Former librarian, teacher and author Randolf “Randy” Williams has joined the ranks of the Anglican priesthood.

Mr Williams was ordained at Christ’s Church Cathedral, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada on September 25, becoming Bermuda’s newest home-grown Anglican priest. He was one of four clerics ordained by Bishop Susan Bell at the Sunday afternoon service.

Mr Williams, who is originally from Somerset, is a former Berkeley Institute history teacher and librarian. He is the biographer of National Heroes Sir Henry Tucker (Man of Stature), Sir Edward Richards (Peaceful Warrior) and Dame Lois Browne-Evans (Lois: Bermuda’s Grande Dame of Politics).

The author also of Care: 100 Years of Hospital Care in Bermuda, he was recently featured in the film Health Care Heroines – Black Bermudian Nurses and the Struggle for Equality, produced by the Department of Culture.

Mr Williams moved to Canada more than a decade ago to pursue a Master of Library and Information Science degree at Western University, London, Ontario. He worked as a business and law librarian, then returned to the classroom.

He has taught in public schools, a private Anglican school, and at college level. Along the way, he had a call to the priesthood.

He entered Trinity College, University of Toronto as a part-time divinity student, graduating in 2020. While there he served as Divinity Co-Head. He was a member of Trinity College’s Anti-Black Racism Task Force.

He serves on the Diocese of Niagara Anti-Racism Committee. He held a similar role in the Anglican Church in Bermuda. Rev Williams has been called a committed advocate for social, economic and environmental justice.

Last year, he was ordained a deacon, the first step towards becoming an Anglican priest. He is currently an associate priest at a church in the Diocese of Niagara.

He said: “I have long known that I was called to be a clergy person. It just had to be determined in which denomination. My upbringing in Anglicanism, Pentecostalism and Methodism has well prepared me. God truly has a sense of humour that I have been called to return to my Anglican roots of spirituality.”