(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has appointed Father Alan Williams, S.M. as the new
Bishop of Brentwood, in the United Kingdom. The Bishop-elect has been serving at the
Director of the National Sanctuary of Our Lady of Walsingham.
Father Alan Williams
was born in Blackburn on March 15, 1951. He studied at the University of Durham and
London University while earning his doctorate in Psychology. He studied theology
at Allen Hall in Westminster, and received his License in Theology at Cambridge University
and a Masters in Religious Education at Hull Unversity.
He became a member
of the Society of Mary in in 1976, and was ordained on April 30, 1983. He served
as Regional Superior of the Marist Fathers from 2000-2008, when he became Director
of the National Sanctuary of Our Lady of Walsingham, a position he previously held
from 1992-2000.