provincial council

Fr. Joseph S. Williams, C.M.

Provincial Superior

The Congregation of the Mission Western Province elected Fr. Joseph Williams, C.M., to serve as Provincial Superior in April 2024, and he took office on June 25, 2024. 

In more than 35 years as a Vincentian priest, Fr. Williams has done a bit of everything. The Kansas native has spent a significant portion of that time as a pastor and associate pastor in places like southern Missouri, St. Louis, and in the mountains of Colorado. He also served as a hospital chaplain in Pueblo, CO, and was Assistant Provincial for the Congregation of the Mission Western Province for seven years just prior to his most recent assignment as pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Chicago, where he served from 2021 to 2024. He spent a few years in campus Catholic ministry at DePaul University and began his career teaching at St. Vincent de Paul High School Seminary in Lemont, IL.

“I am honored and humbled by my confreres at their trust and hope in me to continue to move the Province forward,” he said. “I look forward to working with the confreres of the Province as we strive to share our mission and charism with those we serve.”

He said that he will focus on working with the priests and brothers of the Province, as well as its mission partners and lay collaborators, to shape models and methods of sharing the Vincentian mission, in particular focusing on instilling the Vincentian charism in young people through parish schools, religious education programs, and Vincentian institutions like DePaul College Prep High School and DePaul University.

While he said such efforts can serve to bring more young men to the Vincentians as vocations, he is realistic about recruitment being able to keep up with declines in the numbers of active Vincentians through aging. He said robust partnerships with organizations and individuals who share in the Vincentian mission can go a long way toward keeping the mission alive and can energize vocation recruitment.

“I look forward to continuing to work with our partners in ministry going forward,” he said, “as well as to making new partnerships in service.”