TLAXIACO, MX — Fr. John Reuter, a priest of the Diocese of Green Bay who served over 56 years in Mexico, died on March 27, 2026, at the age of 84, in Tlaxiaco, Mexico.
Fr. Reuter was born in Appleton, Wisconsin, on December 14, 1941, the first of three children of Frederick and Genevieve (Theiss) Reuter. His home parish was Holy Cross Parish, Kaukauna. He attended high school and junior college at Sacred Heart Seminary, Oneida. He continued to study philosophy and theology at St. Paul Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota, graduating in 1967.
On May 27, 1967, Fr. Reuter was ordained a priest at St. Francis Xavier Cathedral by Bishop John Grellinger. Fr. Reuter began his ministry as assistant at St. Joseph Parish in Wautoma and then at St. Mary Parish in Menasha.
Impressed by the great need for priests in the Diocese of Tapachula, Mexico, where he had served as a temporary deacon, he was granted a leave of absence to do pastoral work in the Diocese of Tapachula, July 1, 1970. There, he served as vicar of the central region of the diocese; coordinator of the priests’ senate; and a consultor of the Diocese of Tapachula.
He also served in Escuintla, Chiapas, for one year as assistant and then for half a year as pastor. When Escuintla was divided in two, Fr. Reuter went to serve in the new part, Acapetahua, Chiapas, and was its founding pastor. He served there for seven and a half years.
On September 10, 1979, he moved to work in the Archdiocese of Oaxaca, Mexico. In Oaxaca, he was assigned to the parish of Santa María Yucuhiti as pastor. He was the vicar of the Tlaxiaco District; a member of the priests’ senate for three three-year terms. He was granted multiple extensions for permission to work in Mexico from 1984 onward, with permission granted in 1991 to accept pastoral assignments in the Archdiocese of Oaxaca.
In 2009, he was granted permission to continue working in the archdiocese until age 75 if he wished. Fr. Reuter served as pastor amidst 25,000 Mixteco Indians in 23 communities in the mountains of southern Mexico until his death.
He wrote the following: “What joy it is to serve among those for whom he formed his kingdom — the blessed poor … those left behind by the world but first in Christ’s heart.”
A memorial Mass will be held on Friday, April 24, at 11 a.m., at Holy Cross Parish, 309 Desnoyer St., Kaukauna, Wisconsin, with Bishop David Ricken as celebrant. Burial took place in Mexico, quickly following his death, attended by multitudes of the faithful.