Kansas priest marks 20th anniversary of heart transplant

Published: 2008-04-22

CONCORDIA, Kan. (CNS) -- At age 51, Father Richard Lutgen suddenly faced mortality. He had collapsed during Mass at a mission parish in western Kansas and the next day found himself at a far-away hospital, where doctors said he had less than a year to live without a new heart. Twenty years later, that new heart continues to beat. He recites the April 16, 1988, transplant date as if it were his birthday. "I was near death, and I was resurrected. ... I call it a gift of life," Father Lutgen told The Register, newspaper of the Diocese of Salina. "It gave me 20 more years to serve as a priest. That's what keeps me going," he said. Father Lutgen retired in 2002, but has not stopped working. For the past four years, he has been a chaplain at a retirement complex in Concordia. He celebrates Mass six days a week and helps the local pastor with hospital visits and funerals.

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