Bishop Sullivan of Camden, N.J., retires, is succeeded by Coadjutor Bishop Williams

WASHINGTON (OSV News) — Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Bishop Dennis J. Sullivan of Camden, N.J., 80, and Coadjutor Bishop Joseph A. Williams immediately succeeds him as the ninth bishop of the diocese.

The announcement was publicized March 17 in Washington by Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

A native of Minnesota, Bishop Williams, 50, was named coadjutor for Camden by Pope Francis May 21. Before that he was an auxiliary for St. Paul and Minneapolis, appointed by the pope Dec. 10, 2021, and ordained a bishop Jan. 25, 2022.

Last September during a vespers service on the eve of his Mass of welcome, Bishop Williams smiled as he looked out at the pews full of people in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and said, “How blessed I am that the Holy Spirit brought me to South Jersey. How beautiful the people are, how beautiful the church is, how beautiful the tradition is in Camden. I feel like I’ve hit the jackpot.”

Bishop Williams took part in the Sept. 9 vespers service with Bishop Sullivan and diocesan clergy.

Hundreds from across South Jersey and beyond were in attendance, including Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States; Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis; Bishop Williams’ family, friends and former parishioners from Minnesota; and priests, deacons and religious from the Diocese of Camden, Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and beyond.

The next day, during an afternoon Mass of welcome, the coadjutor stood before more than 1,000 faithful, clergy, religious and dignitaries from across New Jersey and beyond and echoed his remarks from the vespers service, expressing his confidence that the Diocese of Camden is where Jesus wants him to be.

He reminded all in attendance and watching via livestream that the call of discipleship is the call of the Church. The Mass of Welcome “isn’t about a single person — it’s about all of the baptized of the Diocese of Camden. What does Jesus want for you? Missionary discipleship. The consoling, comforting and delightful joy of evangelization has to be our primordial joy.”

“We don’t need another mission statement,” he continued. “Jesus already gave us that mission statement in Nazareth: Bring glad tidings to the poor … proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.”

Bishop Sullivan, a native of the Bronx, New York, was installed as Camden’s eighth bishop Feb. 12, 2013. When he turned 75 March 17, 2020, he submitted his resignation to the pope as required by canon law.

In a Mass of Thanksgiving March 16, he said expressed gratitude for this “community of pilgrims whose witness to our faith shines the light of the Gospel through South Jersey … that makes the Kingdom come … that contributes to the transformation of the terrible darkness that can envelop our world.”

The Mass was celebrated at St. Agnes Church, Our Lady of Hope Parish in Blackwood, with Bishop Williams among the concelebrants. It came on the eve of Bishop Sullivan’s 80th birthday, 54 years after his ordination as a priest for the Archdiocese of New York; 21 years after he became a New York auxiliary bishop there; and 12 years after becoming bishop of Camden.

“My hope is that my ministry as the bishop of Camden for these past 12 years has drawn people to the love of God, and to Jesus Christ, whose love was displayed on the Cross and in the Resurrection,” Bishop Sullivan added.

The six-county Camden Diocese covers nearly 2,700 square miles in South Jersey. It has a Catholic population of about 305,000 out of a total population of over 1.4 million.

Contributing to this story was Peter G. Sánchez, a staff writer and social media coordinator at the Catholic Star Herald, newspaper of the Diocese of Camden.

This story was updated at 3:05 p.m.

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