Stephen Aloysius Leven

Stephen Aloysius Leven (April 30, 1905 – June 28, 1983) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church.

[1] He studied for the priesthood at St. Mary's Seminary in Houston, Texas, for a year before entering the American College of the Immaculate Conception in Leuven, Belgium in 1922.

[2] On one occasion, the KKK burned a cross as a personal threat at a corner where Leven was accustomed to preach.

[1] During World War II, he was the official representative of the Holy See to nine German POW camps in Oklahoma.

[3] At the Council, he defended non-Catholics by saying, "It just is not bearable to hear them talked about as some kind of strange entity or freak.

[2] He also initiated the permanent diaconate program, which trained and ordained more than sixty men to serve as deacons in parishes and missions across the diocese.