Submitted by: Dan Rich

Rev. John J. O’Rourke CSC

Aug. 8, 1869 – May 2, 1961

South Bend Tribune 5/3/1961

Rev. John J. O’Rourke CSC, 91, the oldest priest in the Holy Cross Fathers’ Indiana Province and the second ranking priest of years of membership in the community, died Tuesday afternoon in Holy Cross Hospital, Austin, Texas, where he was serving as chaplain. Following his ordination to the priesthood at Notre Dame on Sept. 8, 1897, he served the Catholic church throughout the country in various capacities. From 1931 to 1937 Father O’Rourke served as pastor of St. Joseph Church in South Bend, and from 1949 to 1952 he resided in the Community infirmary on the University of Notre Dame campus.

Father O’Rourke was born on Aug. 8, 1869 in St. John, Newfoundland. He entered the novitiate of the

Congregation of the Holy Cross on Aug. 15, 1892. He made his final profession of vows on Aug. 15, 1895 and was ordained two years later. From 1898 to 1899 Father O’Rourke was appointed as a teacher and prefect of discipline at Sacred Heart College, Watertown, Wis. In 1890 he was promoted to president of the college and served in that capacity until 1904. Father O’Rourke took over as pastor of Sacred Heart Church, New Orleans in 1904, and he remained there until 1921. He then moved to Nazareth College, Kalamazoo, Mich., where he served as chaplain until 1928. For the next three years he was pastor of St. Mary’s Church, Austin.

After serving as pastor of St. Joseph Church here, Father O’Rourke spent 10 years in Holy Cross College, Washington DC. During that time he served as a chaplain for the Medical Mission Sisters in Philadelphia. In 1947, Father O’Rourke assumed the duties of chaplain at Girbault School for Boys, Terre Haute. He then served as chaplain for two years at Boysville in Clinton, Mich.

Friends may call in the Corby Hall Chapel on the Notre Dame campus after 7:30 p.m. Thursday. The Office of the Dead will be recited in the chapel at 5:15 p.m. Friday. A funeral Mass will be said at 8:30 a.m. Saturday in Sacred Heart Church on the campus.