Rev. Msgr. Leo E. McFadden
Deceased: 2013-02-09
Diocese: RENO
ICTE Fall: 1985
Longtime Northern Nevada religious figure Monsignor Leo McFadden died Saturday, February 2, 2013.
McFadden, who died at the age of 84, was born July 29, 1928 in Portland, Ore., and moved to Nevada at the age of 4, according to a 2010 article in the Diocese of Reno’s Northern Nevada Catholic.
McFadden was ordained in 1953 in Rome and began serving as a priest in Nevada in 1955, according to the publication. It said he founded the Catholic Newman Club at what would later become the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and also was the Catholic Chaplain at what is now the University of Nevada, Reno.
He spent nearly 20 years in publications, writing for and editing Nevada Register, being a Pulitzer Prize-nominated columnist for the two papers which later merged to become the Reno Gazette-Journal, and reporting abroad for the National Catholic News Service, according to the Northern Nevada Catholic article. He resumed regular priestly duties in 1974 at Saint Teresa of Avilia Catholic Church in Carson City, the article said.
McFadden served as the pastor of Reno’s Our Lady of the Snows Catholic Church from 1976-1994, according to the church’s website, which notes that a great deal was done under his time there, including the remodeling of the church and the construction of a house for priests. He became a monsignor in 1977, according to Northern Nevada Catholic.
McFadden also served in the Nevada Air National Guard for decades, including time as an active-duty chaplain, the article said. He was the first Guardsmen chaplain to be a general line officer and also liased between the Air Force’s top chaplain and the Air Guard’s chaplain, according to Northern Nevada Catholic. He retired from the military in 1986, the publication said.
“The best thing I ever did with my life – and I knew from the sixth grade on what I wanted to be – was to be a priest, and the second best thing was to join the Air Guard because it really opened up the world to me,” McFadden told the publication.
McFadden retired as pastor for Our Lady of the Snows, but he still continued to celebrate Mass and also recently could be seen participating in funerals of prominent Northern Nevadans, including former state Sen. Bill Raggio, Peter D. “Mick” Laxalt, JK Metzker.
