William J. Justice

William Joseph Justice, (born May 8, 1942) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. Justice served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of San Francisco in California from 2008 to 2017.

Early life and clerical formation
William Justice was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts on May 8, 1942. His family moved to San Mateo, California in 1946. From 1948 to 1951, Justice attended St. Matthew Elementary School in San Mateo, then transferred in 1956 to St. Gregory Elementary School in San Mateo. In 1960, he graduated from Junípero Serra High School in San Mateo.

Justice entered St. Joseph College in Mountain View, California in 1962 and later attended at St. Patrick Seminary in Menlo Park, California, where he earned a Master of Divinity degree in 1968.

Priesthood
Justice was ordained into the priesthood for the Archdiocese of San Francisco on May 17, 1968, by Archbishop Joseph McGucken,

After his ordination, Justices was assigned as parochial vicar to St. John the Evangelist Parish in San Francisco. In the summer of 1969, he attended a Spanish language program in Guadalajara, Mexico. In 1970, Justice was transferred to All Souls Parish in South San Francisco, California. He attended the Intensive Spanish Language Program at Cuernavaca, Mexico in summer of 1971. Justice was reassigned in 1976 to St. Paul Parish in San Francisco.

In 1979, Justice became director of the Office of the Permanent Diaconate along with parochial vicar of Saint Timothy Church in San Francisco. He received a Master of Applied Spirituality degree in 1980 from the University of San Francisco. In 1981, while still working at Saint Timothy, Justice was named as secretary of the Office of Pastoral Ministry.

Justice was named pastor of Saint Peter Parish in 1985, then moved in 1991 to become parochial vicar of All Souls Parish. In 1992, he was also named the secretary of pastoral ministry for the archdiocese In 2003, Justice was reassigned as pastor of the Mission Dolores Basilica Parish and in 2007 appointed as archdiocesan vicar for clergy.

Auxiliary Bishop of San Francisco
On April 10, 2008, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Justice as the titular bishop of Matara de Proconsolari and as an auxiliary bishop of San Francisco. He was consecrated by Archbishop George Niederauer on May 28, 2008, at the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption in San Francisco. His co-consecrators were Bishop John Wester and Bishop Randolph Calvo.

While he was episcopal vicar for clergy, Justice also served as vicar general of the archdiocese. Justice was a trustee of St. Patrick Seminary. He chaired three archdiocesan boards: the Priest Personnel Board, the Ongoing Formation Board, and the Priests' Retirement Board. Justice chaired the Priests' Council from September 2006 to June 2007 and took part in the Alliance of Mission District Catholic Schools while pastor of Mission Dolores Basilica Parish.

Retirement
On November 16, 2017, Pope Francis accepted Justice's letter of resignation as auxiliary bishop of San Francisco; he had reached the mandatory retirement age of 75.