At Bishop Williams’ ordination on St. Paul feast, Archbishop Hebda stresses conversion

After receiving his crosier, miter and ring, newly ordained Bishop Joseph Williams receives applause from Archbishop Bernard Hebda, right, Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio to the U.S., left, and other bishops during his episcopal ordination Mass Jan. 25 at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul. At far left is Bishop Williams’ brother, Father Peter Williams, who served as one of two priest-chaplains at the Mass. DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

While Bishop Joseph Williams is more likely to be found on a bicycle than on a horse like the Apostle Paul, Archbishop Bernard Hebda observed at Bishop Williams’ ordination Mass Jan. 25, the new bishop may relate to “Apostle to the Gentiles” — even in taking the Nov. 22 phone call announcing Pope Francis had appointed him bishop.

“In place of the light from the sky that had flashed around Saul, all that our new auxiliary experienced was a call on his cell phone from an unknown Washington, D.C., number: ‘The Holy Father has named you to be auxiliary bishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Do you accept?’ That would be enough to knock any man, any priest to the ground,” Archbishop Hebda said.

A priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Bishop Williams was ordained a bishop on the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul.

Despite temperatures hovering around zero degrees and wind chills below zero, the Cathedral was filled with family, friends and faithful of the archdiocese, among them representatives of several religious communities. Many of them were Latino, an indication that, since his ordination to the priesthood in 2002, Bishop Williams’ ministry has included a special affection for Spanish-speaking Catholics. In his current assignments as pastor of St. Stephen and parochial administrator at Holy Rosary, both in south Minneapolis, he serves a predominantly Latino community.

The procession included Latina women and girls carrying flowers, and men, women and children wearing Latin American cultural dress, including a tunic with Our Lady of Guadalupe. Also in the procession were members of the Knights of Columbus, the Knights and Dames of the Order of Malta, the Knights and Dames of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, and seminarians, deacons and priests of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Altar servers included Bishop Williams’ nephews and parishioners.

Concelebrating the Mass were 12 bishops, mostly from Minnesota and surrounding states.

They included Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States; former priests of the archdiocese Bishop Emeritus John LeVoir of New Ulm and Bishop Donald DeGrood of Sioux Falls; Maronite Chorbishop Sharbel Maroun, pastor of St. Maron in Minneapolis; Bishop Donald Kettler of St. Cloud; Bishop John Quinn of Winona-Rochester; Bishop Daniel Felton of Duluth; Bishop John Folda of Fargo; Auxiliary Bishop Peter Smith of Portland, Oregon; and Auxiliary Bishop Juan Miguel Betancourt of Hartford, Connecticut, a member of the Society of the Servants of the Eucharist and Mary, who ministered in the archdiocese from 2006 to 2018.

Also concelebrating and serving as co-consecrators for Bishop Williams’ episcopal ordination were two former auxiliary bishops of St. Paul and Minneapolis: Bishop Emeritus Richard Pates of Des Moines, Iowa, and Bishop Andrew Cozzens of Crookston. Bishop Cozzens served as an auxiliary bishop from 2013 until his installation in Crookston last month.

Accompanying Bishop Williams as priest-chaplains during the Mass were his younger brother Father Peter Williams, pastor of St. Ambrose in Woodbury, and Father Daniel Griffith, pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes in Minneapolis and a seminary classmate. Father Williams formally presented his brother to the archbishop for ordination.

The Gospel was proclaimed in Spanish by Deacon Luis Rubi, who ministered alongside Bishop Williams when he became pastor of St. Stephen in Minneapolis in 2008.

After the Liturgy of the Word, Archbishop Pierre, who had placed that fateful November phone call to Bishop Williams informing him of his appointment from Pope Francis, gave remarks before reading the papal mandate naming Bishop Williams the titular bishop of Idassa and appointing him auxiliary bishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis. The papal nuncio then handed the mandate to Bishop Williams, who showed the document to Archbishop Hebda and then processed around the cathedral, holding it out to the faithful, who applauded and cheered as a Latino choir sang.

In his homily, Archbishop Hebda, the Mass’ principal celebrant and the principal consecrator in the ordination rite, spoke about the archdiocese’s patron saint, stressing the importance of conversion. The 17^th-century Roman painter Caravaggio captured St. Paul’s conversion — which included being struck blind on his way to Damascus — with particular beauty, he said. In the masterpiece, Paul, “practically spilling out of the canvas,” is on his back with eyes closed, hands reaching to the heavens.

Deacons Joe Michalak, left, and Ramon Garcia Degollado hold the Book of the Gospels over the head of Bishop Joseph Williams during his ordination Mass Jan. 25 at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul. DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

“It’s not the dignified posture of an Apostle or even of a Pharisee or Roman citizen,” Archbishop Hebda said of the painting, “Conversion on the Way to Damascus,” which is in a church in Rome. “Rather, it’s much more reminiscent of a certain helpless infant next to a donkey in a Nativity scene.”

“What we’re dealing with here is rebirth,” Archbishop Hebda said. “Through this powerful encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus, Saul is reborn, even taking a new name: Paul. It’s out of this experience that knocks the self-confident Paul to the ground, rendering him vulnerable, that he would be able to convincingly share with the Corinthians: that ‘it is when I am weak, then I am strong.’”

The archbishop noted that the ordination rite includes going “to the ground,” as Bishop Williams would lie prostrate before the altar during a sung litany of the saints.

“We’re hoping that through (the saints’) spiritual accompaniment, you will be confirmed in your great desire to joyfully accept the new call that has been given you through Pope Francis,” Archbishop Hebda said, “even when you, like Paul, recognize it will, at times, be a sharing in Christ’s cross that requires you to die to yourself.”

Commending Bishop Williams’ “incredible natural gifts,” Archbishop Hebda said “even they will pale in comparison to what the Lord desires to shower upon you today through the Holy Spirit.”

He said it was “no accident” that the Rite of Ordination began with the “Veni Creator Spiritus,” or “Come, Creator Spirit.”

“The Church is pleading for you and for herself: ‘Come, Holy Spirit,’” he said. “It was only after the Apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit that they were able to proclaim the Gospel to all peoples, uniting them under the one shepherd, sanctifying them and guiding them to salvation. It was the Holy Spirit who led them to recognize that they would need to perpetuate their apostolic ministry from one generation to the next, requiring that they choose other men to share in their work, passing on to them, through the laying of hands, the gift of the Spirit, which they themselves had received from Christ.

“We celebrate that today — that through an uninterrupted succession of bishops throughout the centuries, this same gift of the Spirit is now being passed on to my brother Joseph, so that the living tradition of the Church can be preserved and the work of Jesus can continue and develop,” he said.

At the close of Mass, Bishop Williams, wearing his miter and a vestment with an embroidered icon of St. Paul, addressed those gathered in both English and Spanish. He said that it was the work of God that brought about his ordination, and that he was hoping for what Archbishop Hebda preached about — the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

“I don’t have a mission statement,” he said. “We heard the mission from Archbishop Pierre: I’m here to assist Archbishop Hebda in his pastoral care of this archdiocese.”

He continued: “All of us have one mission: to go out and proclaim the good news. What is the good news? It’s Jesus Christ.”

He thanked his family and his “brother bishops.” “I have a sense of ‘I’m entering into something’ — it’s a college, not an individual work. It existed before today. It will exist when I’m in heaven. And I want to be part of that, (a) co-worker with them, always guarding the unity of the Church.”

Upon his ordination, Bishop Williams, 47, is the youngest Latin-rite bishop in the United States, according to data at church-hierarchy.org. He ended his remarks with a reflection on a bishop’s responsibility to cultivate vocations among young people. He pointed to Pope St. John Paul II, who asked young people, “What will you do with your life? What are your plans? Have you ever thought about committing your existence totally to Christ? Do you think that there can be anything greater than to bring Jesus to people and people to Jesus?”

Bishop Williams ended his remarks with St. John Paul’s words: “Follow Christ.”

“You who are single, or who are preparing for marriage, follow Christ,” he said, quoting the late pope. “You who are old or young, follow Christ. You who are sick or aging, follow Christ. You who feel the need of a friend, follow Christ.”