Deacon Lenz retires after 45 years

By RENEE WEBB
Content and Design Coordinator

After 45 years in active ministry, the Diocese of Sioux City’s longest serving deacon recently retired.

Deacon Bob Lenz of Pomeroy, a member of the deacon class of 1980, officially retired on Feb. 4. His most recent assignment was serving at the merged parish of Our Lady of the Plains that has three secondary churches including Lake City St. Mary, Manson St. Thomas and Rockwell City St. Francis.

“It’s been a very good, fulfilling ministry for me and I would highly encourage any young man to seriously consider it,” said the 80-year-old deacon, noting that Our Lady of the Plains covers all of Calhoun County and he was the only deacon.

Always active in his parish, he noted the diaconate allowed him to be of even greater service.

“It was good for our marriage,” said Deacon Lenz, who served in many parish ministries with his wife Maureen such as marriage prep and teaching confirmation. “It was good for our family. In fact, we have a son who was ordained a deacon about 10 years ago in the Omaha Archdiocese.”

Deacon LenzThe deacon noted he had the privilege of vesting his son who works as a full-time pastoral minister at St. Francis Cabrini Parish in Omaha.“Our kids are all very actively involved in their parishes and I think they saw our involvement, so it carried through with them,” said Deacon Lenz, who added that he has also had the privilege of baptizing all 19 of his grandchildren. “Every one of them was a special moment.”

Prior to starting the formation process for the diaconate, he pointed out that he and his wife were fairly involved in ministry at what was then St. Mary Parish in Pomeroy. He believes that is why his pastor at the time, Father Larry McCarty, suggested he check out the newly established diaconate program in the diocese.

“That spurred me on a little bit and so I did some reading about it, and then I applied,” said Deacon Lenz.  “Back then it was only a three-year program. There were seven of us ordained – the first cohort educated in the Sioux City Diocese.”

The first two permanent deacons of the diocese were Bill Berger and John Heffernan, both now deceased. They completed diaconate formation in the Archdiocese of Omaha and were ordained in 1977. It was about that time that Bishop Frank Greteman initiated a formation program for the diaconate in the Diocese of Sioux City under the direction of Father Roger Linnan.

Deacon Lenz acknowledged that back when it first started, not many of the diocesan priests were very excited about the permanent diaconate because there were about 110 active priests in the diocese – about three times as many as there are today - so they didn’t really see the need. He also noted that early on they were still working out how to best utilize deacons.

“Because it was all new, we worked slowly to get involved,” said the deacon, who noted that after a few years the priests warmed up more to the idea and use of deacons.

Deacon Lenz assisted his pastor, Father Ross Caniglia, at a Mass last December with visiting priests Father Shane Deman and Father Travis Crotty.

Ordained on May 24, 1980, the deacon pointed out that he was just 34 years old.

“You were supposed to be 35 to be ordained, but my pastor at the time had some health issues and he needed assistance, so Bishop Greteman was able to dispense that age limit for me,” he said.

Besides the ministry he had already previously been involved in with his wife, Deacon Lenz said as a deacon he assisted at one weekend Mass each week and preached monthly in all three churches of the parish. His primary long-term ministry was visiting the Pomeroy care center as well as shut-ins. That was a service he embraced for 40 years each week up until the Covid pandemic hit.

“After Covid, I decided it was time for some lay people - Eucharistic ministers - to get involved. They are who now the ones doing it,” he said.

For the last 14 years or so, he ministered on a weekly basis at the correctional facility in Rockwell Center. When the priest was available, the pastor would celebrate Mass and the deacon would assist.

“If he had other commitments, then I do a Scripture Communion service with the prisoners,” said Deacon Lenz. “That’s been very special. We don’t get a big attendance, but for those who do come, they haven’t been involved in church for a long, long time. It’s a way for them to get back into practicing their faith.”

In addition, for 13 years he worked part-time for the diocese as the outreach coordinator for retired priests.

“Those were the years when I learned wisdom from everyone I had contact with,” he said. “They were a special group. That was a growing experience.”

Through the year, he has served five bishops – Bishop Greteman, Bishop Lawrence D. Soens, then bishop now Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo, Bishop R. Walker Nickless and Bishop John E. Keehner.

Deacon Lenz also noted that the parish communities he served also changed through the years due to pastoral planning. At the time of his ordination, he served in Pomeroy and Palmer. Next, it was Manson and Pomeroy. For a number of years, he served the cluster made up of parishes in Manson, Rockwell City and Pomeroy. The current Our Lady of the Plains Parish was officially established in July of 2024. St. Mary Church of Pomeroy, his home parish, has closed.

“Over these last couple years of pulling everybody together for Our Lady of the Plains, I’ve never had so much support from parishioners, encouragement and kind words,” said the deacon, who added that the parish has really come together.

While officially retiring, Deacon Lenz doesn’t intend to completely bow out of everything.

“I will still help out. I’ll go to the prison when Father can’t and if he wants a weekend where he doesn’t want to preach, I’ll still do that,” said the deacon, however, growing mobility issues will prevent him from serving at the altar. “I’ll still be available when the need arises.”

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Top photo: Deacon Lenz processes into the church with the Book of Gospels last spring.