10
Gulf Pine Catholic
•
February 27, 2015
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The Very Reverend William L. Norvel, a Pascagoula
native, will celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of his
ordination to the priesthood on March 27. On that date,
his sisters and brother-in-law: Kirticina Twine (Atlanta),
Carolyn Norvel (Pascagoula) and Paulette and Marion
Lewis (Atlanta) will join family, friends and clergy
from around the country at the Mass of celebration fol-
lowed by a gala dinner dance at Sacred Heart Catholic
Church in Pascagoula. Father Norvel served as pastor
of his home parish, St. Peter the Apostle in Pascagoula,
from 2004-2006.
Father Norvel is currently based in Baltimore, MD,
and serves as Superior General of the Josephite Fathers
and Brothers, established in 1866 to serve the African-
American community in the United States. He is the
first African-American to be elected Superior General
of the Josephites in its 143-year history and he is the
onlyAfricanAmerican to head a community of Catholic
priests in the United States.
Father Norvel is the oldest child and only son of the
late William and Velma (Wilson) Norvel. He attended
St. Peter Elementary School and Our Mother of
Sorrows High School in Biloxi. He was ordained on
March 27, 1965, at The Cathedral-Basilica of St. Louis
in New Orleans and offered his first Mass at St. Peter
the next day. Friends, family and parishioners who trav-
eled from Pascagoula by bus to the ordination were
briefly detained by police who mistook them for “free-
dom riders”. They were released only when their pas-
tor, Father Edward Lawlor, spotted the bus and stopped
to verify their identity and destination.
After being told in the early 1950s by theArchdiocese
that there was “no place in the church” for him, young
William Norvel was invited by his pastor, Father
Edward Lawlor, to join the Josephites. Supported by
family, friends and his pastor, he left Pascagoula by
train following his junior year in high school to enter
the seminary in Newburg, NY. Father Lawlor, who died
in 2013 at the age of 100, lived to see his protégé
become his leader as Superior General of the Josephites
in 2011.
Father Norvel’s first assignment was at Holy Family
parish in Natchez, Mississippi. There, he had a brief
run-in with the Ku Klux Klan when “city officials”
objected to a dance that was being held for teenagers.
Father Norvel stood up to them affirming the right of
the church to have safe and wholesome activities for
youth. Father has since served as pastor at St. Benedict
the Moor in Washington, D.C., St. Brigid in Los
Angeles, California, Most Pure Heart of Mary in
Mobile, Alabama, St. Francis Xavier in Baton Rouge,
Louisiana, St. Francis Xavier in Baltimore, Maryland
(the Mother parish of African American Catholics), St.
Peter the Apostle Church in Pascagoula, Mississippi
and Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Washington, D.C.
He has also
taught at St.
Augustine High
School in New
Orleans,
the
Josephite flag-
ship school, and
briefly on the
faculties
of
Notre
Dame
University and
the Institute for
Pastoral Ministry in the Black Community at Loyola
Marymount University. Father has Bachelor and
Master’s degrees in Education and Philosophy from St.
Joseph Seminary in Washington, D.C. He is a member
of the Knights of St. Peter Claver, the Knights of
Columbus, and the National Association of Superiors
General.
In 1999, Father Norvel was chosen to take the
Josephites to Nigeria where he erected the St. Joseph
House of Spiritual Formation in Iperu Remo. From
1999 to 2005, he was responsible for the selection and
spiritual preparation of twenty-five Nigerian men as
Josephite seminarians. At a time of aging priests and
few seminarians in the Church, the ordination of these
young men helps to ensure the future of the Josephites.
Father Norvel is recognized as a pioneer of gospel
music in the Catholic Church having established the
first gospel choirs in the Archdiocese of Washington,
D.C. in 1978 and in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in
1982. In 1980, Father brought his gospel choir on a
concert tour to churches along the Gulf Coast bearing
witness to the unique cultural gifts that African-
Americans bring to the Church. Following this tour,
gospel choirs sprang up in Josephite parishes along the
coast, including at St. Peter where Father’s parents
became members of the new choir and his father served
as chaplain. The hymnal commonly used in Black
Catholic churches,
“Lead Me, Guide Me”
, was written
and published during Father’s tenure as President of the
Black Catholic Clergy Caucus. In 1987, he worked on
the organizing committee for the 6th National Black
Catholic Congress (the first in the 20th century) in
Washington, D.C. He is recognized as one of the found-
ers of the African-American Catholic Evangelization
Conference and is a former member of the Secretariat
for the Office for Black Catholics in Washington, D.C.
True to the mission of the Josephites and his per-
sonal commitment as a priest, Father continues to be an
outspoken advocate for the unique cultural and spiritual
contributions of African-Americans in the Catholic
Church. He is recognized for his courageous leadership
and for his ability to build church through the engage-
ment of parishioners in ministry and for strengthening
community by fostering pride in the cultural and spiri-
tual heritage of African-Americans.
The 108-year ministry of the Josephites at St. Peter
has been fruitful. In addition to Father Norvel, this
small parish has yielded a rich harvest of priests and
religious who have also been leaders the Church: the
late Sister Mercedes Ernest, an Oblate Sister of
Providence; Brother Charles Douglas, a Josephite;
Sister Judith Therese Barial, who served on the govern-
ing body of the Sisters of the Holy Family and was a
pioneer in that Community’s work in Belize; the late
Bishop Carl Fisher, a Josephite; and his sister, Sister
Alexis Fisher, now Superior General of the Oblate
Sisters of Providence.
Father William L. Norvel, S.S.J., celebrates 50th
anniversary of ordination
Father Norvel
Now
Father Norvel was ordained on March 27, 1965, at
The Cathedral-Basilica of St. Louis in New Orleans
and offered his first Mass at St. Peter the next day.
Pray for an increase of
vocations to the priesthood,
to the diaconate, and to the
religious life, especially in
the Diocese of Biloxi
Father Norvel
Then
