A funeral Mass was to be celebrated for Msgr. Norbert Dietz Jan. 20 at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in University City. Msgr. Dietz, a longtime parish pastor, died Jan. 15. He was 94.
A native of St. Louis, he attended St. Louis Preparatory Seminary and Kenrick Seminary. He was ordained in 1949 at Kenrick Seminary by Archbishop Joseph E. Ritter. Msgr. Dietz earned a master’s in biophysics from St. Louis University in 1958.
His first assignment was as assistant pastor at Nativity of Our Lord Parish in St. Louis. He was assigned for graduate studies the next year. In 1951, he was named assistant pastor of St. Margaret of Scotland and in 1960 became assistant pastor of St. Stephen Protomartyr, both in St. Louis.
Msgr. Dietz taught high school, briefly at McBride High School, then from 1952-65 at Bishop DuBourg High School in St. Louis. In 1964, he was named director of St. Louis Preparatory Seminary North, becoming rector there a year later. In 1969, he was elected to the archdiocesan Priests’ Council and in 1970 became executive secretary for the Archdiocesan Commission for the Ministry and Life of Priests.
In 1972, he was named pastor of St. Timothy Parish in Affton and pastor of Incarnate Word Parish in Chesterfield in 1981. In 1989, he became senior priest in service at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in University City. He retired in 1992 with residence at Our Lady of Lourdes and then moved to the Regina Cleri residence for retired priests in 2011.
Reflecting on his priesthood, Msgr. Dietz said, “I am convinced in all my associations as a priest that God has given me a front-row seat to witness His astonishing workings in our world and in the multitude of years; to begin to become aware of how much was missed in the earlier years. God’s goodness fills the world, in those I know and in those I do not know, in the things I see and in the things I do not see.”
He is survived by two sisters, Rita Schnur of St. Louis, and Sister Theresa Dietz, SSND, of Chattawa, Miss. Burial was in Resurrection Cemetery.
