Elden Francis Curtiss

The Most Reverend Elden Curtiss
Archbishop Emeritus of Omaha
Curtiss in 2013
See	Omaha
Appointed	May 4, 1993
Installed	June 25, 1993
Term ended	June 3, 2009
Predecessor	Daniel E. Sheehan
Successor	George Lucas
Orders
Ordination	May 24, 1958
Consecration	April 28, 1977
Personal details
Born	(1932-06-16) June 16, 1932 Baker City, Oregon
Nationality	American
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Motto	That We May All Be One

Styles of Elden Francis Curtiss
Reference style	The Most Reverend
Spoken style	Your Excellency
Religious style	Archbishop
Posthumous style	not applicable

Elden Francis Curtiss (born June 16, 1932) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Helena from 1976 to 1993, and Archbishop of Omaha from 1993 to 2009.

Early life and ministry

Elden Curtiss was born in Baker City, Oregon, to Elden and Mary (née Neiger) Curtiss; his father was of Irish descent and his mother Slovenian. The eldest of four children, he has three brothers. Curtiss studied at St. Edward Seminary in Kenmore, Washington, and was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Francis Leipzig on May 24, 1958. He then did pastoral work in Lakeview, La Grande, and Jordan Valley, as well as serving as a hospital chaplain.

Curtiss furthered his studies at Fordham University, University of Portland, and University of Notre Dame; he holds a Master of Divinity degree and a Master's degree in education administration. After serving as director of information and superintendent of schools in the Diocese of Baker, he became a professor and president-rector of Mount Angel Seminary.

Episcopal career

Bishop of Helena

On March 4, 1976, Curtiss was appointed the seventh Bishop of Helena, Montana, by Pope Paul VI. He received his episcopal consecration on the following April 28 from Archbishop Cornelius Power, with Bishops Thomas Connolly and Francis Leipzig serving as co-consecrators. He selected as his episcopal motto: "That We May All Be One" (John 17:21).

During his 17-year-long tenure, Curtiss encouraged the greater participation of the laity, establishing the Program of Formation of Lay Ministry in 1982. He also led the diocese in celebration of its 100th anniversary.

Archbishop of Omaha

Curtiss was later named the fourth Archbishop of Omaha, Nebraska, by Pope John Paul II on May 4, 1993. Succeeding the retiring Daniel Sheehan, he was formally installed on June 25 of that year.

Curtiss began monitoring the orthodoxy of the teachings at Creighton University and other Catholic institutions in 1993. In 2007, the director of the Creighton Center for Marriage and Family co-authored an essay in U.S. Catholic magazine that said unmarried couples should be allowed to live together if they planned to get married. Curtiss later denounced the article and severed the archdiocese's ties with the center, saying, "If what [teachers are] teaching is not consistent with the teaching of the Church, somebody has to point that out. And it needs to be the archbishop, the head of the diocese."

In 1996, he declared that Catholics in the archdiocese could not teach, administer Communion, or serve on parish councils if they publicly differed with the Church's teachings on abortion, euthanasia, or the ordination of women. During the 2008 presidential election, Curtiss implied that Catholics should not vote for Democratic nominee Barack Obama because of the latter's position on abortion. While acknowledging that a Catholic may vote for a pro-choice candidate "in the presence of proportionate reasons," he added, "I cannot conceive of a proportionate reason that could outweigh the deaths of nearly 50 million children killed by abortion."

During his tenure, Curtiss established three parishes, five churches, and six schools; a Review Board for handling sexual abuse cases; ministries for Hispanic, Sudanese, Korean, Native American, and African American communities; the Annual Appeal; St. Cecilia Institute for Laity Formation; and Institute for Priestly Formation. He also ordained 63 priests during his tenure.

Upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 75, Curtiss submitted his letter of resignation pro forma to Pope Benedict XVI in June 2007, but was allowed to continue his ministry. His resignation was later accepted on June 3, 2009, and his successor, Bishop George Lucas took office on July 22, 2009.

Response to sexual abuse claims

During his tenure as the Bishop of Helena, Curtiss chose to reassign a priest who had been accused of pedophilia in 1959, later admitting that he had not properly examined the church's personnel file on the individual concerned. Curtis faced similar criticism in 2001 in regard to a priest accused of accessing child pornography. Curtis, it was alleged, had failed to bring the case to the attention of the authorities, and had chosen to send the priest for counseling and to reassign the priest, removing him from his high-school teaching position but reassigning him to a middle-school.

In 2009, Curtiss stated that the bishops had "learned the hard way", but that the church was better now that it had gone through the process of responding to the sexual abuse issues.