The Lord's maverick, from here to eternity

He is: Father Leonard Dubi, ordained in 1968 by Cardinal John Cody. Pastor of St. Victor Parish, Calumet City since 2005, former pastor of St. Anne’s in Hazelcrest for 21 years.

At his 40th jubilee Mass in May, 2008, Father Dubi described his journey this way:

“All my life has been a mystical adventure of growing more deeply in union with God.” Everything, including my wonderful but dysfunctional family of origin, the schools I attended, people who befriended me and whom I befriended, the jobs I’ve held, parishes I’ve served, causes I’ve espoused, sins I’ve committed, gift of recovery from addiction I have been given – all has been the stage on which God has led me in the dance of life, a spiraled choreography that has led me deeper into Mystery.”

There is no mold for those called to holy orders – if there were, Father Len Dubi would have shattered it.

Family life: “I’m the adult child of an alcoholic who became an alcoholic. My parents were both from alcoholic families. My father’s father died when my dad was 14. My mother’s parents were divorced and, my mother was in St. Hedwig’s Orphanage [that later became Niles College Seminary] for a time. I have a younger brother who is very spiritual, married with seven children.”

Growing up:  “I went to Warren Grammar School and Bowen High School, with Protestants and Jews, blacks and Hispanics. My parents weren’t married in church. They sent me to church, but when I figured out they were telling me to do something they weren’t doing, I stopped going.

“But they gave me good values: do not steal, do not lie. They taught me compassion, and my dad taught me a real openness. He was a steelworker. He’d bring home African-Americans and Mexicans. I didn’t appreciate it as a little boy. I was alienated from him. Thank God that God gave us enough time. I was able to really just forgive him, because I realized where he was coming from.

“He was very proud of me and he loved me very much. I was a pastor and brought him to live in my rectory for three months before he died in 1995. My mother died in 1988. She saw me ordained and saw me as a pastor at St. Anne’s in Hazel Crest.”

The call: “I really believe I was called to the ministry. My homeroom teacher for four years at Bowen was saintly Mary Buckley. One spring day we were both on lunch room duty and she says, ‘Leonard, have you ever thought of being a priest?’ She didn’t wait for my answer. She said, ‘I have a brother who’s a priest in Spokane Wash. I’ve watched you for four years and I think you would be a wonderful priest.’”

Work: “I went to work for Andy Frain and was put on as an usher at St. Peter’s in the Loop. I could see people’s burdens lifted when they’d come out of confession. I thought, ‘this has to be a powerful thing these priests are doing.’ One of the ushers, a seminarian from Mundelein, always asked me, “When are you going to go to the seminary?” I found the ushers I liked and respected best, who were the friendliest and funniest were the seminarians. It became a thought in the back of my mind.

“A couple days before the end of August 1960 I went over to Quigley, and asked to attend there. I had never served Mass! I didn’t know anything. But amazingly I had taken four years of Latin at Bowen because I wanted to be a doctor.

“I was in the first work crew Msgr. Frank Brackin organized from fifth year students at Quigley to go out to St. Hedwig’s Orphanage and help transform it into Niles Seminary. I brought things home, because they were giving them away, little chairs and things. And my mother remembered sitting on those chairs in the orphanage. Isn’t that incredible?”

Being a pastor: “I’ve always interviewed in the places where I’ve gone. I’ve talked with the previous pastor and associate, principal, nuns. I’d make my presentation to the parish council and answer their questions. I was frank with them about being a recovering alcoholic priest; that I’d want to bring12-Step work into the parish. About how important church-based organizing and social justice/social service was to me. ‘I’ll work with you, but I don’t want you to put all the work on me.’ They agreed. They’d write a letter and send it to the placement board and I’d publish it in the bulletin. So I always had a collective leadership. They knew what they were getting.”

Lessons learned striving for social justice: “You can’t fix everything with a hammer, and that’s the way I used to approach things. It’s negotiation, it’s information, preparing people. That’s what I really concentrate on, trying to create coalitions. We’ve been successful in doing that since 1981 [in the 2nd Congressional District] with Hispanics, blacks and whites open to it. I’ve made a commitment to the South Suburbs. I know the area and love the places where you can build coalitions to cross racial barriers.”

Prayer life: “I define my life as being a contemplative in action. For almost 30 years I’ve done transcendental meditation. I just transform it into prayer. I’m aware of the presence of God, the breviary, intercessory prayers, retreats. I’ve been in a priests’ prayer group ever since I came out of Guest House almost 28 years ago.” He goes to confession weekly, “I think that’s important.”

Day off: “I’m very disciplined about that. It’s a ‘holy day of obligation’ to me. I like to walk, rest, read. I have a Kindle. It’s wonderful. I’m re-reading ‘ Aztec’ by Gary Jennings. I just came back from Cirimex, in Guadalajara, Mexico. My Spanish is now at the point where I don’t have to ask people to speak slower, I understand them.” He’s also chaplain for an AA group that has three retreats a year at Villa Addolorata in Wheeling. He’s chaplain Saturday nights at Ingalls Hospital and says Mass there.

Favorite saying: “For those who love God, all things work together for good.” (Rom. 8:28). It’s Bernard Lonergan’s ‘law of the cross:’ God can bring good out of everything, even the death of his son.”