Fr. John Norder |
MADISON — A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, 602 Everglade Dr., Madison, on Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2018, at 11 a.m. for Fr. John Ralph Norder.
Father Norder, 78, a pastor emeritus in the Diocese of Madison, died on October 24, 2018, at SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital in Madison.
Bishop Robert C. Morlino of Madison will be the main celebrant of the Mass with Fr. Richard Leffler, pastor of SS. Andrew and Thomas Parish, Tennyson-Potosi, as homilist.
Visitation at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church will be held on Monday, Oct. 29, from 4 to 7 p.m. and on Tuesday from 10 a.m. until the start of the Mass. Interment will be at Mount Olivet Cemetery, Janesville.
A funeral luncheon will take place after Mass in the St. Thomas Aquinas Church Social Hall.
Father Norder was born on June 9, 1940, in Monroe. He is predeceased by his parents, Marie Bertha (Bleisch) and Ralph Carl Norder, and two brothers in infancy.
After attending St. Victor Grade School in Monroe, Father Norder attended high school and college at St. Lawrence Minor Seminary in Mt. Calvary, Wis. He continued his studies in philosophy and theology at St. Francis Major Seminary in Milwaukee.
He was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop William P. O’Connor on May 28, 1966, at St. Raphael Cathedral, Madison.
Father Norder began serving the Diocese of Madison as a parochial vicar at St. Bernard Parish, Madison; St. Clement Parish, Lancaster; and St. Mary Parish, Janesville.
He was pastor of St. Joseph Parish, Sinsinawa; St. Joseph Parish, Gratiot, with Mission to St. John, South Wayne; St. Patrick Parish, Janesville; St. Charles Borromeo Parish, Cassville, with Mission to St. Mary Help of Christians, Glen Haven, from which he retired in 2010.
During his years of service to the Diocese of Madison, Father Norder was dean of the Lafayette Deanery and an active chaplain to: Rock Haven, County Home, and Mental Institution, Janesville; Knights of Columbus Council 7370, Hazel Green; Knights of Columbus Council 4527, Fitchburg; Janesville Police Department; Rock County Sheriff’s Department; the International Conference of Police Chaplains; Janesville Area Concerned Families & Friends of American Military Personnel of Soldiers; and the Lancaster Jaycees.
He was a faithful friar for the Fr. Mazuchelli General Assembly, 4th Degree Knights of Columbus, Gratiot, and for the Western District of Wisconsin. Father Norder loved working with the Catholic school youth in his parishes and was chaplain to the T.E.C. Retreat Program.
Memorials may be made to the Diocese of Madison St. Raphael Society Clergy Retirement Fund.