Congratulations to Monsignor William Connell, retired diocesan priest and pastor emeritus of Holy Family Parish in Poland, on 50 years in the priesthood.
Monsignor Connell was born in 1950 in East Liverpool to Bill and Katie (Sullivan) Connell—one of three children. He attended St. Aloysius Parish school. When his family moved to Savannah Beach, Georgia, for about a year, he attended St. Michael, the parish school there. On returning to East Liverpool with his family, he resumed duties as an altar server.
With no Catholic high school nearby, the diocesan vocations director, Monsignor Breen Malone, encouraged him to attend St. Mark Seminary in Erie, Pennsylvania. After graduation, he continued his priestly studies at St. Gregory and Mount St. Mary seminaries in Cincinnati.
Monsignor Connell was ordained June 12, 1976 ,in St. Columba Cathedral by Bishop James Malone. His first assignment was teaching at Cardinal Mooney High School in Youngstown, where he served until 1978 when he was appointed associate pastor at St. Columba Cathedral.
In 1981, he was assigned to graduate studies at the Catholic University America in Washington, where he earned a licentiate in canon law. Upon returning to the diocese in 1983, he taught theology at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Louisville for a year.
The next year, he became associate judge and defender of the bond for the Diocesan Tribunal, with residence at St. Columba, where, in1985, he was named vice rector. He was appointed adjutant judicial vicar for the Diocesan Tribunal in 1988 and judicial vicar in 1992. He assumed the additional responsibilities of diocesan director of Canonical Services in 1996 and the Office of Conciliation.
In 1987 and 1989, Monsignor Connell assumed additional duties as administrator pro-tem for St. Columba Cathedral.
Monsignor Connell was named a Chaplain of His Holiness with the title of “Monsignor” in 1997.
In 2000, Monsignor Connell was appointed pastor of Holy Family Parish in Poland. While pastor, he had two additional one-year assignments as diocesan judicial vicar and diocesan director of Canonical Services. During his pastorate, he oversaw construction of a new parish center and recruited parishioners to volunteer at and support the work of the Dorothy Day House of Hospitality on Fifth Avenue in Youngstown, which serves the homeless and the hungry. He also established a new parish-based Knights of Columbus Council, worked with “The Third Source,” a fund-raising group for the parish, and worked with other area Church leaders to revive the Poland Ministerial Association. He encouraged the parish’s involvement in the Poland Pantry, an ecumenical food pantry for people in need in Poland Village, Poland Township and neighboring communities.
Monsignor Connell retired as pastor in 2021 but he continues to assist at Holy Family, St. Paul Parish in New Middletown and at the Villa Maria Community Center, near New Castle, Pennsylvania.
During his active priesthood, Monsignor Connell served on the diocesan Presbyteral Council, including four years as chair, and as a member of the diocesan College of Consultors, and the Priest Personnel Board. He served on the Cardinal Mooney High School board of directors and on the board of directors for the Lumen Christi Schools, an association of Catholic elementary schools in the Mahoning Valley.
Anyone wishing to send congratulations to Monsignor Connell can do so at wconnell@youngstowndiocese.org.
