For immediate release TUESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1999
Episcopal Diocese of Newark Chooses the Rev. Dr. Cecil David Williams as the New Dean
The chapter and vestry of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark have chosen the Rev. Cecil David Williams to be dean of Trinity and St. Philip's Cathedral in Newark. When his election was announced at the Cathedral on December 13 there was an outburst of applause. Williams, 57, currently serves as rector of St. George's Episcopal Church in Brooklyn, New York. He will succeed the Very Rev. Petero Sabune who left in June, 1998 to take a position at St. James Church, Madison Avenue in New York City. The interim Dean, the Rev. Canon David Hamilton will become Rector at St. Paul’s in Bergen, Jersey City in February, 2000.
Dean-Elect Williams will attend the Diocesan Convention on January 28-29, 2000 to be introduced to diocesan clergy and lay leaders. Also at this Convention, the Rt. Rev. John S. Spong will retire as diocesan Bishop and the Rt. Rev. John Palmer Croneberger will be invested as the 9th Bishop of Newark. One of Dean -Elect Williams' first official acts thereafter will be on February 26, 2000 when he will preside over a service at the Cathedral to seat the new Bishop of Newark.
Dean-Elect Williams in a telephone interview said, "My joy and enthusiasm for ministry with the Cathedral is at its height, I am ready to work with the people in Newark to be a part of this great Cathedral."
Ms. Gail Barkley, a warden of the Cathedral, commented, "From the time I met him at a service at St. George’s Church during the search process, I felt he was the candidate for everybody - for the Cathedral and for the Bishop. I think he will bring to the Cathedral a sense of cohesiveness and healing."
Mr. Gerald Pratt, a member of the Cathedral parish and a Vestry member, "I am absolutely ecstatic. I think C. David Williams has really prepared himself for this ministry at the Cathedral and in the City of Newark. We didn’t have to sell Newark to him; he is eager to be an asset in the renaissance in Newark, in our new episcopacy and in establishing the Cathedral’s presence in the city and the diocese. "
Dean-Elect Williams has a strong background in social justice ministry. He is currently president of the black caucus of the Diocese of Long Island, as he was earlier in the Diocese of New York. He has also served as senior chaplain of the men's prison at Riker's Island. Twice he has been a deputy to the General Convention of the Episcopal Church.
Like Dean Sabune, Williams continues the tradition begun with their predecessor, the late Dillard Robinson, the first African American to serve as a dean of an Episcopal Cathedral in the United States.
Dr. Williams holds a B.A. degree in history from the State University of New York, an M.B.A. from the Graduate Theological Seminary in Indiana, and a Doctor of Ministry Degree from the Graduate Theological Foundation. He is the author of the novel The Adversary (The Vantage Press, 1986).
Far more information, contact:
Susan Robinson
Office of the Bishop Coadjutor
Diocese of Newark
31 Mulberry Street
Newark, NJ 07102
973-430-9976 voice; 973-622-3503 fax
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