Fr William “Bill” Novel Jr., a veteran Josephite priest who helped bring the Black Catholic Movement into parishes around the country, died March 8 after some seven decades in religious life. He served as the first African-American male superior general in history when he led the Josephites from 2011 to 2014. He was 90 years old and no cause of death was released.
A livestreamed funeral Mass for Norvel was held on March 18 at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church in Washington, celebrated by Auxiliary Bishop Roy E. Campbell Jr. of Washington and concelebrated by a host of fellow priests, including the current Josephite superior, Bishop Emeritus John Ricard.
“[John the Evangelist] says that in the new heavens and the new earth,” Ricard said in his homily, “the Lord God is the temple, and in this vision of the New Jerusalem, there is neither sun nor moon because the Lord God is the light, and the Lamb is the lamp.”
“So we believe as Christians that this is what Fr Norvel, Fr Bill, is now experiencing, and anyone who has loved and served the Lord as he did.”
Born in segregated Biloxi, Mississippi, during Jim Crow in the 1930s, Norvel was raised Catholic at a Josephite parish, St. Peter the Apostle Church in Pascagoula, and attended Catholic schools. He felt a call to the priesthood at a young age, but was rebuffed by his local diocese due to his race—being told there was “no place in the Church” for Black priests, as were most African-American Catholics of his era who sought to enter seminary.
Encouraged by his pastor to apply to the Josephites—who specifically serve African Americans—Norvel joined the community after his junior year of high school, matriculating to Epiphany Apostolic College in Newburgh, New York, and later St. Joseph’s Seminary in Washington.
Ordained in 1965, Norvel went on to serve in Mississippi, Washington, Alabama, Maryland, Louisiana, California, and Pascagoula, leaving his mark as a gifted preacher, high school teacher, and university professor. He was also noted for his resistance against White Supremacy, including from the Ku Klux Klan in the Deep South.
In the years following his ordination, Norvel was an integral personage in the Black Catholic Movement, which sought, among other goals, to integrate Black spirituality into the African-American Catholic community following the Second Vatican Council and amid the rise of Black Power ideology.
For his part, Norvel became a major proponent of African-American liturgy, specifically via gospel choirs, which he helped establish at Black Catholic parishes around the country. He was also a contributor to the first African-American Catholic hymnal, “Lead Me, Guide Me,” released in 1987.
Within the Josephites, Norvel was also highly influential in the survival of the community amid falling vocations from the United States in the late 20th century. His work to recruit men from West Africa helped support the religious community’s continued work in Black America, supplying vocations predominantly from Nigeria, where Norvel also resided for several years and introduced African-American spirituality among local Catholics.
“[Fr] Norvel served the Church with deep faith, dedication, and pastoral care,” Bishop Bishop Louis F. Kihneman III of Biloxi told Gulf Pine Catholic this month.
“A native son of Pascagoula, he was a source of great pride for the Mississippi Gulf Coast and for the many communities he served throughout his priesthood.”
After his return from Africa, Norvel was elected the first Black superior general of the Josephites in 2011, becoming the first such male leader in American history. His tenure saw continued vocational growth from the motherland before his retirement from ministry in 2015, when he was succeeded as superior after one term.
“After the election, I read a letter to the delegates which I had written three months earlier in anticipation of this outcome,” he wrote in his 2016 memoir, “A Halleluiah Song! Memoir of a Black Catholic Priest from the Jim Crow South.”
“I thanked the priests for giving me the privilege and honor of serving the Society as Superior General. I affirmed that I had served the Society faithfully and would be forever grateful for that privilege.”
Throughout his ministry, Norvel was a member of the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus, serving as president from 1985 to 1987, and was a Knights of Peter Claver and Knights of Columbus. A KPC council, established at St. Joseph’s Seminary in 2022, was named in his honor. He was also named a distinguished exemplar of the NBCCC in 2018 and was a past recipient of its Fr. Joseph Davis Lifetime Achievement Award.
Following a stroke in 2019, Norvel spent his final years in a senior care facility in Maryland, remaining devoted to the Josephite community and attending its local activities. He celebrated 60 years as a priest in 2025.
Norvel was predeceased by his parents, William Sr. and Velma Norvel, and a sister, Kirticina Twine. He is survived by two other sisters, Paulette Norvel Lewis and Carolyn Norvel.
A second funeral Mass for Norvel is scheduled for Thursday, March 26, at Norvel’s childhood parish of St. Peter’s in Pascagoula, Mississippi, and will begin at 11am CT. It will be preceded by a viewing at 9am. Burial will follow at Gabriel Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, it is requested that donations be made to the Josephites.
Nate Tinner-Williams is co-founder and editor of Black Catholic Messenger.
