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- MSGR.THOMAS G. LEAVEY
- 50TH ANNIVERSARY AS A PRIEST
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Celebration of Msgr. Thomas G. Leavey
June 24, 2001
29 Years of Service to the
Parish of St.William the Abbot
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Msgr. Thomas G. Leavey With all the trials and tribulations of the post-conciliar changes and the church renovation project fading into memory, one very important person did not forget the accomplishments of Fr. Leavey. In April of 1985, the phone rang in the rectory. Bishop McGann had personally called Fr. Leavey to inform him that he would be honored with the full title of Monsignor. While Fr. Leavey was humbled by the honor he would do very little to draw attention to his new title. In fact, he once said, "it would be nearly 10 years before I became accustomed to people calling me monsignor." No grand ceremonies or elaborate celebrations would be appropriate for this humble man. The honor was gratifying but Msgr. Leavey never wavered from his commitment to the high priesthood of Jesus Christ. The title was flattering but all his efforts were always to give glory to God and to bring Christ to the people of Seaford. If honor was bestowed on anyone, it was the parishioners of St. William the Abbot who have always been tremendously supportive with their prayers, encouragement, and resources. I guess one could say that a pastor is only as successful as the people he serves.
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- Homily by Rev. Msgr. Walter E. Simmons on the occasion of the Eucharistic Liturgy Celebrating 50th Anniversary of Ordination to the Priesthood of The Rev. Msgr. Thomas G. Leavey, June 24, 2001.
- “A certain bishop had been renowned as a brilliant speaker and writer. His only limitation was that he tendered to repeat the same illustrations in most of his homilies and writings. One day he was being interviewed by the press and he provided them with the text of a talk he was about to give, but requested that the reporters not print the stories lest he be unable to make use of them on later occasions. Well, on the following morning there appeared in the newspapers the substance of the previous day’s interview including this phrase near the end of the article ‘There are a number of other stories about the bishop, which unfortunately are UNPRINTABLE.’
- Each of you, I am sure, must have his or her favorite Msgr. Leavey stories. However all of them are PRINTABLE, indeed, Msgr. Leavey is just about the most patient and gracious person one could ever hope to meet.
- The received Beatitudes do not refer to the blessedness that awaits us in heaven. They rather refer to an almost god-like joy, which a faithful follower of Christ has already attained.
- When I think of Msgr. Leavey, I can not help but associate him with the 7th Beatitude:
- ‘Blessed are the clean of hear, for they shall see God.’
- Clean of heart here, means single-mindedness. It is applied to an individual who act from unmixed motives. Anywhere one accompanies Msgr. Leavey the conversation is invariably about the parish, the dioceses, the Universal church and the priesthood.
- Msgr. Tom, We your relatives and friends, but most of all the people of St.William’s some of whom you have served for 30 years, a Diocesan record, are here to assure you that they have never, ever, taken you or your ministry to them for granted.
- You have been a dedicated spiritual and an administrator leader, a rare combination indeed.
- Actually it has been 50 years since you began to bring the Mass and Sacraments to the fortunate parishioners. You have served people of all ages and economic, educational and social conditions. You have unhesitatingly reacted to reach out t the CEO’s or the janitor, the surgeon or the homemaker or a senior citizen in a nursing home, high school teenager, rich or poor, African, Caucasian or Asian. All have been recipients of your respect. No single dimension of the HUMAN CONDITION has been outside your care.
- The late Henry Noven wrote: ‘It is not our first solemn words which make us faithful but the exhaustion of our hearts in love.’
- You have never hesitated to be available to anyone in need. You have found the Lord not in fancy vestments or in fixed formulas but in the often confusing and sometimes messy lives of your people.
- We live in a throwaway age, when many approach life, including marriage, with the attitude of ‘Well, if it doesn’t work out I will try something else.’
- You, on the contrary, have been the steadfast long-distance runner.
- You have viewed the administration of the Sacraments, although at time fatiguing, not as a burden, but as a very special moment in the parishioners’ lives, whether they be Sunday afternoon Baptism, First Holy Communion, Penance Services, wakes, weddings, graduations or visiting the sick.
- Tom Leavey born in New York City of three children of Andrew Leavey and Mary Heavey soon moved to Jackson Heights, Queens on 92nd Street. Joan of Arc School was on 82nd Street and on the first day of school she walked her sons to school. On the way back, she heard the patter of footsteps behind her. Young Tommy was following her home. This afternoon we are relieved that she returned Tom to school.
- Later Tom attended Blessed Sacrament School that was closer to his home.
- Tom first job was at Peter Reeve’s store. Later, after his father opened Leavey’s Grocery Store in Jackson Heights, Tom and his brother Bill would deliver groceries for him.
- Tom played basketball, stoop ball and would ice skate on the frozen tennis courts.
- Tom also attended Saint Ann’s Academy where he admired the Marist Brothers.
- Tom’s family just sort of assumed that he would become a Priest. So he went on to Cathedral College on Washington and Atlantic Avenues, Brooklyn. The he was off to six years of major seminary work in Lloyds Harbor. As a seminarian he was well liked by his classmates.
- During his ordination ceremony on June 9, 1951 at Saint James Cathedral young Father Tom heard the archbishop say, “Know what you are doing; Imitate which ministry you are celebrating. Model your life on the mystery of Our Lord’s Cross.’
- In 1951 the Holy Father was Pius XII and the Archbishop was Archbishop Molly. Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays were in their rookie years. In October of 1951 Bobby Thompson hit the shot that was heard around the world. The President of the United States was Harry Truman and a new Chevy or Ford cost just seventeen hundred dollars. Tuition at Chaminade was twenty dollars per month and at Bishop McDonnell it cost $250 a semester. An ice cream cone cost ten cents; a subway ride was a nickel and a gallon of gas of twenty cents.
- In April of that same year a 1951 General of the Army, Douglas Mac Arthur having been summoned home from Korea, rode along 5th Avenue, amid cheers of thousands in a hugh ticker tape parade. Late he would address a Joint Session of Congress with his final sentence “Old soldiers never die, they just fade away.’
- Following his ordination, Tom was extremely good to his mother and father often driving them in the summer to missions in Virginia where his sister, Sister Joan had been stationed.
- Father Leavey’s first assignment was at Saint Christopher’s’ parish in Baldwin where he soon would become recognized as a gentle, favorite confessor. He organized the boys’ baseball team, who had no uniforms, yet managed to win the CYO Championship in their very first year. As anew ordained priest he was not allowed to own an automobile, yet he managed to make frequent trips to South Nassau Hospital carrying Holy Communion by way of the local bus line.
- He also organized the parish’s CCD Program for grades 1 through 12 and setup after school release times for the children as well as the bus routes. The senior high class attended school at the Knights of Columbus on Grand Avenue, where over 2000 children attended classes during Father Leavey’s tenure.
- I can’t seem to recall the name of the pastor of Saint Christopher’s, but it was rumored that he could be very difficult at times. Despite this Father Leavey managed to live with the pastor longer then he had with his own family.
- On Columbus Day in 1960 as Father Leavey was on his way to a rally in Brentwood he received word that he was being reassigned to Saint Joseph’s Parish in Garden City. The pastor of Saint Joseph’s at the time as Msgr.Vincent J. Baldwin. So you might say he went from one Baldwin to another Baldwin. By the time he was leaving Saint Christopher’s Father Leavey had developed a list of over fifty homebound parishioners whom he had faithfully bring Holy communion to at least once a month.
- At Saint Joseph’s he conducted a complete census of the entire parish. He made sure that the teen dances were always held on nights before school holidays so as not to compete with homework assignments. For eleven years the late Bishop Baldwin who was Chancellor and Vicar General heavily relied him upon. Father Leavey spent daytimes in the Chancery as well as administering Confirmation across Long Island.
- Another one of Father Leavey’s accomplishments was as Director of Religious Education where he was always faithful to details and was know to ‘count the house’ at masses. He was exceptionally good with the children of the parochial school and would do anything that they would ask him to do.