In the presence of his parishioners and some 10 brother priests, Father John K. Butler was installed as the eighth pastor of St. Michael Parish, West End, by Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., during a Mass Aug. 21.

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Ordained by Bishop O’Connell on May 31, 2014, in St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral, Trenton, where he served as parochial vicar, Father Butler  most recently served as administrator of St. Michael Parish before being named pastor on March 20.

Father Butler had a long career as a corporate attorney before answering the call to the priesthood. The son of the late Claire Garvey and John K. Butler, he was born March 10, 1959, in Orange. He attended the public Lincoln elementary School, Newark, before beginning a Catholic school education in Our Lady of the Valley School, Orange.

Completing his high school years in Seton Hall Preparatory School, Father Butler earned a bachelor’s degree in U.S. History from Columbia University, New York, in 1981. He earned a juris doctorate from Fordham University School of Law, Manhattan, in 1985 and embarked upon a quarter of a century as a corporate attorney, eventually earning partnership in a law firm in Princeton.

As a Princeton resident, he, joined St. Paul Parish and became actively involved as an extraordinary minister of the Eucharist and the Knights of Columbus where he eventually achieved the rank of Grand Knight.

In 2009, he began seriously discerning a call to the priesthood and, with the support of his family, he embarked on studies that led him to the priesthood.

At the time of his priestly ordination, Father Butler told The Monitor how much he had enjoyed the experience of serving in a parish during his summer breaks from the seminary at St. Catharine-St. Margaret Parish, Spring Lake, and shared how much he was looking forward to parish life.

Since his ordination, Father Butler also had an opportunity to serve as Catholic chaplain of Rider University, Lawrenceville.