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70-year-old grandfather ordained to priesthood to work in Massachusetts
Posted March 20, 2004 , By Joshua LeBlanc
MASSILLON, Ohio - (via telegram.com) A 70-year-old widower with 10 children and almost two dozen grandchildren began a new career Saturday as a Roman Catholic priest.
Bishop Thomas Tobin of the Youngstown diocese ordained Samuel Leonard on Friday in St. Barbara Church. He will work in New Bedford, Mass., where his religious order, the Institute of the Incarnate Word, runs St. Kilian Church.
“I’ve always wanted to be a priest,” Leonard said as he accepted hugs and handshakes from friends and family members after his ordination.
With thoughts as a boy of entering the priesthood, the Garfield Heights native graduated from the former Brunnerdale High School in Canton. But he fell in love and married the former Mary Steigerwald, and they were married for 42 years until her death in 1998.
“My wife and I were always active in the Church,” Leonard said. “I even quit my job in 1979 to devote myself to full-time lay ministry, and watched God do some miraculous things.”
Leonard joined the Institute of the Incarnate Word in Cheverly, Md., in 1999 and was ordained a transitional deacon in Washington, D.C.
“Shortly after my wife died, I thought about the priesthood, but it didn’t seem possible because of my age,” he said.
Leonard said a friend told him about the Institute of the Incarnate Word, which welcomed him with open arms despite his age.
Leonard said his superior suggested that he be ordained in Stark County because “all my family and friends are here.”
Tobin said the work of a priest is to proclaim the mystery of Christ’s birth, death and resurrection, to build communities of faith and to serve those communities.
“His role as a father does not end with ordination,” Tobin said. “As a priest, he will be the spouse of the church, which is the bride of Christ, and become a spiritual father to many in the Christian faith.”
One of Leonard’s first actions as a priest was to help distribute Communion to the more than 500 people who attended the Mass, including members of his family.
“He’s always been active in the church,” said Paul Leonard, one of six sons. “When Mom died, I just knew he was going.”
Samuel Leonard also knew. “It was the most natural thing in the world to become a priest,” he said.
The 20-year-old Institute of the Incarnate Word was founded in Argentina and has 200 priests working in parishes and seminaries around the world.
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