Bishop-elect Joseph Williams makes his Oath of Fidelity and Profession of Faith during Vespers at St. Stephen in south Minneapolis Jan. 25. DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Archbishop Bernard Hebda welcomed a nearly packed house to a vespers service the evening before Bishop-elect Joseph Williams’ Jan. 25 episcopal ordination. The archbishop’s remarks in English and Spanish reflected the languages spoken by the evening’s guests at the largely Latino St. Stephen parish in Minneapolis, where Bishop Williams has served as pastor since 2008.

Special guests included Archbishop Christophe Pierre, Pope Francis’ representative in the United States, as well as Bishop Richard Pates, bishop emeritus of Des Moines, Iowa, who presided at vespers, and Bishop John LeVoir, the Williams family’s former pastor. During the service, Bishop LeVoir, bishop emeritus of New Ulm, blessed the papal insignia — Bishop-elect Williams’ ring, miter and crosier — that will be presented to him at Tuesday’s installation ceremony.

Archbishop Hebda also recognized all those present at the service as having had some role in forming Bishop Williams as a priest “with the heart of Jesus, the good shepherd.” He said participants would be praying the Liturgy of the Hours in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, with a monstrance on the altar.

Bishop Andrew Cozzens of Crookston delivered the evening’s homily — also alternating between English and Spanish.

“What a joy it is to gather here together in this church of St. Stephen to celebrate the one who’s really been the father of this church for so many years, and has really touched many lives here in this parish and other places in the archdiocese,” Bishop Cozzens said. “And to think that tomorrow he’ll be ordained a successor of the Apostles.”

A former auxiliary bishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis who was installed as bishop of Crookston Dec. 6, Bishop Cozzens reflected on the difference it makes that the Church is founded on the Apostles, and what it means to say the Church is one, holy, catholic and apostolic.

“Three things are clear from tonight’s brief Scripture passage,” he said, speaking of Acts 2:42-45. “They devoted themselves to the teaching of the Apostles, to the communal life and to the breaking of bread,” and prayer.

“It’s possible for the Church to continue,” Bishop Cozzens said, “because we have new successors of the Apostles.”

The life of faith is lived in a community, Bishop Cozzens said, right from the beginning; it’s not even possible to live it alone.

“To fully live our lives of faith, we’ve got to enter into (the lives of) the people whom God has chosen,” he said. It’s the Apostles who called the community together from the beginning, and who are in charge of keeping the community together, he said.

Speakers at the vespers service stood at a lectern near a “hill” of flowers, mostly colorful roses, as Bishop-elect Williams described their placement, referencing Tepeyek, the hill near Mexico City where Mary appeared to St. Juan Diego in 1531. A statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe was positioned at the top of the mound of flowers.

During the service, Bishop-elect Williams recited his profession of faith and pledged an oath of fidelity.

Noah Mendez, 15, was one of the altar servers at vespers and was to serve at the Jan. 25 ordination Mass at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul. Bishop-elect Williams celebrated the marriage of his parents, Theresa Rosario and Yassin Mendez, both 45, and baptized all six of their children. Among the gifts Bishop-elect Williams brought to her family, Rosario said, is increased spirituality.

Viviana Sotro, 50, said she once worked for the parish and attended the vespers service “to support him with prayers, mostly, and also to join this beautiful community.”

“It’s a very happy moment,” Sotro said. “He’s been a great priest and he’ll be a great bishop. I am Latina so we know about his love for the Latino community … so it’s a very joyful moment.”

Margaret Abelleria, Bishop Williams’ aunt, was excited to be at the vespers service and proud of her nephew, especially “the way he loves the least of these,” she said.

“I have seen this in him since he was a young man, as a priest, and that his heart is always for the ones that are on the margin,” she said. “And it just resonates with my heart, too.”

Learning other languages to serve people is “huge,” she said, and important to him.

Her husband, Juan, born in Cuba, said he, too, is impressed with Bishop Williams’ language skills. “He’s way beyond my skill set of speaking Spanish,” he said. “Even though I’m a native speaker, he’s so intelligent and his words are chosen beautifully to say it in either language.”

Following vespers, St. Stephen and Holy Rosary parishes hosted a three-hour dinner and program for several hundred guests, including visiting bishops, friends and Bishop-elect Williams’ family. Parishioners performed several songs in Spanish and gave testimonies about how their lives have changed because of the parish’s evangelical outreach. Bishop-elect Williams’ brother Paul Williams, and sister and brother-in-law Anne and Tim Droske, also reflected on their relationship with the bishop-elect and how he’s impacted their faith lives.

Droske shared how, as a college student, he met then-Father Williams, who exemplified living Catholicism “in a way that transcends any box or category.” Bishop-elect Williams showed him “it was possible to both have devotion to the holy Eucharist and the poor, or you could be an advocate for the immigrant as well as for protecting the unborn, or that it was possible to love the beauty of the liturgy and, at the same time, love and be open to the charismatic movements of the Holy Spirit.”

Droske said he was particularly grateful to Father Williams for introducing him, in a new way, to the Holy Spirit. “Your invitation to receive the Holy Spirit in that way has led me to a more intimate relationship with God than I could ever imagine is possible in this life,” he said.