The one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it
until the day of Christ Jesus.
(Philippians 1:6)

Foundations

• Founded by Rev. William Motley.
• First official day - January 19, 1920.
• Seventy parishioners, mostly of German ancestry, originally comprised the new church community.
• Named in honor of St. William of Vercelli. 
• First Mass held in the Germania Maennerchor Hall/German Mens' Chorus Building at 514 Devereaux.  The building is now St. Mary's Orthodox Church.

Current Parish

• Parish registration (2021): 5,178 persons, or 1,849 households 
• Average Sunday Mass attendance: 1,300 (8 Sunday Masses)
• Home to two Archdiocesan worship communities, Pakistani and Haitian.
• Sunday Mass offered in 4 languages: English, Spanish, Urdu & Kreyol
• 19 Masses scheduled each week.

Buildings

Church

First Church

• Combination Chapel and School at Rising Sun and Robbins Avenues.
• Dedicated on November 27, 1921 by Bishop Michael Crane.
• Now the first floor of the current school building (Operated by MaST II).

Second Church (pictured at top of this page)

• Completed in 1927 where the current church now stands.
• Later deemed structurally unfit for completion of Upper Church; demolished in 1954.

Third (and current) Church

• Built in 1955 of sandstone and granite construction. 
• Lower Church dedicated on December 25, 1956 (seats 900; originally seated 1,000). 
• Upper Church dedicated in June 1963 (seats 1,350). 

Adoration Chapel

• Dedicated February 8, 1989 to St. Katharine Drexel. 

Rectory

• Initial Rectory - Home at 415 Levick Street (still standing) then home at 909 Levick (demolished - Shopping Center stands there).
• First Official Rectory - Built 1927; destroyed by fire in early 1966.
• Temporary Rectory - Rowhome at 6145 Argyle Street (1966-1967).
• Current Rectory - Built 1967.

• First Convent - 6 rowhomes at 480-490 Robbins Street (where Memorial Hall now stands).
• Current Convent - Built 1948 for the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. 

• Opened September 8, 1924, staffed by Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
• First building - One-story Chapel & School at Robbins and Rising Sun Avenues (first floor of the current building).
• Two additional floors added to Lower School, completed in 1929. 
• Middle School/Junior High built in 1955; additional floor added in 1956.
• Kindergarten built in 1986 entirely by parishioners at zero cost to parish. 
• Memorial Hall built in 1988.

• Opening enrollment in 1924 was 104 students.
• Highest enrollment was in 1964 with 1,586 students. 
• Second highest enrollment in 1992 with 1,289 students.
• The school closed on June 15, 2012, with 240 students.

Pastors of St. William

Rev. William A. Motley
1920 - 1928 (8 years)

Rev. Austin C. Grady
1928 - 1935 (7 years)

Rev. Richard W. Gaughan
1935 - 1944 (9 years)

Rev. William J. Boyle
1944 - 1968 (24 years)

Rev. Francis J. Kimble
1968 - 1980 (12 years)

Rev. Msgr. James E. Mortimer
1980 - 2002 (22 years)

Rev. Msgr. (now Most Rev.) Nelson J. Perez
2002 - 2009 (7 years)

Rev. Joseph G. Watson
2009 - 2016 (7 years)

Rev. Alfonso J. Concha
2016 - 2023 (7 years)

Rev. Francesco D'Amico
Parochial Adminstrator
June 2023 - _____

Our first pastor, Rev. William A. Motley, is reportedly buried between the Parish Church and Rectory in the small garden where a tombstone marks only his tenure here at the parish, not his actual birth and death dates (December 5, 1867, to October 21, 1928). A Solemn Requiem Mass was celebrated on October 25, 1928, by Bishop Crane. While the church was built with two crypts (one on the north side and one on the south side of the building), neither have ever been used.

Religious Vocations from St. William

Over 100 men and women from St. William Parish have taken vocations over the years, including Monsignor Joseph Tracy, former Pastor  Rev. Joseph G. Watson and, most recently, Deacon William Moser (2014) & Rev. Roneld St.Louis (2022)

Notable Parishioners

William (Bil) Keane, creator of the "Family Circus" comic strip,
is a St. William School Graduate, Class of 1936.