Our Celebrant: Fr. James C. Williams

Ally and I would like to officially introduce
Fr. James Charles Williams

as our wedding mass celebrant!

Chaminade High School's motto is, "Fortes in Unitate." It's a latin phrase that translates as "Strength in Unity." So I think it's especially wonderful that the president of Chaminade would be our celebrant for our own union. We now officially have a priest, and Ally and I couldn't be happier! Fr. James and I go back well over ten years, since he was my teacher at Chaminade High School. Back then, I was just a shy freshman, and he was my 2nd period Religion Teacher, "Brother James." I hope this profile can give him proper justice.

Father James is so much more than simply a teacher to me. First of all, he's an awesome teacher. Let's get that straight! But he is also a mentor and a friend. Since that first day of class, sitting in the second row, this charismatic young teacher made a profound impact on me. I still remember sitting there, spellbound by this tall man with an everpresent grin crack jokes and tell stories. He held the room's attention so effortlessly. I wanted to be just like him.

He made the Bible exciting to a bunch of Long Island boys. And that's not always so easy. Not every student in the class was like me, who had a Mom who taught CCD or a former Marist Brother for a Dad. We had guys of every stripe and personality in that class, and he charmed them all. Busting chops, doing impressions, making funny pictures to illustrate a point (who could forget "Fang" or "Abdul the Camule"?)... he was a master teacher at only 24 years of age.

Hailing from Queens Village, and graduating in 1987, James Williams joined the Marianist Order as a Brother. Marianist Brothers make vows similar to priests, with the special vocation of being teachers. In addition to teaching religion, he also taught math, and served as a guidance counselor and as head moderator for the school yearbook. I often joked about how the Yearbook staff wasn't necessarily staffed by kids particularly interested in making a yearbook, but rather kids who just wanted to hang out with Bro. James. The same would hold true for his co-moderator and best friend, Bro. Peter Heiskell.

Bro. James and Bro. Peter had taken over the struggling school yearbook, Crimson and Gold, about two years prior to my arrival at Chaminade. Though inexperienced, they brought enthusiasm to the previously sub-par annual. The two introduced new computer technology and stylish layout design with a lot of guidance from Jacqui Bazin, a regional rep from Jostens (a yearbook manufacturing company). Within only a few short years, Crimson and Gold was recognized for excellence on a national level, and has remained so, ever since. Painfully shy, I didn't summon up enough confidence to walk into that glorified broom closet, the Yearbook Office, until my sophomore year. Always crammed with kids, filled with music and laughter, it was intimdating for me to just to walk in. But upon entering, my high school experience would never be the same.

I must have made in impression on Fr. James, too, because he promoted me immediately to assistant underclass editor. That gesture of encouragement locked me into yearbook permanently. Through yearbook, I made some of my best friends at Chaminade; Jim Grant, Brian Craine, Albert Lee, and Michael Gordon-Tennant. Later that Spring, Brother James invited me to join Parish Religious Education Program (PREP), a special club of students individually invited to teach religion classes at nearby parishes. In lieu of a 9th period study hall in the cafeteria, I would spend the last period in a classroom with Bro. James and about a dozen juniors and seniors, developing lesson plans for our weekly classes. I was thrilled!

However, at a special yearbook meeting towards the end of August preceding my Junior year, I was crushed when Bro. James made an announcement that he would not be as involved at school because he was entering the seminary. Because of the tremendous study involved in becoming a priest, he wouldn't have adequate time to teach or moderate any clubs.

Despite his limited official involvement at school, he still lived in residence there, and often dropped by the yearbook office to say, "Hi," or harass Bro. Peter. Bro. James also remained active with the Chaminade retreats at the Marianist retreat house in Muttontown. Michael Gordon-Tennant, Brian Craine and I often joined Bro. James as the retreat cooks, staying in the "Servant's Quarters" (which was a lot more fun than it sounds like!) As cooks our only responsibilities were to prepare the food (chicken and rice Friday night, and pasta Saturday night... always!) and to (relatively) stay out of trouble. Night-long monopoly marathons and oreo cookie raids remain some of my fondest memories of high school, nauseatingly wholesome though they may be. When it finally came time for me to graduate in 1997, I had the distinction of being one of the few grads to have Bro. James and Bro. Peter attend their graduation party.

During my freshman year at St. John's, Bro. James relocated to Kellenberg High School (Chaminade's sister school) to complete his seminary studies. It was at Kellenberg that my relationship to Bro. James would take on another significant facet. For several months, I would meet with him to discern my own call to a religious vocation. At 18 years of age, I was at a spiritual crossroads and unsure of God's plan for me. Bro. James took time out of his busy schedule to talk to me about what path I should take in life. And while I ultimately decided that my religious vocation lay in married life (this is a wedding blog, after all!), our weekly chats and his peaceful reassurances made all the difference in my discernment process. The following summer, "Brother James" became "Father James." Not that anyone who was ever his student at Chaminade ever gets that right. You'll still hear people address him as "Bru-Father James." Soon after Chris Anskat and I attended his first mass, said at his old parish of Our Lady of Lourdes in Queens Village, Father James became president of Chaminade High School. Enthusiastic, charismatic, deeply spiritual, and truly talented, Fr. James is a natural for the job. Since then, I've been able to see Fr. James from time-to-time, usually at Christmas Midnight Mass, alumni funcions, and at all those Chaminade plays my sister, Katie, starred in. (Katie Crimmins is still the most famous Crimmins to ever walk through the halls of Chaminade, in my estimation!)

When Ally and I became engaged, there was one priest I really wanted up on that altar with us, to do the honors. But knowing how busy the president of Chaminade is, I asked Fr. James fully expecting him to be unavailable on our wedding day. So when he gave me the "OK," you can imagine how thrilled I was! It is with our deepest gratitude and greatest joy that Ally and I introduce Father James Charles Williams S.M.: priest, president, teacher, mentor, and most especially, dear friend.

At the end of every one of his classes, he'd send us off with his signature blessing, so I think it's fitting to end this profile with it:
"God Loves Ya, Have a Great Day, Go Gettem' Ay!"