Following in the footsteps of Huntley and Brinkley, John Chancellor and Tom Brokaw comes a young news anchor who is not shy about telling people he makes going to Mass a priority every Sunday.

From NBC News: 

Tom Llamas will take over as anchor and managing editor of “NBC Nightly News” after Lester Holt steps down this summer, the network announced Wednesday.

Llamas is a senior national correspondent and anchor of “Top Story with Tom Llamas,” an evening newscast that streams on NBC News NOW. He will continue to anchor “Top Story” each weeknight, NBC News executive vice president of programming Janelle Rodriguez wrote in a message to staff.

“Tom has the winning combination of journalistic excellence, passionate storytelling and unyielding integrity — all characteristics that have long been trademarks of ‘NBC Nightly News,’” Rodriguez said in a statement. “Additionally, he’s been instrumental in growing NBC News NOW into the leading streaming news network, helping to introduce NBC News to a new generation of viewers.”

Llamas said anchoring “Nightly News” is a “profound honor and one that carries tremendous responsibility.”

“I look forward to working with the world class journalists at ‘Nightly News’ and ‘Top Story’ to bring viewers the most important stories every night,” Llamas said in a statement.

Llamas will become the first Latino journalist to host the weeknight edition of Nightly News.” José Díaz-Balart, who hosts a show on MSNBC, anchors Saturday editions of Nightly News.”

Holt, the anchor and managing editor of “Nightly News” for a decade, announced last month that he planned to step down this summer. He will remain a fixture at the network with a full-time role at “Dateline,” where he has been the principal anchor for almost 15 years.

Several weeks ago, The New York Times profiled Llamas and looked at how he spends his Sundays.

He said:

My wife and I are both Catholic, and our faith is a big part of our life. We go to church at Resurrection in Rye and will try to hit the 8:30 a.m. Mass, but if we’re dragging a little, there are a couple of other opportunities at 11:15 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. When my kids aren’t in sports, we’re going to the 5 p.m. weekend Masses on Saturdays, which are good for families because they’re a little quicker.

As I noted when I first posted about Llamas, he maintains a strong connection to  Benen Jesuit Prep School in Miami (Llamas is an alumnus, class of ’97). A few years ago, he sent this video message to the graduating class: