Fr William Cross, the first pastor and second Black priest in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, has died. He was 79 and no cause of death was released.
The news was announced by the chancery as well as Cross’ former place of ministry, Purcell Marian High School, where he taught for 17 years.
“He was a staple at retreats and Mass for years, even after leaving his teaching position, and an instrumental figure in the faith formation of countless students,” the school said in a tribute on March 30, the date of his passing.
“We pray for him and all those who loved him.”
Born in 1946 in Cincinnati, Cross was educated in public schools and graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a degree in business. Having joined an Black Methodist church as an adolescent, he felt a call to ministry while still a Protestant and met a Catholic priest while studying at UC. Requesting instruction in the faith, he completed a short course and was baptized in 1964.
In a 2016 interview with The Catholic Telegraph, Cross noted that his conversion was influenced by the witness of Catholic priests and nuns during the Civil Rights Movement, which drew him toward the Church. He received a dispensation to enter the seminary less than two years after his conversion, and was ordained in 1974 after studies at St. Gregory Seminary and Mount St. Mary's Seminary of the West.
Cross was just the second Black priest ordained in the archdiocese, following the storied liturgist and scholar Fr Clarence Rivers in 1956.
Cross served in African-American parishes for several years before becoming a teacher in addition to parish work. He became the archdiocese’s first Black pastor in 1988 when he was assigned to lead St. Andrew Catholic Church, where he served a six-year term. Cross began teaching religion at Purcell Marian in 1994, later calling his high school ministry the “most rewarding part” of his 37 years of active ministry.
The Catholic Telegraph
An early Black clerical voice in the local chancery, Cross served on the archdiocese’s College of Consultors for nine years, beginning in 1991 under Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk. He was also active in anti-racism efforts, including with the archdiocese’s “In One Body” intercultural dialogue program.
Cross retired from ministry in 2012, but continued to celebrate Masses, including at his former parish of St. Margaret Mary Church in North College Hill and at Assumption Church in Mt. Healthy. He also served as assistant director of formation at his alma mater, Mount St. Mary’s of the West, from 2014 to 2017.
“It’s hard for us to go fishing while the younger guys are doing and three and four parishes,” he told the Telegraph of his activities as a retired priest amid a vocations shortage in the U.S. Church.
Cross celebrated 50 years as a priest in the summer of 2024, with a golden jubilee Mass taking place at St. Joseph Catholic Church in the West End neighborhood, his second parish assignment.
The homilist at the Mass, Dcn Royce Winters, spoke glowingly of Cross’ ministry before he was presented with several commemorations. One, from the city of Cincinnati, proclaimed that date—June 1—as William Cross Day.
“As we watched you minister in schools and parishes in the community,” Winters told Cross, “you gave all of yourself as a sacrifice for God’s people.”
Cross was a Cincinnati resident at the time of his passing and was preceded in death by his parents, both of whom also converted to Catholicism. His official obituary lists no survivors.
A service for the Reception of the Body will take place Thursday, April 9, at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Peter in Chains in downtown Cincinnati at 6:30pm ET. Fr Reynaldo Taylor will serve as celebrant and homilist. A funeral Mass will take place at the cathedral on Friday at 2pm, followed by a committal at Gate of Heaven Cemetery, celebrated by Fr Tom DiFolco. A repast will follow at Purcell Marian.
Nate Tinner-Williams is co-founder and editor of Black Catholic Messenger.
