William H. Johnston

• Ph.D., Theology, University of Notre Dame
• M.A., Theology (Liturgy), University of Notre Dame
• B.A., Theology and English, University of Notre Dame

Growing up in South Bend, IN, and educated from elementary through graduate school under the auspices of the Congregation of Holy Cross, Dr. Johnston received his B.A. in Theology and English (With High Honors), M.A. in Theology (Liturgy), and Ph.D. in Theology from the University of Notre Dame.

He served in Church ministry in the Diocese of Richmond as the Minister of Religious Education at Holy Cross Parish, Lynchburg, Va.; in the Archdiocese of Baltimore as Coordinator for Adult Initiation and Catechesis, as well as Associate Director and then Director of the Archdiocesan Office of RENEW; and in the Diocese of Grand Rapids as Coordinator of Formation, and Director of the Department of Christian Life and Ministry Formation.

During this time he had varying roles in the development of three documents published by the U.S. Catholic Bishops — Our Hearts Were Burning Within Us, the National Directory for Catechesis, and Co-Workers in the Vineyard of the Lord. In the late 1990s he was a member and Co-Secretary of NACARE (the National Advisory Committee on Adult Religious Education of the then-USCC Department of Education). He served on the Board of Directors of NALM (the National Association for Lay Ministry) from 2001–2005, with terms as Vice-Chair and as Chair. From 2007–2011 he chaired the Task Force for the Revision of the National Certification Standards, a project of the Alliance for the Certification of Lay Ecclesial Ministers (member organizations of ACLEM were NALM, NFCYM, NCCL, NPM, and FDLC). For three years he was on the Executive Committee (2014 Vice-President, 2015 President, 2016 Past-President) of the Association of Graduate Programs in Ministry. And from 2001–2023 he served on the Advisory Board of the Worship Renewal Grants Program of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, Calvin College (Grand Rapids, MI).

After 27 years in Church ministry, Dr. Johnston joined the faculty of the Department of Religious Studies in 2006, with specific responsibilities in the area of pastoral ministry, teaching such courses as Theology of Ministry, and Ministry in a Marian and Marianist Spirit, and serving as faculty mentor for student practicum projects. He has also taught courses on liturgy and sacraments, Vatican II, the theology of prayer, and most recently on C.S. Lewis.

"Co-Workers in the Vineyard of the Lord was published by the U.S. Catholic Bishops in 2005 to provide 'a common frame of reference for ensuring that the development of lay ecclesial ministry continues in ways that are faithful to the Church's theological and doctrinal tradition and that respond to contemporary pastoral needs and situations' (p. 6). This vision carries on the Second Vatican Council's dual agenda of ressourcement and aggiornamento, and offers it as a methodological touchstone to guide and inspire the way forward so that the growth and development of lay ecclesial ministry continues to serve and strengthen the ministerial life of the Church in the most collaborative and fruitful way possible.

I have worked with and among lay ecclesial ministers all my professional life, and am privileged to do so now in the context of the rich intellectual environment of this Catholic and Marianist university, in particular with our students who currently are or are preparing to be lay ecclesial ministers themselves. It is a delight to engage with them in the disciplined conversation that is theological study, as they pursue the academic formation that can inform and shape their vision and practice of ministry as lay persons in ways that are, as Co-Workers would have it, well grounded in tradition and pastorally responsive to the needs of people today."

• Lay Ecclesial Ministry
• Liturgy and Sacraments
• Vatican II
• Summorum Pontificum
• C.S. Lewis

Care for the Church and Its Liturgy: A Study of Summorum Pontificum and the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2013.

"The Conversions of C.S. Lewis: Notes on Their Chronology and Character." Journal of Inklings Studies 13, no. 1 (2023): 1–27.

"Reflections on the Traditional Latin Mass Movement: A Reply to Dennis M. Doyle." Münchener Theologische Zeitschrift 74, no 2 (2023): 217–222.

"Totam Exsistentialem Densitatem: An Intriguing Image of the Eucharistic Transformation of the Faithful in Benedict XVI's Sacramentum Caritatis." Questions Liturgiques / Studies in Liturgy 102 (2022): 168–190.

"Serving Lay Ecclesial Ministry Past and Present: Thirty Years of Preparing Workers for the Vineyard" [a historical overview of the Association of Graduate Programs in Ministry]. Chapter One in Transforming Ministry Formation, edited by Edward P. Hahnenberg, Marti R. Jewell, and Theodore James Whapham, 3–27. New York/Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2021.

"Revisiting Co-Workers in the Vineyard of the Lord: A Proposal for Theological Development." Chapter Three in Transforming Ministry Formation, edited by Edward P. Hahnenberg, Marti R. Jewell, and Theodore James Whapham, 51–71. New York/Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2021.

"Traditionis Custodes Challenges Everyone." Church Life Journal, posted Nov. 5, 2021 at

https://churchlifejournal.nd.edu/articles/traditionis-custodes-challenges-everyone/

"Traditionis Custodes: How Did We Get Here?" Church Life Journal, posted Oct. 1, 2021 at

https://churchlifejournal.nd.edu/articles/traditionis-custodes-how-did-we-get-here/

"Heavenly Liturgy, Daily Compassion, Social Justice: Exploring Themes from Vatican II with Help from Evelyn Underhill." Worship 93, no. 3 (July 2019): 225–242.

"Pope Benedict XVI on the Postconciliar Liturgical Reform: An Essay in Interpretation."  Antiphon 17, no. 2 (2013): 118–38.

"A Marian Spirituality for Lay Ecclesial Ministers."  New Theology Review 25, no. 2 (March 2013): 70–81.

"The Call of Co-Workers in the Vineyard of the Lord for Cultural Diversity in Lay Ecclesial Ministry Formation Programs."  In Lay Ecclesial Ministry: Pathways Toward the Future, edited by Zeni Fox, 159–79.  Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2010.

"Lay Ecclesial Ministry in Theological and Ecclesial Context: A Study of Ministry Formation Documents."  In Catholic Identity and the Laity, Annual Publication of the College Theology Society, Vol. 54, edited by Tim Muldoon, 220–38.  Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2009.