Fr. Leonard Klein

Leonard Klein, the former Editor of the Lutheran Forum and Lutheran minister, who was received into the Catholic Church 2003, will be ordained to the Catholic Priesthood in Wilmington, Delaware, on Saturday, April 1, 2006. This is no April Fool's joke! According to the web page of the Administrative Offices of the Diocese of Wilmington, Klein was accepted as a seminarian for the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington in 2003, and began his studies at St. Mary's Seminary and University in Baltimore, Maryland. Since his ordination to the Transitional Deaconate in July 2005, Klein has reportedly been working in parish ministry at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Wilmington. He will celebrate his Mass of Thanksgiving (First Mass) on Sunday, April 2, 2006 at 12:00 p.m. at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, Shipley and Weldin Roads in Wilmington, Delaware. The report on the Diocesan web page went on to give the following biographical details about Klein:

Rev. Mr. Leonard R. Klein was born in Easton, Pennsylvania. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Religious Studies from Yale College, a Master of Divinity from Yale Divinity School and a Master of Sacred Theology from Christ Seminary-Seminex. Ordained to the Lutheran ministry in 1972, Rev. Mr. Klein served as a Pastoral Intern, Associate Pastor, Pastor and Senior Pastor for Lutheran congregations in New York and Pennsylvania. He has served on numerous boards and committees and has written and lectured on various topics during his career as a Lutheran minister.

Rev. Mr. Klein and his wife of 36 years, Christa, have three adult children....

"Although widowed men and men who have served as Protestant ministers before converting to Catholicism have been ordained to the Priesthood in the past in our diocese, this will be the first time a married man will be ordained to the Priesthood," explained Bob Krebs, spokesman for the diocese. "This is a first for our diocese, but the situation is not unique. About 100 married, former Protestant ministers are serving as Roman Catholic Priests in the United States."

A former student of mine, also a Catholic convert, now in priestly formation for the Diocese of Charlotte at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, ends his phone conversations about Klein's ordination with erstwhile fellow Lutherans from North Carolina by saying, "Y'all come home now, hear?"