Rev. Msgr. William Benwell, MA, JCL

Adjunct Professor of Pastoral Theology
School of Theology

Rev. Msgr.William Benwell was ordained a priest in 1980, after completing seminary studies at Immaculate Conception Seminary, then located on the former Darlington estate in Mahwah.

Msgr. Benwell has served the Diocese of Metuchen as a pastor and parochial vicar.  At present, he is the pastor of St. Mary-Stony Hill Parish in Watchung.  On the diocesean level, he has served as judicial vicar and vicar general and as a member of several diocesean committees and commissions, including the Board of Trustees of Catholic Charities and the Diocesan Review Board.  He is currently Episcopal Vicar for Canonical Services.

Msgr. Benwell received a Licentiate in Canon Law from St. Paul University in Ottawa, Canada, in 1986, and a Master of Arts in Theology (Biblical Studies) from Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology, Seton Hall University, in 2011.  He is a member of the Eastern Regional Conference of Canonists and the Canon Law Society of America.

Msgr. Benwell looks forward to helping students discover or be renewed in the knowledge of the pastoral nature of the Church's law. It is not an accident that the final canon in the Code of Canon Law contains the phrase, "the supreme law is the salvation of souls."