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Former newspaper editor Msgr. Hayden dies at 90
By Nissa LaPoint
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Msgr. Carl Hayden |
Msgr. Hayden was born April 3, 1921, in Edwardsville, Ill., to Carl and Esther (Hessel) Hayden. He graduated from St. Ignatius High School and later Loyola University in Chicago in 1942 with honors. He received seminary training at St. Thomas Theological Seminary, now St. John Vianney Theological Seminary, in Denver. He was sent by Bishop James Duff, the first bishop of the Diocese of Grand Island, Neb., to attend Denver’s Register College of Journalism. He was later ordained Nov. 30, 1945, at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Grand Island by Archbishop Edward J. Hunkeler.
Nebraska ministry
He first served in the Grand Island Diocese as temporary administrator of Sacred Heart Parish in Shelton, Neb., before he was named assistant at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Grand Island. He served as editor of the West Nebraska Register for 21 years, 17 of which he also served as chancellor of his diocese.
Msgr. Hayden saw the Register as an important way to build up the faith of Nebraska’s Catholic population. Along with other diocesan editors, he collaborated with staff at the Denver Catholic Register in producing and distributing weekly publications.
“The Register helped people in small dioceses in a special way to get an international outlook on the Church,” Msgr. Hayden told the Denver Catholic Register in March 2000. “I really believe that the Register System and other Catholic presses, along with the Catholic school system, are two of the key areas that sustained the Church through the middle of the last century.”
He taught religion and Latin for 20 years at Mary’s High School in O’Neill, Neb., and Central Catholic High School in Grand Island. He was named papal chamberlain in February 1949 and a domestic prelate in November 1963. He was appointed pastor of St. Mary’s Cathedral in Grand Island in 1964 until June 1973 when he became pastor of St. Joseph’s Parish in Kimball, Neb. He retired from ministry in 1996 and lived in Denver until 2008 when he moved to Gering, Neb.
Denver ministry
During his retirement, Msgr. Hayden regularly offered Mass at Mother of God Church and at Higgins Plaza retirement home, both in Denver, and St. Peter Church in Greeley. He also offered Mass at the Denver International Airport and spent hours hearing confessions and counseling inmates.
Msgr. Hayden is survived by a brother, Thomas, of Chicago; nieces and nephews.
A Mass of Christian Burial was held Oct. 21 at St. Joseph’s Church in Kimball, Neb., with Bishop William J. Dendinger and other priests from the Grand Island Diocese concelebrating. Burial was at Mount Calvary Cemetery in Platteville, Wis.
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