Parish members at St. Viator Catholic Community in Las Vegas stopped by the Parish Center on Sunday to celebrate a significant milestone: the 60th jubilee of Fr. Larry Lentz, CSV. He currently serves in part time sacramental ministry at the parish after having been its Parochial Vicar from 2015 to 2020.

Fr. Larry Lentz, center, surrounded by clockwise from left: Associate Kim Martinez, Fr. Richard Rinn, Fr. Dan Belanger, Fr. John Eustice, Fr. Bill Haesaert, Associate Tommy Gugino, Associate Janet Manfredi, Associate Anthony Gugino and Associate Rosy Hartz

But it was not only parishioners who celebrated with Fr. Lentz, many of the Viatorians from the Las Vegas region came to offer their congratulations on his six decades as a Viatorian. They included professed and associates who, through their friendship and collaboration personified just how Fr. Lentz likes to sum up his approach to ministry:

“It’s not just about my God and me,” Fr. Lentz says. “It’s about my brothers and sisters — and me — in community that makes all of this apostolic work able to be lived out in a genuine way.”

Fr. Larry Lentz grew up being taught by Viatorians at Griffin High School for Boys in Springfield, and in his early ministry he followed in their footsteps. He earned an undergraduate degree in English and did graduate work at Cambridge, before carving out a career at Saint Viator High School, where he went from English teacher and department chair, ultimately to principal and president.

Yet, he would go on to spend even more time during his 60 years as a Viatorian in pastoral ministry, serving at St. Viator Parish in Chicago and Maternity BVM Parish in Bourbonnais, before heading west to serve as rector of the Guardian Angel Cathedral in Las Vegas.

Fr. Larry Lentz admires his cakes.

He now calls Las Vegas home after having served as Assistant Provincial of the Viatorian Community, from 2013 to 2017, and in particular overseeing the development of new associates, before returning to serve at St. Viator Catholic Community.

In reflecting on his 60 years as a Viatorian, he thinks back to the first Viatorians he met, back at Griffin High School, where nearly all of the faculty were priests or brothers.

“They were just nice guys. They got along well with one another,” he says. “How they lived in community made a big impression on me.”