May 25, 2024

Seminarian John Williams to take another step toward priesthood

REGIONAL
By Carolee McGrath

Seminarian John Williams (iObserve photo/Fred LeBlanc)

SPRINGFIELD – Seminarian John Williams will be ordained to the diaconate on Saturday, June 1, at 11 a.m. at St. Mary Parish in Longmeadow. Bishop William D. Byrne will celebrate this special Mass. Deacons preparing to become priests are called transitional deacons. Transitional deacons can preach and read the Gospel, assist at Mass, baptize, witness marriages and conduct funeral rites outside of Mass.

Williams completed his undergraduate degree while in the U.S. Marine Corps. He spent some time in formation in the Archdiocese of Washington earning a master’s degree in philosophical studies at Mount St. Mary’s College in Emmitsburg, Md. He then taught in a Catholic school outside of Washington, D.C. and, most recently at a Jesuit high school in Indiana.

Williams, who ran three Marine Corps Marathons, is entering his final year of formation Pope St. John XXIII National Seminary in Weston. 

“The Marine Corps was really the first vocation that I embraced. I was called to a cause greater than self. I was called really to service to others. There are a lot of similarities in the priesthood It gives me great joy to think that I might be spending my life in service to others,” Williams shared in a previous interview about his military service.

There are currently three seminarians for the Diocese of Springfield, with two more in application. Father Jonathan Reardon, the chaplain at both Pope Francis Preparatory School in Springfield and St. Mary High School in Westfield, and Father David Darcy, the pastor of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Belchertown, are assisting Bishop Byrne, who directs the Vocations Office.