Positivity: Priest Celebrates 50 Years Of Service
Published: Monday, July 6, 2009 1:19 AM CDT
Father Leonard Kayser of Yankton has reached special milestone in his life as he celebrates 50 years in the priesthood.
“It’s been quite a journey,” Kayser said. “I’ve been very happy. I don’t think I would ask anything to be different.”
An Emery native, Kayser began going to seminary during his junior year of high school.
However, he said he knew he wanted to join the priesthood for years by that point.
“Already in grade school — fourth grade — I admired so much the pastor we had, and I just kind of thought, ‘I want to do what he does,’” Kayser said.
He went to Onamia, Minn., for two years of high school and two years of college, and then moved on to St. Paul Seminary for two years of philosophy and four years of theology. He was ordained in 1959.
Kayser then began serving numerous parishes in eastern South Dakota — 11 in all.
“I sometimes told people, ‘Either I’m in such demand that I don’t stay any place long, or people can’t put up with me and they get rid of me in a hurry,’” he said.
Kayser said many changes have taken place in the church since he began serving — changes, he feels, that have been for the better.
“Just that loosening up and not being so darn sure of ourselves, giving answers for everything, was quite a breakthrough,” he said.
The parishioners have benefited from this relaxation because they are allowed to be more involved in the running of the church itself, Kayser said.
“At least in the parishes I’ve served, they’re most grateful for being invited to be more participatory,” he said. “When I was first ordained, you just ran the show. Everything. … Now the laypeople are doing all that stuff. And they should be. It’s their church. We’re just there to serve for a while.”
While serving at the Siegel parish in Mayfield, Kayser also worked as the chaplain at the Human Services Center. His 13 years there were spent “just listening, mostly.
“And those people (were) just most grateful, because most of them had never had anybody take them seriously, never had anybody listen to them, and so they were just very grateful,” Kayser said. “Usually, we didn’t have any answer for them, they had to work those out themselves.
“One thing I’ve found that I seem to have had a gift of (is) asking the right questions,” he said. “They’d say something and I’d say, ‘Well, what about this? Why that?’ And that would help them to explore that a little further.” …..
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