Monsignor Paul A. Lenz, C’46, S’49, D’95, received the Seminary Lifetime Achievement Award during the annual Alumni Day Mass and Banquet at Saint Vincent Seminary. In his remarks honoring Msgr. Lenz, Father Justin Matro, O.S.B., Rector, noted that Monsignor Lenz “has served the Universal Church as a missionary, both at home as well as abroad…. Monsignor Lenz was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown in 1949, where he served in a number of parishes and worked in the Diocesan Chancery as the Director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. In 1970 he volunteered to serve as a missionary in Paraguay with the Guaranii, an indigenous South American people.

“His missionary activity continued when he was named Director of the National Black and Indian Mission Office in Washington. This bureau was established in 1874 as a Catholic advocacy office to assist Native Americans in their dealings with the federal government. Monsignor Lenz served as its executive director for nearly thirty-five years when he retired in 2009. Msgr. Lenz, now serves as the vice postulator for the cause of canonization of Blessed Kateri Tekawitha, the Lily of the Mohawks.

“Monsignor Lenz has served as a member of the Council of Priests for the Archdiocese of Washington and as a representative for Cardinal James Hickey on the Spanish Apostolate Committee for the Archdiocese of Washington. He serves on the Saint Vincent Seminary Board of Regents and established a Seminary Scholarship in honor of the National Black and Indian Mission Office. In 1995, he was honored by Saint Vincent Seminary with the degree of Doctor of Divinity, honoris causa.

“It is therefore, with profound gratitude for the outstanding service he has rendered to Saint Vincent Seminary and to the universal Church that we honor him this evening.”