Rev. Daniel E. Keller
Deceased: 2010-03-08
Diocese: OMAHA
Seminary Graduation Year: 1982
For eight years, Father Daniel Keller lived and battled cancer, which claimed his life March 8, 2010 at the age of 53.
A funeral Mass was held March 12 at St. Robert Bellarmine Church in Omaha, where Father Keller was in residence on medical leave since 2002.
Entombment was at the Resurrection Cemetery Mausoleum in Omaha.
Father Keller is survived by parents, Lloyd and Janet Keller; siblings, Nancy Lee and Greg Keller; family and friends.
A licensed therapist, Father Keller worked at Catholic Charities starting in 1998 and held a part-time contract, working two days a week throughout his illness and maintaining a client load between 10 and 12, said Melissa Brestel of Catholic Charities.
Despite his illness, Father A was “incredibly effective” with his clients, and many were unaware of his illness, Brestel said. He believed in putting his clients first, and often said helping those in pain was his calling within his ministry, she said.
“We were all very blessed to have him in our lives, although he was with us for much too short a time,” she said. “Our department is hurting from this loss, but the lessons of grace, humility, and love are ones that Dan taught us, and I will forever be trying to live up to the example he gave us.”
Father Keller was a very caring, compassionate man, said Father Damian Zuerlein, pastor of St. Columbkille Parish in Papillion who was in the seminary with Father Keller.
He was dedicated to his friends, had a great sense of humor and was great at Italian cooking, which he picked up as a seminarian in Rome, said Father Zuerlein, who also was in a priest support group with Father Keller and the homilist at his friend’s funeral.
“As a priest, he was very good at reaching out to people who were sick themselves, even before his illness, or grieving, hurting families, people in domestic violence situations. That’s where his passion was,” he said. “You’ll run into a lot of people he visited in hospitals or helped through the loss of a loved one or in the midst of a divorce.”
Born in Fremontin 1956, Father Keller attended Westside High School in Omaha and the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. He attended seminary at College of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn., and the Pontifical North American College in Rome. He later received a master’s degree in family therapy from the University of Nebraska in Lincoln.
Ordained in 1982 by the Archbishop Daniel E. Sheehan, Father Keller served in several parishes in the archdiocese, including St. Cecilia and St. Wenceslaus, both in Omaha, St. Mary in Bellevue, St. Joseph in Wisner, and St. Bonaventure in Columbus.
He was a member of the Archdiocesan Personnel Board from 1984 to 1988 and was director of the rural diaconate program from 1991 to 1995.
A lover of music and travel, Father Keller played the guitar and sang – at one time as a member of the Chamber Singers at the College of St. Thomas and of a local priest barbershop quartet.
While Father Keller was at the Air Force Academy for one year right out of high school, he had dreams of flying, Father Zuerlein said.
“I think through the priesthood and through his call, God called him to a different kind of flying,” he said.
As a priest, Father Keller still lived an adventurous life, taking a train across the Soviet Union and traveling through countries with friends from North American College and visiting India. He traveled all over the world and was fluent in Italian and German.
“He probably had more adventures in the priesthood than he would have in the Air Force … that sense of reaching the high points,” Father Zuerlein said. “He did it spiritually instead of in an airplane.”
In a statement he made about his priesthood, Father Keller said, “On my ordination card, I chose Micah 6:8; and as I reflect on what it means to ‘Act justly, love tenderly, and walk humbly with my God,’ I believe that ‘Jesus wept’ because he cared in profoundly human ways – understanding that our early struggles and triumphs really do matter.
“As Jesus walked among and looked into the eyes of those who were struggling, grieving, ostracized and abandoned, he embraced and honored them as he talked, listened and broke bread with them,” Father Keller said. “For me, the priesthood means striving to be a glimmer of that physical presence of God’s love.”
