PEBBLE BEACH, Calif.—Father John Joseph Sorce, one of the founding monks of Our Lady of Mepkin Abbey in Moncks Corner, S.C., died on July 30 in Pebble Beach. He was 86.
Father Sorce was buried at San Carlos Cemetery in Monterey on Aug. 3. Bishop Richard J. Garcia of the Diocese of Sacramento officiated.
Born Dec. 12, 1924, in Memphis, Tenn., he was a son of John J. and Bess Findley Sorce, and attended Sacred Heart School.
He entered the Trappist community in Memphis and moved to the abbey in Moncks Corner, where he was later ordained a priest in 1952 by Bishop John J. Russell.
He was incardinated into the Diocese of Charleston, S.C., in 1961.
Father Sorce’s pastoral assignments included serving as an associate at Our Lady of Peace Church in North Augusta, Stella Maris Church on Sullivan’s Island, and St. Peter churches in Columbia and Beaufort. He also was a faculty member at Bishop England High School in Charleston and a chaplain in the U.S. Air Force.
Father Sorce retired in 1982 and moved to Pacific Grove, Calif. While there he served as a chaplain at the women’s prison in San Ramon.
He spent his remaining years helping at the Carmel Mission in Pebble Beach.