Father Edward O. Custer, MM

Born: December 29, 1944
Ordained: May 27, 1972
Died: March 6, 2024

Father Edward O. Custer died on March 6, 2024 at Phelps Memorial Hospital in Sleepy Hollow, New York. He was 79 years old and a Maryknoll priest for 51 years.

Edward (Ted) Ott Custer was born December 29, 1944, in South Bend, Indiana, to Edward W. and Ruth Deegan Custer. He and his siblings grew up on the spacious grounds of Healthwin TB Hospital in South Bend, where his father was a medical director. The family attended Christ the King Parish, where all the Custers went to grade school. After four years at St. Joseph’s High School, he spent a year at Notre Dame. It was toward the end of his freshman year that he decided he wanted to be a missionary to Latin America. In a vocation catalogue shown to him by his pastor, he found Maryknoll, which he considered his best chance to realize his aspiration. He applied and was accepted, entering the Maryknoll College Seminary in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, in September of 1964. He received a BA in Philosophy in 1967 while at Glen Ellyn and a BD (1971) and an MA (1972) in Theology from the Maryknoll School of Theology. Father Custer was ordained on May 27, 1972 and assigned to the Maryknoll Mission Region in Central America to work in Nicaragua.

Father Custer arrived in Managua, the capital, on April 6, 1973 amid the rubble resulting from a terrible earthquake, and at the time when serious opposition was beginning to threaten the 40-year-old Somoza dictatorship. With another Maryknoll priest and Brother, Father Custer promoted lay ministries, the “Delegates of the Word” and basic Christian communities. He especially became known for his work with youth baseball, a sport Nicaraguans love. Here he started a Little League baseball team, which besides having a winning record, brought many of the youth to catechism and First Communion.

In 1979 the Sandinistas won their long-running revolution, and Father Custer returned to the United States for a spiritual renewal course and a rest. By early 1980 he was back in Central America, this time in Guatemala, where oppression and violence were increasing. He worked six months in the city and then a year in an Indian apostolate in the Petén. When the political situation became too risky in the fall of 1981, he returned, once again, to the United States where he worked briefly on Justice and Peace issues.

By December of that year he was back in Nicaragua, just in time for the burgeoning Contra War. An initial group of four Maryknollers accompanied the people in the Matagalpa area, which was in the middle of the country, in social transition amid increasing violence. In two parishes, Terra Bona and San Dionisio, Father Custer again promoted lay ministries and Catholic life, working closely with the local bishops. More than two thousand took part in retreats of evangelization, and several vocations to religious life took shape. When the Contra War ended, Father Custer continued with his pastoral work as the people began to rebuild their country. And there were always the baseball teams!

In July of 1996, Father Custer was assigned to the United States to work in the Development Department. Stationed in the Chicago, Illinois Development House, he visited parishes and schools in the Midwest to preach and talk about Maryknoll and Mission. After completing his Development Department assignment and taking a brief sabbatical, he was assigned back to the Central America Region in August 2000, returning to Nicaragua to work in Terra Bona, about 60 miles from Managua. After a few years, he returned to Parroquia Nuestra Señora de Fátima in the Rancho Grande section of Matagalpa, where again, baseball helped fill the church with young people. Also with lay help, the literacy rate in the city improved.

Upon the closing of Maryknoll’s work in Nicaragua in 2008, Father Custer began work in the Cathedral in Flores, Petén, Guatemala, Vicariato Apostolico de El Petén and San Juan Apostol Parish. Aside from his pastoral ministry, he worked with the formation of lay leaders and fomenting youth participation in the Church.

Father Custer returned to the United States and was assigned to the Senior Missioner Community in October 2022. He resided at the Society Center in Maryknoll, New York.

Father Custer is survived by his cousins, Judy (Frank) Castrina of Carlisle, PA, and Kerry (Marcia) Deegan, as well as his fourteen nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his brother, Daniel Custer, and his sisters, Connie Barrett and Mary Ruth Brinkman.

Wake services were held on March 14, 2024 at the Holy Spirit Chapel and the Queen of Apostles Chapel at the Maryknoll Society Center. Mass of Christian Burial followed at 11:00 a.m. and was concelebrated in the Queen of Apostles Chapel. Father Joseph La Mar was the Celebrant and homilist.  Brother John Blazo read the biography and Father Fernand Gosselin read the Oath. Burial followed in the Maryknoll Society Cemetery with Father Juan Zuñiga presiding at the graveside prayers.