September 8, 2020
With sadness, we announce that our brother, Paulist Fr. William Joseph Cantwell, entered eternal life this morning, September 8, 2020, at the Mary Manning Walsh Home in New York City.
Fr. Cantwell was 94. He suffered from skin cancer and related issues. There is no indication his death was caused by COVID-19.
He had been a priest for 64 years. Today, September 8, was the 70th anniversary of his first promise to our missionary society.
He was born August 11, 1926, in Bloomfield, NJ, a son of William Cantwell and Mary Louise Vander Schans Cantwell.
He was in the U.S. Army during World War II, serving from 1944 to 1946. He graduated from Seton Hall College in June, 1949, and entered our novitiate on August 12, 1949.
He made his final promise to our society on September 8, 1953.
He was ordained a priest on May 3, 1956, by Cardinal Francis Spellman, one of 17 men ordained that day. It was the largest ordination class thus far in Paulist history.
From September 1956 to August, 1959, Fr. Cantwell was an associate pastor at St. Ann’s in Boston, then a hub for Paulists who served at campus ministries in that city.
In September, 1959, he headed west to St. Rose of Lima in Layton, UT, which was his base as a missionary through 1965.
He then served as an associate pastor at several Paulist locations: St. Lawrence in Minneapolis, MN (1966 to 1969); the Church of St. Paul the Apostle in New York City (1969 to 1971); West Virginia University Newman Center in Morgantown, WV (1971 to 1974); Our Lady of Mercy in Plateau, AL (1974 to 1984); St. Peter’s in Greeley, CO (1984 to 1986); Immaculate Conception Church in Knoxville, TN (1986 to 1988); and St. Patrick’s in Memphis, TN (1988 to 1992).
In September, 1992, Fr. Cantwell moved to the Paulist senior residence in Vero Beach, FL, from which he served at Holy Cross Church and other parishes in that community through 2015.
In July, 2015, he moved to the Mary Manning Walsh Home, where he lived the rest of his life.
Fr. Cantwell was preceded in death by two sisters, Mary Forsyth and Jane Byrne, and a brother, Richard Cantwell.
In addition to his Paulist brothers, he is survived by several nieces and nephews: Eileen Cantwell of Madison, NJ; Nora Richey and her husband, John, of Bloomfield, NJ; Susanne Russo, and her husband, Anthony, of Fairfield, NJ; Patricia Hoffman and her husband, Michael, of Ruskin, FL; Ann Maio and her husband, Alan, of Nokomis, FL; Irene Larkin, and her husband, Bill, of Flemington, NJ; Peter Cantwell and his wife, Kathy, of Old Bridge, NJ; and Paul Cantwell of Bloomfield, NJ.
He also is survived by many great nieces, great nephews and a great-great nephew.
Fr. Cantwell’s wake will be held at 9 a.m., September 12, 2020, in the Church of St. Paul the Apostle in New York City.
His funeral will follow the wake at 10 a.m. He then will be buried at St. Thomas the Apostle Cemetery in Oak Ridge, NJ.
The funeral Mass will be broadcast live on our YouTube channel and at paulist.org/live.
Our prayer for our brother, William:
May the angels lead you into paradise,
may the martyrs come to welcome you,
and take you to the holy city,
the new and eternal Jerusalem.
