Upon hearing of John Henry Newman's new school, Catholic University of Ireland, young Butler was the first to sign his name upon the roster.

[2] For the first three years of his priesthood, Butler remained in Ireland where he was appointed to a curacy in Wicklow County at St. Nicholas Parish in Donard.

Bishop John Baptiste Miège made Butler associate pastor of the Cathedral of Immaculate Conception.

Although stationed in Leavenworth, Butler spent much of his 8 years traveling the state of Kansas, offering Mass, dispensing sacraments, and assessing the progress of Irish immigrants.

On February 1, 1887 Butler organized a final meeting of the Colonization Board; the next day, a group of men headed west on the train to start the community.

At Butler's Requiem Mass two days later, P. B. Cahill of Macon, Missouri gave a moving sermon: ...The historian of the diocese, when recounting the actions and deeds of the pioneer priests of St. Louis diocese, can't pass over lightly the latest urn closed in the priests' lot in Calvary Cemetery.

I believe that the pang of separation, and the subsequent sad feeling of exile from friends and country, leave an impress upon the heart that can never be removed.