Meet out 2026 CGPI Keynote Speaker

Rev. Dr. Catherine Williams

Rev. Dr. Catherine E. Williams is the Associate Professor of Preaching and Worship, and Director of Chapel Worship at the Lancaster, PA campus of Moravian University’s School of Theology.

An ordained Elder in the United Methodist Church, Dr. Williams earned her BMus. in Church Music from Westminster Choir College of Rider University, her MDiv. from Palmer Theological Seminary of Eastern University, and her PhD in Homiletics from Princeton Theological Seminary. 

In her scholarship and teaching, Dr. Williams embraces her dual identities of musician and homiletician. Her article in the Yale Journal of Music and Religion, “Sermon and Song: A Musically Integrative Homiletic”, makes the claim for conjoined preaching and music as a homiletical method. Her chapter in  The Future Shape of Christian Proclamation: What the Global South Can Teach Us About Preaching, edited by LaRue and Nascimento, is titled “Trinidad & Tobago Preaching: The Gospel According to Calypso.” This is the first sustained homiletical analysis of this Caribbean musical genre. Catherine’s most recent book, Preaching and Music: Powerful Partners in Proclamation, sustains her ongoing claim that preaching and music is a synergistic method of proclamation in worship. Dr. Williams is a member of the Editorial Board of Homiletic, the peer-reviewed journal of the Academy of Homiletics. She also holds memberships in the Hymn Society of the US and Canada, and the American Academy of Religion.