By Dan Russo
Editor
This installment of the Persons, Places and Things column is jumbled up a bit. I’m going to start with a thing, then feature a place, then a person.
The thing — contest results. The theme of this year’s Catholic Messenger subscription drive was “Connecting the Catholic Community.” As part of that, we held a contest. The parish that signed up the most new subscribers (both print and electronic editions) by March 31 could win a party for the community.
The results were tabulated based on the overall percentage increase of new subscribers. I’m pleased to announce that St. Thomas More in Coralville is the winner. I’ve been in touch with the parish and will report on the details of the upcoming gathering when the plans are finalized. Thanks to all the pastors, parish staff and parishioners who support The Messenger.
The place — Last week Sacred Heart Cathedral in Davenport hosted the vigil and funeral Mass for Bishop Emeritus William Franklin. It’s easy to be taken away by the dramatic gothic architecture and intricate sacred art of the building, which sits on a high point in a neighborhood called “Cork Hill.” Both the outside and inside of the place prompts visitors to look up, probably because the creators wanted to encourage people to think about heaven.
I found out this week that there’s a less obvious, but no less profound place on the cathedral property that encourages you to look down instead. In an open area between the rectory and church is the Sacred Heart Memory Walk. Flat gray stones on the ground contain the names of people who have died or places that are no longer there, like the cathedral school. Each piece of the path contains the words “Jesus, remember me (or us),” an allusion to the good thief’s words to the savior.
This walk reminded me of the ongoing, eternal bonds between the living and the dead though the communion of saints. The reality of this Catholic belief can be hard to grasp day-to-day, but comes to the forefront at funeral Masses. Reading the names on the memory walk preserved in hard rock made me appreciate the “living stones” of the Church that Peter talks about in his letter (1 Peter 2:4-5).
The person — One of the most seasoned “stones” of the Church in southeast Iowa was at Bishop Franklin’s funeral. Father Lou Leonhardt, 96, is the oldest living priest in the diocese. I found him sitting at a table in the church hall after Mass enjoying lunch with friends. The Lone Tree resident was in town to pay his respects to his seminary classmate who he had first met in the 1950s. The priest, who wears hearing aids, had difficulty hearing some the homily that day, but he was looking forward to watching it on video later with the volume up.
“I thought I’d be dead 30 years ago,” Father Leonhardt told me with a smile. “I didn’t think I’d be here.”
Father Leonhardt was administrator of St. Joseph Parish in Hills, St. Mary parishes in Lone Tree and Nichols before retiring. Despite his age, he is still presiding at Masses and helping out in other ways. He attended his friend Bill’s ordinations as a priest and later a bishop.
“We rejoiced to gather in Sacred Heart Cathedral in Davenport while he was installed as our bishop,” recalled the senior priest in a reflection he wrote for The Catholic Messenger. “At that time in 1994, I was pastor at St. Bernadette Parish in West Branch. Bill never accepted my offer to get away from diocesan work by hiding in my parish, but he became more or less a presence at the annual class gatherings when I hosted them at St. Joseph Parish in Hills.”
Congratulations to the contest winners and thanks to all the living stones out there who keep our spiritual house standing.
(Dan Russo can be contacted at russo@davenportdiocese.org.)
