Rev. Réal "Joe" Corriveau, O.M.I.

Rev. Réal "Joe" Corriveau, O.M.I., 88, died on December 10, 2020 at Lowell General Hospital, Lowell, MA. He was born in Winthrop, ME, a son of the late Joseph and Rose-Marie (Couture) Corriveau.

He was educated in Winthrop public schools where he was active in sports and was honored as outstanding student during his senior year in high school. He attended the University of Maine, Orono from 1951 to 1952 then entered the Oblate College and Seminary, Bar Harbor, ME from 1952 to 1955. He entered Our Lady of Grace Novitiate, Colebrook NH in 1955 where he made his first profession of vows on August 1, 1956. He attended the Oblates' major seminary in Natick, MA where he took final vows September 8, 1959. He was ordained to the priesthood in Augusta, ME by Bishop Jean-Louis Collignon, O.M.I. on June 24, 1961.

Prior to his assignment to the Oblate Province of Haiti, he did advanced studies at Catholic University of America in 1962-1963 and also studied at Conception Abbey, Missouri. On July 18, 1963 he arrived in Haiti, where he served as Parochial Vicar until 1967. Subsequently, he served as Pastor in 13 parishes, his longest being at Carice from 1973 to 1988. At St. Helen Parish, Carice, he built roads and bridges, established a credit union and built an agricultural co-op.
Fr. Joe served as Vicar-Provincial of the Haiti Province from 2000-2006. In 2007, at the age of 75, he was founding pastor of St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Fond-Oies. When the Port-au-Prince earthquake hit in 2010, destroying the church, he raised the necessary funds and re-built the church. He was present for the formal consecration on the Feast of St. Anthony, June 13, 2018.
Fr. Joe returned to the United States in 2019 and joined the St. Eugene House Community in Lowell, MA. On February 26, 2020 he was assigned to the U.S. Province of the Missionary Oblates with continued residence at St. Eugene House. A true missionary at heart, he was a valuable resource to the Director of the Oblate Foreign Mission Office. In the Fall of 2020, he retired to the Immaculate Heart of Mary Residence in Tewksbury, MA.
In addition to his Oblate family, he is survived by two sisters, Gabrielle Wagner of Lewisville, TX, and Lorraine Fleury of Winthrop, ME, as well as several nieces and nephews.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, funeral services will be private. Interment will be in the Oblate Cemetery, Tewksbury, MA.

Donations in memory of Fr. Corriveau may be made to Oblate Foreign Mission, PO Box 9088, Lowell, MA, 01852. All donations received will be forwarded to St. Anthony of Padua Church in Fond-Oies.