The Missionaries of the Precious Blood announce the 40th anniversary of the ordination of Fr. William Nordenbrock, C.PP.S.
Fr. Nordenbrock, a native of Fort Recovery, Ohio, entered the Congregation in 1969 at Brunnerdale, the Missionaries’ former high school seminary near Canton, Ohio. He was ordained on April 9, 1983.
Fr. Nordenbrock has been a preacher, strategic planner and a leader in his Community.
After his ordination, Fr. Nordenbrock served as an assistant chaplain at St. Joseph Hospital in Fort Wayne, Ind. He was promoted to pastoral care director in 1985 and then vice president for mission effectiveness in 1988.
In 1990, he was named director of Companions, the newly formed lay associate group of the C.PP.S. Companions now number nearly 500 nationwide.
He served as director of mission effectiveness for Ancilla Systems, a nonprofit organization sponsored by the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ, from 1995–97. From 1997–98, he lived and worked at Shantivanam House of Prayer in Easton, Kan.
In addition to his other ministries, Fr. Nordenbrock had an active role in the Congregation’s leadership. He was elected to its senate in 1990 and served as director of development and mission coordinator for the Cincinnati Province from 1998–2003.
In 2002, he helped found and served at a new mission for the Missionaries, the Precious Blood Ministry of Reconciliation (PBMR), in a violence-torn neighborhood in Chicago. He was named director of advanced formation in 2004, while continuing to serve at PBMR.
In 2007, Fr. Nordenbrock was elected to the general council of the worldwide Congregation, also serving as general treasurer. He completed his doctor of ministry degree at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago in 2008. Fr. Nordenbrock served as the director of formation from 2008–13.
In 2009, he was appointed vice moderator general of the worldwide Congregation, then in 2013, his brother Missionaries elected him moderator general. Residing in Rome, he completed his term in 2019.
After his return to the United States, Fr. Nordenbrock chaired a task force that developed the Precious Blood Spirituality Institute and the Robert J. Schreiter, C.PP.S., Precious Blood Institute at Catholic Theological Union.
In 2022, Fr. Nordenbrock was appointed both the treasurer and secretary of the United States Province. He now resides at the Congregation’s San Felice House of Formation in Chicago.
Fr. Nordenbrock is never content to stay in one place, his personal geography being the least of it. Throughout his life as a priest, he has both honed his skills and asked how they might best be put to use by his Congregation. The Congregation has recognized his natural leadership and questing intellect and has put it to good use.
He is a constant and faithful friend to many, knows what questions to ask and how to step back and really listen to the answers. A master of discernment, he employs his preaching and actions to show God’s people the Way, and in that way to discover it himself.