Bernard Joseph Nolker, C.Ss.R. () (September 25, 1912 – January 17, 2000) was an American member of the

Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer The Redemptorists, officially named the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (), abbreviated CSsR, is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of pontifical right for men (priests and brothers). It was founded by Alphonsus Liguori at Scal ...

, commonly known as the Redemptorists, who served as a

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

in Brazil for 45 years. He was named the first Bishop of the

Diocese of Paranaguá In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated ...

in 1963.

Biography

Nolker was born in

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

, and grew up in the Wyman Park section of North Baltimore. As a teenager, he was educated at the Redemptorist

minor seminary A minor seminary or high school seminary is a secondary day or boarding school created for the specific purpose of enrolling teenage boys who have expressed interest in becoming Priesthood (Catholic Church), Catholic priests. They are generally ...

North East, Pennsylvania North East is a borough in North East Township, Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States, northeast of Erie. Its name comes from its position in the northeastern corner of Erie County, despite being near the extreme northwest of Pennsylvani ...

, after which he was admitted to the congregation at their

novitiate The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian ''novice'' (or ''prospective'') monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether ...

in Ilchester, Maryland, where he professed

religious vows Religious vows are the public vows made by the members of religious communities pertaining to their conduct, practices, and views. In the Buddhist tradition, in particular within the Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions, many different kinds of r ...

as a Redemptorist. He studied for the

Catholic priesthood The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in common English usage ''priest'' refe ...

at Mount St. Alphonsus Seminary in

Esopus, New York Esopus ( ) is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Ulster County, New York, Ulster County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 9,548 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The town was named afte ...

, where he was ordained on June 18, 1939. Nolker had been serving as a missionary in Brazil since 1941, when

Pope John XXIII Pope John XXIII (born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death on 3 June 1963. He is the most recent pope to take ...

named him on January 7, 1963, to be the first bishop of the newly created Diocese of Paranaguá. He was consecrated a bishop by

Lawrence Joseph Shehan Lawrence Joseph Shehan (March 18, 1898 – August 26, 1984) was an American Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Baltimore from 1961 to 1974. He was made a cardinal in 1965. Shehan previously served as an Auxiliary Bishop of Baltimore f ...

, the

Archbishop of Baltimore The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Baltimore () is the archdiocese of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church in northern and western Maryland in the United States. It is the metropolitan see of the Ecclesiastical Province of Baltimore. The Archd ...

, on the following April 25. The co-consecrators were Manoel da Silveira d’Elboux, Archbishop of Curitiba, and Edward John Harper, C.Ss.R., the Bishop of Saint Thomas. As a bishop, he attended sessions two, three and four of the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...

and was then responsible for initiating the Council's reforms in the new diocese. The Diocese of Paranaguá is located in southeastern Brazil and the region contains semitropical forests, mountains and a

maritime Maritime may refer to: Geography * Maritime Alps, a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps * Maritime Region, a region in Togo * Maritime Southeast Asia * The Maritimes, the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Princ ...

region. In order to reach certain areas of the diocese, Nolker had to travel by horseback or a jeep. He served the diocese as its bishop for 26 years before Pope

John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

accepted his resignation on March 15, 1989, and he was given the title of bishop emeritus. Nolker died of

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome caused by an impairment in the heart's ability to Cardiac cycle, fill with and pump blood. Although symptoms vary based on which side of the heart is affected, HF ...

at St.

John Neumann John Nepomucene Neumann (, , ; March 28, 1811 – January 5, 1860) was a Bohemian-born American prelate of the Catholic Church. An immigrant from Bohemia, he came to the United States in 1836, where he was ordained, joined the Redemptorist ...

Residence in

Saratoga Springs, New York Saratoga Springs is a Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in Saratoga County, New York, United States. The population was 28,491 at the United States Census 2020, 2020 census. The name reflects the presence of mineral springs in the ...

, at the age of 87.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nolker, Bernard J. 1912 births 2000 deaths Religious leaders from Baltimore Mount St. Alphonsus Seminary alumni Redemptorist bishops 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Brazil Participants in the Second Vatican Council Roman Catholic missionaries in Brazil American expatriates in Brazil Roman Catholic bishops of Paranaguá

Biography

See also

References