Father Bill McNeely grew up in Norris, Tennessee, as the youngest of six
children. His father was the local physician for the surrounding county. Before entering
seminary in 1985, he served in the United States Navy Hospital Corpsman from 1974
to 1981. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Tennessee in
Chattanooga, majoring in history while fulfilling all pre-Med requirements. He and his
wife, Sherri, were married in 1980 and are the parents of three grown children and four
grandchildren. In 1985, he received a Master of Divinity degree from General
Theological Seminary in New York City and upon returning home to East Tennessee,
was ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church.
     Over the next 15 years as an Anglican priest, Father Bill became disillusioned
with the moral and theological decline in the Episcopal Church. By the year 2000, he
could no longer recognize the church in which he was raised. Nevertheless, he always
had a hunger for the history and theology of the early church. He took annual retreats
at the Abbey of Gethsemani, during which time he became increasingly drawn to the
Catholic Church. One day, he checked out a copy of the Catechism of the Catholic
Church from the local library. That evening, after reading for about 15 minutes, he
looked over at his wife, Sherri, and said, “Hey! This is what they were supposed to
teach us in seminary!” Over the next couple of weeks, he read the entire catechism. In
October 2000, he resigned from his parish in Middle Tennessee and moved his family
home to Knoxville. He was received into the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil in
2001.
     Over the next several years, he continued his studies and pursued the “Pastoral
Provision,” a process whereby ordained ministers of Protestant churches could be
reconciled with the Catholic Church and be ordained Catholic priests. Finally, on March
21, 2005, his petition was presented by Cardinal Ratzinger to Saint John Paul II during
their last work session before the Holy Father died. The petition was approved, and
Father Bill was ordained a Catholic priest on June 7, 2007. Since then, he has served
in several parishes in the Knoxville area, recently at Our Lady of Fatima parish in Alcoa
for eight years. He was then assigned as pastor of Holy Ghost Church in Knoxville for
the next five years. In May 2024, Father Bill was appointed parish administrator of Holy
Family Church in Seymour, Tennessee. He enjoys the fruits of a growing rural parish in
the shadow of the Smoky Mountains