Background
Curtiss, Elden Francis was born on June 16, 1932 in Baker, Oregon, United States. Son of Elden F. and Mary (Neiger) Curtiss.
archbishop bishop Catholic priest
Curtiss, Elden Francis was born on June 16, 1932 in Baker, Oregon, United States. Son of Elden F. and Mary (Neiger) Curtiss.
Bachelor, St. Edward Seminary, Seattle. Master of Divinity, St. Edward Seminary, Seattle, 1958. Master of Arts in Educational Administration, University Portland, 1965.
Postgraduate, Fordham University. Postgraduate, University Notre Dame.
He served as Bishop of Helena from 1976 to 1993, and Archbishop of Omaha from 1993 to 2009. Early life and career
He was assigned to parishes in Lakeview, Louisiana Grande, and Jordan Valley, Oregon, and served as a hospital chaplain. Curtiss furthered his studies at Fordham University, at the University of Portland, and at the University of Notre Dame, acquiring a master of divinity degree and a master of arts degree in education administration.
He served as director of information and as superintendent of schools in the Diocese of Baker.
In 1970, he joined the faculty of Mount Angel Seminary. In 1972, he was appointed president-rector of the seminary.
Bishop of Helena
On March 4, 1976, Curtiss was appointed the seventh Bishop of Helena, Montana, by Pope Paul VI. He was ordained as a bishop on April 28, 1976, by Archbishop Cornelius Power of Portland, Oregon. He selected as his episcopal motto: "That We May All Be One" (John 17:21).
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. Upon reaching his 75th birthday in 2007, Curtiss submitted his resignation, as required by church law. In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI accepted his resignation and named George J. Lucas as his successor.
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.
Member of National Catholic Educational Association (bishops and pres's committee college department, Outstanding Educator 1972).