“It’s very important to me to express my gratitude for the remarkable opportunity to be of service through these decades,” Bob Williams, diocesan canon for common life, said of an upcoming Feb. 10 Zoom Evening Prayer liturgy set to mark, to the day, his 40th anniversary of joining the staff of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles.
“I’m borrowing a tennis-game metaphor to call this a ‘40-love’ milestone,” Williams said. “My goal is to ace one more point for the win, which will be helping to assure the ongoing vitality of diocesan communications, interfaith and civic relations, and archival/historiography work,” all part of the portfolio he currently manages at the direction of Bishop John Harvey Taylor. Williams also is president of the board of trustees of the Neighborhood Youth Association, a 120-year-old diocesan institution specializing in 100-percent college placement for under-resourced students.
Bishop Taylor will preside at the 5 p.m. service of Evening Prayer, for which attendees are asked to register here.
A litany of prayers will be offered by friends and colleagues, including family members of beloved mentors, the late Canons Ruth Nicastro and Peter Mann Sr., who hired Williams as diocesan communications assistant in 1986, and launched a career in which he served in 2004-2008 as denomination-wide communications director of The Episcopal Church, and director of the Episcopal News Service, reporting from Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and across the Americas.
“Eventually I will retire,” Williams, 64, said, but not before making certain that the substantial work with which I have been entrusted continues on a firm foundation to thrive in its next chapters.”
Also set to commemorate Williams’s anniversary are Evensong on Feb. 8, 4:15 p.m., at St. James’ Church, Wilshire Center, his home parish, and the Friday, Feb. 13, Echo Park “Lunch and Learn” gathering of the Immaculate Heart Community, at which he will speak on the topic “Futuring: The Art and Science of Moving Forward Effectively.” Register here.