William Norvel

William Leonard Norvel Jr., SSJ (October 1, 1935– March 8, 2026) was an American Catholic priest who served as the 13th and first Black superior general of the Society of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart, also known as the Josephites. The society was founded to serve African Americans in 1893. Norvel, ordained to the priesthood in 1965, became superior in 2011; the first Black man to head a Catholic religious community in the United States.

Norvel is also known for his work during the Black Catholic Movement, in which he helped spread the use of Black Gospel music and other elements of Black spirituality in African-American Catholic parishes throughout the country. He is said to have established the first Catholic gospel choirs in history.

Biography Born in Pascagoula, Mississippi on October 1, 1935 to William Sr. and Velma Norvel. The younger William was raised in Pascagoula at St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Church; he attended St. Peter's Elementary and Our Mother of Sorrows High School in Biloxi, Mississippi. He initially sought to become a priest while a teenager, but was dissuaded by the Diocese of Jackson, representatives of which told him that there was "no place in the Church" for him as an African-American priest. Since the introduction of Catholicism to North America in the 16th century, Black men had been largely barred from Catholic seminaries in the New World, and especially the United States.

Norvel was eventually encouraged by his Josephite pastor to pursue membership in that religious community, which serves African Americans specifically. He entered Epiphany Apostolic College in New York and later matriculated to St Joseph's Seminary in Washington, D.C., where he received his Master of Divinity. There, he faced opposition from the Ku Klux Klan and other elements of anti-Black racism. A particular flashpoint was a dance for teenagers.

He later served in parishes in Washington, D.C.; Mobile, Alabama; Baltimore, Maryland; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Los Angeles, California; and Pascagoula. While serving as the Josephites' consultor general and president of the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus, Norvel also served as a contributor to Lead Me, Guide Me: The African American Catholic Hymnal, released in 1987 by GIA Publications as the first of its kind.

Later in his priesthood, Norvel spearheaded the Josephites' efforts to establish a vocations hub in Nigeria, where desire for the priesthood was stronger than in the United States; the society had struggled to attract new members following a mass exodus of the society's seminarians in the early 1970s due to conflicts related to the Black power movement. Norvel's efforts overseas were successful, attracting various applicants while Norvel himself resided in the country for five years, introducing African-American liturgy to Nigerian Catholics and opening a house of formation.

Memberships Norvel was a member of the Knights of Peter Claver, the Knights of Columbus and the National Association of Superiors General.

Published works A Hallelujah Song!: Memoir of a Black Catholic Priest from the Jim Crow South