Bishop-elect Joseph Williams talks about his appointment as an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis during a press conference Dec. 10 at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul.

Bishop-elect Joseph Williams talks about his appointment as an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis during a press conference Dec. 10 at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul. DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Calling the Blessed Virgin Mary “my great strength, my great love,” Bishop-elect Joseph Williams smiled and said, “and I feel she’s to blame for this.”

The 47-year-old pastor responsible for two Minneapolis parishes was speaking to media, staff members of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and other well-wishers in the Cathedral of St. Paul Dec. 10, just hours after the papal nuncio to the U.S. announced that Pope Francis had named him auxiliary bishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis. The news came just four days after Bishop Andrew Cozzens, the archdiocese’s previous auxiliary bishop, was installed bishop of Crookston in northern Minnesota.

The announcement was made on the feast of Our Lady of Loreto, which commemorates a shrine in Italy that surrounds what tradition holds to be the childhood home of Mary and the home of the Holy Family. Both Archbishop Bernard Hebda, who introduced Bishop-elect Williams at the press conference after celebrating Mass with him at the Cathedral earlier that morning, and Bishop-elect Williams drew comparisons between the holy, ordinary moments in that “holy house” and those in the home in Stillwater, where his parents, Dr. Gary and Mary Williams, raised him and his eight siblings.

Bishop-elect Williams hugs his godddaughter, Bridget Droske, after the press conference. DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Bishop-elect Williams credited his family as a “school of charity,” where his mother invited — and sometimes cajoled — her children to pray the rosary, with wooden children’s beads hung on the wall. His father, a medical doctor whose practice involved delivering babies at all times of the day and night, always brought his older children to daily Mass, Monday through Friday, Bishop-elect Williams said.

“I’ve just seen constancy in my parents of God is first, and waking up and leading the flock to the green pastures of the holy Eucharist — what an example that is,” he said, “and then that devotion to Mary, especially to the rosary.”

During the press conference, Bishop-elect Williams spoke in both Spanish and English. He has served as the vicar for Latino Ministry in the archdiocese since 2018, and the Minneapolis parishes he leads — St. Stephen and Holy Rosary — have predominantly Latino members.

“One of the greatest mysteries of God’s providence is how an Irish, German and a-little-bit-of-Dutch guy becomes vicar for Latino ministry,” he said. “I’m still not sure how that happened, but I couldn’t thank God more that it did happen. One of the great gifts of my priesthood is the Latino people.”

He attributes that first interest in Latino ministry to Our Lady of Guadalupe, he said. As a seminarian, he was praying a novena ahead of her Dec. 12 feast day, and he noticed that, despite the winter, a rose seemed to be blooming on a rosebush outside of his window. He interpreted that as a sign that she wanted him to learn Spanish and consider Latino ministry. He said he hopes to continue to minister to Latino Catholics as a bishop, and be “an even greater advocate for them, and help all of us in the Church and outside of the Church to see that they’re a gift for our Church and also a gift for our country.”

Asked how racial and cultural tensions might be addressed in the Twin Cities, Bishop-elect Williams said that the answer is “the culture of encounter” Pope Francis promotes.

“Allowing yourself to be moved by the suffering of the other, that really is a key,” he said.

Mary Williams, mother of Bishop-elect Williams, kisses his pectoral cross. At left is Dr. Gary Williams, her husband and the bishop’s father. DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Bishop-elect Williams credited Archbishop Hebda for easing some of his fears around saying yes to the call, and he praised the archbishop for his leadership of the archdiocese. He said that as an auxiliary bishop, his mission is to support Archbishop Hebda as the Holy Spirit inspires him.

“There’s a tender love for the people of God, which makes him the perfect leader for this Church — to love, to listen and to lead us into what is a new dawn,” Bishop-elect Williams said. “We need a new dawn of this local Church. Archbishop Hebda is the right person to lead us into that new day.”

During the 40-minute press conference, he also shared the story of receiving the nuncio’s call Nov. 22 and what it was like to keep the “papal secret” until it was announced at 5 a.m. that morning. Part of that challenge, he said, was the four-hour drive with his brother Father Peter Williams, pastor of St. Ambrose in Woodbury, to Crookston for Bishop Cozzens’ Dec. 6 installation.

“It wasn’t difficult (to keep the secret) at first, but Bishop Cozzens noted it will get heavier as you get closer to the announcement, and it did,” he said.

The bishop-elect also expressed support and enthusiasm for the Archdiocesan Synod, which has been underway since 2019, and will lead to a pastoral letter and pastoral plan from the archbishop.

“I think the Synod is a great hope for the local Church, and it’s the instrument that will bring us into that new day we’re all hoping for,” he said.

When he’s ordained Jan. 25, Bishop-elect Williams will likely be the youngest bishop in the United States by four years, according to data on Catholic-hierarchy.org. He noted that he has experienced some “trepidation” knowing that “the greater part of my priesthood will now be served as a bishop.”

“I’ve always wanted to serve the Church, and this is another way of serving the Church, so that’s one side of that,” he said. “The other side is the momentousness of it, the gravity of it, being a successor of the Apostles … . When that hits home, it really hits home, and it makes me want to be more prayerful and more merciful — those are the two things that really come into my heart. And more generous, if I can be. A lot of mixed emotions, and I’m probably going to keep sorting them out over the next few weeks.”