Canon for Common Life Bob Williams, pictured in 1986 when he first joined the communications staff of the Diocese of Los Angeles, and on a recent Easter Day at his parish, St. James’ Wilshire, Los Angeles.
Marking his 40th year of service to the Diocese of Los Angeles and the wider Episcopal Church, Bob Williams on May 5 announced his retirement this summer as diocesan canon for common life, a post in which he coordinates communications and interfaith ministries. He will continue in his role as president of the Neighborhood Youth Association, a diocesan institution specializing in 100% college placement of students overcoming socio-economic challenges.
“I am energized by the vision of Bishop-elect Antonio, who has graciously welcomed me to continue on the staff,” Williams said, “and at the same time, through prayerful discernment, I’m mindful that it is time for me to make room for new colleagues skilled for this new chapter of diocesan life. I look forward to assisting the transition in very way and in supporting diocesan work going forward.
“Retirement also will allow me time to complete the book that I have been writing about the history of the diocese,” said Williams, who is Diocesan Convention’s appointed historiographer-archivist. “The book is my way of giving back in thanksgiving for the opportunities provided to me these many years.”
Thanking Williams, in remarks at the clergy conference dinner, Bishop John Harvey Taylor underscored Williams’s leadership role with the Neighborhood Youth Association, crediting him with its revitalization since 2015.
Williams “is the widely acknowledged godparent of multi-faith ministry in the Los Angeles region, which is a word we are now applying to ecumenical and interfaith ministry,” Taylor added. “He is the first name on everyone’s list when people talk about that absolutely vital movement among 21st-century God-believers, God-celebrators, and God –fearers as we prepare to take our absolutely vital place in the public square. Canon Bob has helped us have a vocabulary for doing that and having a conversation across difference which is always gracious and substantive.
“He is the finest Episcopal communicator in The Episcopal Church. He has served both our diocese and the wider Episcopal Church in service to two or three presiding bishops with whom he has traveled the world.
“And he is the single best friend of the headquarters we all hold dear, known as St. Paul’s Commons,” Taylor continued.
“Beyond all that, he is brilliant, he is kind, he is loving, he is devoted to this church in a way that goes marrow-deep, and so the announcement he’s made tonight that he has discerned that it’s time to take his leave was a difficult one and a courageous one, and we should give thanks that he has seen his way to automatically promise that it means more time for NYA and continued support of the bishop-elect and his team.
“So it’s not goodbye, it’s not even au revoir; it’s we’ll see you around town, see you around the diocese, see you light of the empty tomb that always shines in your eyes. God bless you, Bob.”
Williams expressed his thanks to Taylor, noting that the bishop’s background as a journalist has greatly enhanced the diocese’s communications work also deeply enriched by a 27-year collaboration with the Rev. Canon Pat McCaughan, who continues to write major diocesan news stories and edit the diocesan clergy newsletter. Williams added gratitude for the longstanding work of Canon Janet Kawamoto, editor emerita of The Episcopal News, who retired last year, succeeded by Mostyn Trudinger-Smith.
Hired as communications assistant by Canons Ruth Nicastro and Peter Mann Sr., Williams was welcomed to the diocesan staff by Bishop Robert C. Rusack and went on to serve through the administrations of Bishops Frederick H. Borsch, J. Jon Bruno, and Taylor.
In 2004-2008 he worked from offices in Los Angeles and New York as The Episcopal Church’s denominational communications director, serving on the Church Center’s senior management team with Presiding Bishops Frank T. Griswold and Katharine Jefferts Schori. In these years he directed the church-wide Episcopal News Service, reporting from Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and across the Americas.
A City of Los Angeles commissioner appointed by the mayor and assigned to the Department on Disability, he is a three-term past president of the Interreligious Council of Southern California.
Williams is a parishioner and former vestry member of St. James in-the-City, Los Angeles, which earlier this year dedicated its Feb. 8 Evensong in thanksgiving for Williams’s decades of service.