Archbishop Curtiss ordains record number of deacons in Omaha

Published: 2005-12-06

OMAHA, Neb. (CNS) -- When Archbishop Elden F. Curtiss ordained 17 men to the diaconate in November, it was the largest class of deacons in the Archdiocese of Omaha since the program began more than 30 years ago. With the four men ordained two weeks earlier in the program for deacons in rural areas of the archdiocese, the 21 new deacons push the archdiocesan total to 194 permanent deacons. In addition to a record class size, the Nov. 5 ordination included another first: Deacon Tim Leininger was vested by his father, Deacon Jerome Leininger, who was ordained in the Diocese of Des Moines, Iowa, in 1974. "It was very touching because Tim's dad is a very sick man and by all accounts should be dead by now," said Father Rodney Adams, director of the urban diaconate program. "Just over a year ago Tim was at his father's death bed, but his dad wanted to live to see (his son's ordination) and he did," Father Adams told The Catholic Voice, Omaha's archdiocesan newspaper.

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