The Rev. Timothy R. Lannon, the president of Creighton University, was transported to the Creighton University Medical Center after he excused himself in the middle of the annual alumni Thanksgiving Day Mass at St. John’s Church.
“Fr. Lannon stopped in the middle of the Eucharistic prayer and another priest took over seamlessly,” said Dr. Robert Heaney, the John A. Creighton Professor, a professor of medicine at CUMC, and an alumus who was present at the Mass. “Most people wouldn’t have noticed.”
According to Heaney, after Lannon excused himself, he went to sit down in the sacristy. Before the sign of peace, the Rev. Don Doll approached Heaney to tell him that Lannon was sitting in the sacristy. Heaney asked Dr. Cecile Zielinski, also a professor of medicine, to help him check on Lannon.
“We helped Fr. Lannon take off his vestments, assessed the situation very briefly, and got him to lie down on the couch in the parish office,” Heaney said. “I immediately called Public Safety and asked them to send a car to the parish office to transport Father to the CUMC Emergency Room.”
According to Dr. Edward O’Connor, the provost of Creighton University, Heaney and Zielinksi encouraged Lannon to “go get checked out.”
“He wasn’t feeling well that day. It wasn’t something sudden in Mass. He had told others that morning he wasn’t feeling well but he wanted to do mass,” O’Connor said.
According to an email sent to faculty, staff and students by O’Connor and Dan Burkey, the senior vice president for operations at Creighton, Lannon’s personal physician has advised him to take “some time off to rest and recuperate upon his release.”
“With the semester coming to an end, this is a natural time to do that,” the email also stated.
According to Kim Manning, the assistant vice president for marketing and communication at Creighton, Lannon was going through some tests and evaluations at CUMC.
He was released from the hospital Wednesday afternoon.
No further medical information has been released. Both O’Connor and Manning want to stress that once Lannon gives them more information and his permission to release that information, they will pass the information along to the Creighton community.
“Based upon when [Lannon] wants information shared, our intention is to share it through the campus community,” Manning said.
O’Connor stated that the information in the email sent out to the community is all he and administration knows.
“We [also] want to respect Father’s medical privacy,” O’Connor said.
During Lannon’s time off, O’Connor and the senior vice president of Creighton will take over some of the president’s duties, which normally happens when Lannon takes vacation time or is away on business, according to Manning.
If any members of the community would like to wish Lannon well, please send cards, notes, or wishes to Shirley Spain at [email protected].
The Rev. Timothy R. Lannon announced Monday that he will retire as Creighton’s president at the end of the 2014-5 academic year.