts of the archdiocese. Bishop-elect Williams embraced serving the Latino community and began a street ministry at St. Stephen in Minneapolis.
In addition to St. Ambrose, Father Williams has served at St. Francis of Assisi in Lake St. Croix Beach, Maternity of Mary in St. Paul and St. Vincent de Paul in Osseo. He has been a formator at St. John Vianney College Seminary and vice rector of The St. Paul Seminary, both in St. Paul; director of the archdiocese’s Vocations Office and Institute for Ongoing Clergy Formation, and minister to clergy in the Office of Parish and Clergy Services. Father Williams said he continues to be a spiritual director for priests and he enjoys leading retreats for laypeople. But the highlight of his ministry is serving as a pastor, interacting with young and old, in tragedy and joy, he said.
Even when he and Bishop-elect Williams did not often connect in person between holidays, they knew that Thanksgiving and Christmas, birthdays and other events would bring them together and provide time to talk with each other, their parents, siblings and extended family, Father Williams said.
He and Bishop-elect Williams also find strength and inspiration in community outside of their family, Father Williams said. Father Williams is involved with the priestly fraternity Companions of Christ, archdiocesan priests who actively support one another. His brother’s first decade as a priest was shaped by his involvement with the worldwide Emmanuel Community — laypeople and religious who emphasize fraternity and evangelization, Father Williams said.
“I think even some of the beautiful things that he was able to do at St. Stephen’s with door-to-door ministry and evangelization would have been inspired and even aided by the Emmanuel Community,” Father Williams said.
As a priest and a bishop in the same diocese, their relationship will have to play out over time, Father Williams said.
“I think it’ll just have to be lived,” he said. “Technically, my bishop is Archbishop (Bernard) Hebda, in terms of my promise of obedience and so forth. But of course, (Bishop-elect Williams is) his right hand now, at this point. And I’m grateful … I’m happy for the archbishop to have him and happy for our archdiocese to have him.”
His brother certainly brings gifts to his ministry as a bishop, Father Williams said.
“I’d say first, he’s a man of integrity … he honors his word. He’s a man of prayer,” he said. “I think the Holy Hour and the presence of the Eucharist has been ingrained since seminary and through priesthood, which is a huge gift. I think he does have a heart for those people, who for many, wouldn’t attract a second notice … Maybe Pope Francis would say ‘at the margins.’”
“I think the fire to evangelize, the fire to introduce other people to Jesus and encountering him, I don’t think that’s wavered,” Father Williams added. “I think that was the main thing that set him off in this course in the beginning. And it’s beautiful to see that as strong as it is.”
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