As the Funeral Mass for Josephite Father William L. Norvel Jr. was about to begin at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Washington, D.C. on March 18, 2026, the Archdiocese of Washington Gospel Mass Choir sang “We’ve Come this Far by Faith,” a spiritual that in many ways reflected the pioneering African American priest’s journey in life.
Father Norvel – who died on March 8 at the age of 90 – was a native of Pascagoula, Mississippi, who after not being accepted in the seminary for the Diocese of Jackson because of his race, entered the seminary and was ordained a priest in 1965 for St. Joseph’s Society of the Sacred Heart, the Josephites, a religious order of priests and brothers that since 1871 has had a mission of serving the African American community across the United States.
Over his six decades as a priest, the Mississippi native served as a pastor at parishes including St. Francis Xavier in Baltimore; at St. Benedict the Moor and Our Lady of Perpetual Help parishes in Washington, D.C.; at St. Brigid in Los Angeles; Most Pure Heart of Mary in Mobile, Alabama; St. Francis Xavier in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and at his home parish, St. Peter the Apostle in Pascagoula; and as a teacher at St. Augustine High School in New Orleans and on the faculty of his order’s St. Joseph Seminary in Washington.
His Funeral Mass program noted that when Father Norvel served as the pastor of St. Benedict the Moor Parish in Washington from 1971-79, “inspired by the mandate of Vatican II to embrace cultural inclusion in the liturgy, he eagerly began to infuse African American culture, music and icons into the liturgy and train parishioners to become church leaders.”
The Josephites’ obituary for the priest noted that he helped “foster the incorporation of Black spiritual traditions within Catholic worship,” traveling throughout the country assisting parishes in establishing gospel choirs, and his contributions played a key role in shaping Lead Me, Guide Me: The African American Catholic Hymnal.
Throughout the Funeral Mass, the gospel choir led the congregation in joyfully singing hymns including “Lead Me, Guide Me,” reflecting the priest’s legacy in promoting that liturgical music.
Father Norvel served as the pastor of St. Francis Xavier in Baltimore, the nation’s first Black Catholic parish, from 1996 to 2000, after earlier leading that parish in the mid-1960s.
In 1998, the Josephites sent Father Norvel to Nigeria, where he established the order’s St. Joseph the Worker House of spiritual formation in Iperu-Remo for seminarians, and he served as the director of formation there until 2004, helping to train a new generation of priests for the Josephites to serve their mission of evangelization and service to the African-American community in the United States.
After serving as the pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Washington from 2006 to 2011, Father Norvel made history when he was elected as the superior general of the Josephites, becoming the first African American to lead that religious order and the first Black man to lead a Catholic religious community of priests in the United States. He led the Josephites from 2011 to 2015 in Baltimore.
Returning to Africa, Father Norvel served as the spiritual director of the St. Martin de Porres House of Studies in Ibadan, Nigeria. He retired in 2019, and after suffering a stroke that year, he lived from 2021 until his death at the Sacred Heart Home in Hyattsville, Maryland.
Just before the Funeral Mass began, two family friends of Father Norvel offered tributes to him. Rose Thurston from Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish noted, “God always ordered his steps. He was a bridge builder. He invited you in, and he met you wherever you were.”
Thanking the priest, she said, “You have passed on your legacy to the people you taught.”
Cecilia Houston-Torrence from St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Atlanta called Father Norvel “my beloved spiritual advisor” and said, “This humble servant of God was truly a pastor who always took the time to listen and make us feel seen and heard.”
Noting the priest’s autobiography, A Halleluiah Song! Memoir of a Black Catholic Priest from the Jim Crow South, she praised the priest’s legacy, saying, “His pioneering efforts in gospel music and Black culture in the liturgy undoubtedly changed the trajectory in the Church.”
The Funeral Mass opened with the gospel choir singing “Blessed Assurance,” which includes the words, “This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long.” A procession of 16 Knights of Peter Claver and Knights of Columbus, Catholic fraternal orders that the priest was a member of, was followed by about 20 priests who concelebrated the Mass, many wearing vestments with the insignia of St. Joseph’s Society of the Sacred Heart.
The main celebrant at Father Norvel’s Funeral Mass was Washington Auxiliary Bishop Roy E. Campbell Jr., who also serves as the president of the National Black Catholic Congress, and Bishop John H. Ricard, the superior general of the Josephites, was a concelebrant.
After Bishop Campbell sprinkled the casket with holy water commemorating the late priest’s Baptism and new life in Christ, family members placed a white pall on the casket, and the Book of the Gospels and a cross were placed on it, along with the constitution of the Josephites, which the bishop said was a sign of Father Norvel’s “commitment to God and the people of God.”
In his homily, Bishop Ricard on behalf of the Josephites expressed sympathy and condolences to the priest’s family members and friends for the loss of the man whom many knew simply as “Father Bill.”
“May he rest with God forever, (after) a life that was well lived,” Bishop Ricard said.
When Father Norvel served as the superior general of the Josephites, he would sometimes visit the order’s St. Joseph Seminary in Washington, where Bishop Ricard was serving as the rector, and the bishop remembered how the seminarians were always happy to see the priest and thanked him for visiting.
“So today on behalf of those students who are now priests serving all over the USA, we can say, ‘Thank you, Father Norvel, thank you for teaching us to be good pastors,’ because of everything else we can say about you, Father Norvel, you were indeed a pastor, a very good pastor,” Bishop Ricard said, as the congregation applauded.
Noting the priest’s role in bringing gospel music into the liturgy and African American symbols into Catholic churches, the bishop said, “Father Norvel was one of those pioneers way back then, who introduced all of this into the Church, and (before that) you wouldn’t hear of gospel music (there), that was too Baptist and not to be found in the Catholic Church. Father Norvel was one of the pioneers who introduced this Afrocentric music into the Church for the first time.”
Bishop Ricard added, “So Father Norvel was at the forefront of all of this. None of this we’d have, if it wasn’t for Father Norvel.” He said the priest “also was the one who challenged the Church way back then to embrace, to welcome all things Black, all things African American that we’re so used to today, which we take for granted, but that wasn’t so back then – the gospel music, the symbols, the Kente cloth vestments, they were all introduced by people like Father Norvel.” The congregation applauded again when the bishop said, “And for this, we thank him, and we praise God for him.”
Father Norvel also made other contributions to the Church that “are lasting and enduring”, like the countless Baptisms he performed, marriages he witnessed and Funeral Masses he celebrated at Josephite parishes over the years, the bishop said.
Later in the Funeral Mass, the offertory gift bearers included Father Norvel’s two surviving sisters, Paulette Norvel Lewis and Carolyn Norvel. He was predeceased in death by their sister, Kirticina Norvel Twine, and by their parents, Velma and William L. Norvel Sr.
In a tribute to the priest after Communion, Josephite Father Cornelius K. Ejiogu – the pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help who is from Nigeria – said the seminarians there regarded Father Norvel as a father to them.
“Those of us who grew up under him in Nigeria, he walked us through… Besides my father, I’ve never called another person father, except Father Norvel, because that’s what he was to all of us,” Father Ejiogu said.
The pastor said that Father Norvel was a prophet, a priest of God, a protector, a provider and a promoter for the seminarians he taught and the people he served.
“One of the things I tell my folks about Father Norvel that I have come to cherish and put in my life is (the belief that) nothing is too good for you as a Black man or a Black woman… He was indeed a child of God. He gave us the best,” the priest said.
Father Ejiogu said he can now wear African vestments while celebrating Mass, because Father Norvel fought for that. “This was one of his goals. We who are Black should love who we are, and use what we have to praise God. Amen!”
The priest offered special thanks to the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate and the staff at the Sacred Heart Home and to family members and friends who cared for Father Norvel in his last years.
Father Ejiogu closed his tribute to his priest friend and mentor by singing the gospel song, “Order My Steps in Your Word,” joined by the gospel choir and congregation. That spiritual about following God’s will and praising His name reflected Father Norvel’s life and legacy, he said.
In her remarks after Communion, Paulette Norvel Lewis praised her brother’s personal qualities, saying, “He was brave, traveling alone to Nigeria, knowing very few people, building a seminary in the African bush and recruiting young men to become priests in the United States.”
She said that Father Norvel was a loyal friend who laughed easily, and he was dependable and caring. “He routinely visited and prayed with the sick, the incarcerated and the elderly, a practice he learned from our father and pursued throughout his life,” she said.
Summarizing Father Norvel’s life, his sister said, “He was a man of honor, a good priest, a supportive mentor, a loving son and a great big brother. He lived and loved to the fullest. He loved the Lord and all of God’s people.”
Concluding her remarks, Paulette Norvel Lewis smiled and said, “Please join me in giving my brother an ovation,” and then she and the congregation applauded Father Norvel for his life and work.
Before the final commendation, Bishop Campbell noted that when he earlier served as the pastor of Assumption Parish in Southeast Washington, Father Norvel led Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in that part of the nation’s capital.
“That was my first pastorate, and I couldn’t have had a better mentor and friend than Father Bill,” he said.
Bishop Campbell said that Father Norvel’s friends and family had come to the Funeral Mass, not to say “farewell,” but to say, “We’ll see you later.” Then the choir led in singing the recessional hymn, “When We All Get to Heaven.”
A Memorial Mass was celebrated for Father Norvel at his home church, St. Peter the Apostle in Pascagoula, Mississippi, on March 26, and burial followed at Gabriel Cemetery next to the church.
