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A Message From The Author
On May 8, 2010 as I sat alone at the hospital bedside of the man who was my mentor and dear friend for over two decades,
Msgr. Leo Leclerc, he said five words to me I will never forget. He said: “Put it in a book.” No other explanation was
necessary, for I knew exactly what he meant. As a passionate writer, there was one story I was always eager to tell and that
is the life story of this remarkable man.
Over the years he resisted the idea of writing his memoirs or putting his life in print. But on this day, something had
changed him. He was facing death with the faith, courage and conviction he lived out his whole life, and he now realized it
was God’s plan to tell his story to others. On the evening of May 11, 2010 he called me on the phone from his hospital bed,
and with weakened voice he said, “I know I have been hesitant before about telling my story, but now it is apparent to me
that the whole process of my dying says something and I want you to share it. I love you and I trust my name is safe in
your gifted hands.”
I was overwhelmed by the offering of trust that I was just given by this humble, holy man. Over the next week, as his health
allowed, we spent extensive amounts of time together working through the details of when, and how this project would unfold.
As happened so often in the past when we worked together, we would always differ on the magnitude of the finished
product. My motto was always “go big or go home.” He being more modest and a lot less marketing oriented than I, had a
smaller plan in mind. We found common, holy, ground somewhere in the middle of our ideas and here in your hands is the
result of that compromise.
Two things were important to him and were prerequisites to his giving his blessing to go forward: one, that it would not be
an historical, chronological treatise on the “life of Leo” as he said. Lastly, that it be inclusive in that it be available to all,
and proceeds would benefit Catholic education in whatever area it was sold. He wanted this to be more of a focus on priesthood,
vocations and the fulfillment of our baptismal call to holiness, rather than his own life. This could be accomplished
and illustrated by the many stories and testimonies told on the memorial websites, created for him as he lay ill.
So my friends, guided by prayerful conversations with God, inspired by the spirit of Leo, and taken from my own personal
experience of him, here is the story of one of God’s most faithful servants; one who loved all and was loved by all, ordained a
priest to bring God to people and people to God.
I pray that my words and pictures have done justice to your memories of the man who was the “face and hands of Christ”
here on earth.
Carol Anne Dube