Father William Korte died unexpectedly at 67
Ministered in parishes throughout diocese, most recently in Crocker and Dixon
A priest wearing a full cassock, skipping rope on the playground.
Only those who saw it could have believed it.
“As Catholics, we’re pretty good at observing fast days, but we don’t always make the most of feastdays,” said Father William L. Korte, who had given his eighth-grade religion students a recess period instead of the quiz they had studied for on the Solemnity of All Saints in 2000.
“This is a day for us to be joyful, so we’re doing it!” he said.
Fr. Korte experienced joy and sorrow in his years as a priest.
“Throughout his life, whatever his own difficulties or struggles — and everybody has them — he was ever-watchful for the Lord’s return,” said Father Philip Kane, who was friends with Fr. Korte for 48 years.
Fr. Korte, 67, pastor of St. Cornelius Parish in Crocker and parochial administrator of St. Theresa Parish in Dixon, died suddenly on Jan. 24 in the hospital.
He had been a priest for nearly 42 years.
Fr. Korte had ministered in multiple parishes and missions throughout this diocese.
Among them were: St. Peter in Marshall; Cathedral of St. Joseph and Immaculate Conception in Jefferson City; Our Lady of Snows in Mary’s Home; St. Peter in Fulton; St. Joseph in Salisbury and St. Mary of the Angels in Wien; Holy Cross in Cuba, St. Francis Caracciolo in Bourbon and St. Michael in Steelville; St. Joseph in Louisiana and Mary Queen of Peace in Clarksville; and St. Lawrence in St. Elizabeth and St. Anthony of Padua in St. Anthony. He had been ministering in Crocker and Dixon since 2022.
He also served in various diocesan roles, including assistant vocations director from 1985-88.
The Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on Feb. 1 in the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Jefferson City, with Father Mark Porterfield presiding, Father Philip Kane preaching the homily and Father Richard Frank proclaiming the Gospel and leading the Final Commendation.
Priests of this diocese and several guest priests from other dioceses concelebrated the Mass.
Ongoing conversation
Fr. Korte was the first priest from St. Michael Parish in Steelville.
“I know that he truly valued in the best way possible the Lord’s gift of the Priesthood that began for him on April 30, 1983,” said Fr. Kane. “And for that, we praise and thank God.”
Fr. Korte was born on Nov. 4, 1957, in Florissant, the fourth of eight children of the late Richard and Marilyn Korte.
The family moved from Florissant to a farm near Steelville shortly after Fr. Korte was born.
He attended Steelville elementary and high school; St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Hannibal; and the Pontifical College Josephinum in Worthington, Ohio, where he attained a degree in theology with a minor in philosophy; a master’s degree in Scripture and Master of Divinity degree.
Fr. Kane met Fr. Korte as a seminarian at the Josephinum.
They started a conversation over dinner after final exams in December of 1977, about Catholic authors and books and the state of the Church and the world.
“And that conversation never really ended,” said Fr. Kane.
He called Fr. Korte “an eminent friend through some of the toughest moments of my life.”
On April 6, 1982, during the Chrism Mass in the Cathedral of St. Joseph, Bishop Michael F. McAuliffe, of Jefferson City, now deceased, ordained Fr. Korte to the Diaconate.
On April 30, 1983, in Holy Cross Church in Cuba, Bishop McAuliffe ordained him to the Holy Priesthood.
Fr. Korte always credited his parents with teaching him the importance of prayer time. He referred to them as his “true vocation directors.”
He admired the priests he got to know as a child but didn’t think about joining them until he read a book called Everybody Calls Me Father, in high school.
“I was immediately taken by the story of that parish priest and all the work he did with young people,” Fr. Korte recalled in 2008. “And I said, ‘That’s what I want to do.’
“From that moment forward, I never had a doubt about my vocation — even though I had doubts about myself, whether I could do it,” he said at that time.
Fr. Korte also played an important role in helping others discern their vocations.
Father Nathan Mudd CPM, a native of St. Joseph Parish in Salisbury, began discerning his calling to be a priest of the Fathers of Mercy while Fr. Korte was his pastor.
“Without him, I would not have gone to the Fathers of Mercy, and I know I would not have persevered in my vocation,” said Fr. Mudd, who is now chaplain at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion in Champion, Wisconsin.
Fr. Mudd said he hopes people will remember Fr. Korte’s faithfulness to his priestly vocation.
With the end in mind
Family members noted that no matter how busy he was, Fr. Korte offered the actions of his day as a prayer and spent significant time each day before the Blessed Sacrament.
“He was adamant that if he was going to be a good shepherd to souls he needed to spend time with the Good Shepherd himself, Jesus Christ,” the family stated.
“He had a profound impact on many lives,” the family added. “His constancy in his vocation and his care for souls will have a lasting impact on the Catholic Church for generations to come.”
Early in his Priesthood, Fr. Korte helped establish Perpetual Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament at the Cathedral parish.
“I always say the human heart needs the Sacred Heart,” he stated at his 25th priestly anniversary.
“We have the blessing of the Sacred Heart of Jesus living and beating, so to speak, in the Blessed Sacrament,” he said. “It’s a great gift.”
He considered it a privilege to spend most of his Priesthood ministering in parishes with Catholic schools.
“There is so much potential here,” he said of one such school. “I think the key for us right now is to be very Catholic, stress the universality of the Church, the oneness of the Church and unity in the Body of Christ.”
Preceding him in death were his parents and two brothers, Ralph R. Korte and Stephen C. Korte.
Surviving are: two brothers, Michael Korte and Walter Korte and their spouses; three sisters, Cathy Buncher, Casilda Kekeisen, Virginia Watson and their spouses; 19 nieces and nephews; and 48 great-nieces and great-nephews.
Burial was to be in the family plot at St. Michael Cemetery in Steelville.
