Rev. Manuel B. Williams, C.R., CFRE, Th.M.

When he was baptized in 1968 at age 11, Manuel Williams’ family started attending Mass together, occasionally going for a second service at his father’s Baptist congregation.  Then a persistent Holy Cross priest (Fr. Len Collins, CSC) convinced him to attend the University of Notre Dame.

After graduation from Notre Dame (1979), Williams intended to pursue graduate school in medicine or law, but a job in the social service center at St. Jude opened his eyes to the needs of the poor for justice, education, economic opportunities, and – more significantly — for spiritual sustenance.  Once in seminary, he knew he’d found his vocation.

Besides Notre Dame, he’s also a graduate of the National Institute for Planned Giving, The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA (1993), Aquinas Institute of Theology, St. Louis, MO (M.Div. 1987), and Xavier University of Louisiana, New Orleans (Th.M. 2015).  Fr. Manuel Williams professed first vows on May 30, 1982 and was ordained on May 23, 1987 as a member of the Congregation of the Resurrection – the order that baptized him.

Williams has served as Director of Resurrection Catholic Missions and Pastor of Resurrection Catholic Church, both in Montgomery, AL, since 1990. Resurrection Missions is an ecumenical, multifaceted, educational and social service organization that has employed as many as 300 persons in its various programs and institutions. He served for thirteen years as a member of the Congregation of the Resurrection Provincial Council (Leadership Team). He has served on the boards of several national and local organizations including Catholic Social Services, Montgomery AIDS Outreach, the United Way, South Central Alabama Girl Scout Council, the State of Alabama Minority Health Advisory Council, the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus, the National Catholic Development Conference (chair) and Gordon Technical High School in Chicago. He was appointed by Alabama’s former Governor Siegelman to serve as a member of the State of Alabama Child Death Review Team and the Advisory Panel to the Governor’s Early Learning Commission. Williams is a graduate of Leadership Montgomery Class XIII and currently serves on the Alabama Shakespeare Festival board. In 2010 he participated in a Symposium on Vocations to the Catholic Priesthood in the African American Community. He was an adjunct professor at the 2011 and 2014 Institute for Black Catholic Studies at Xavier University New Orleans teaching certificate classes in pastoral leadership. Williams preaches revivals and missions throughout the U.S., specializing in African-American Catholic spirituality and history. He is a Certified Fund Raising Executive who also lectures on fundraising and development. He was also the co-chair for the 2003 National Catholic Development Conference held in Los Angeles, California.

The first funeral he presided over was for a young man who had died of AIDS and whose family refused to talk about it. In the years after, he spoke at the funerals of non-Catholics who died of AIDS and who had nowhere else to go, held lock-ins to teach teenagers about sex and AIDS prevention, became co-chair of the Montgomery Area AIDS Task Force, and encouraged other African American pastors to speak up, often with no success.  But no matter how busy he gets, if you need something, parishioners love him because he makes you feel like yours is the only problem in the world.