Father Art: An Intro

Monsignor Arthur Michael Leary
Born: December 15, 1903
Died: May 19, 1968
Relation to Author: Grand Uncle
Brother of Helen Keenan (nee Leary)

Arthur Leary, the second oldest of Walter Leary and Ida Elizabeth Leary (nee Barry), was a Monsignor in the Catholic Church. To the family, he was known as Father Art. In future posts, I'll look at his work in the church. But here, I am going to introduce him and give an overview of his life.

Monsignor Leary began his post-high school education at Potsdam Teachers College, graduating in 1922. After teaching in public schools for 6 years, he got a bachelor of science degree from Fordham University in 1928. He entered Wadhams Hall Seminary in Ogdensburg, New York (which closed in 2002 due to low enrollment - a sign of changed times) the same year. After one year he transferred to Louvain Seminary in Belgium and was ordained in July of 1934.

When he returned to the US he would spend the rest of his career, excluding getting his master's degree, in the Ogdensburg Diocese (there are 196 diocese in the US). Just to give you some flavor for the diocese, it was created in 1872 out of the Albany diocese and covers 12,000 square miles including Lewis, Jefferson, St. Lawrence, Franklin, Clinton, and Essex Counties plus parts of Herkimer and Hamilton Counties. In 1949 it had 118,682 Catholics, 154 parishes, and 171 priests including Father Art.

Arthur Leary's first job after being ordained was as vice principal of St. Mary's Academy in Ogdensburg. He was named principal in 1936. In 1939, Father Art was transferred to St. John's Church in Plattsburgh, New York where he was principal of St. John's Academy. In 1943 he received a master's degree from Catholic University in Washington, DC. After receiving his master's degree, Father Leary was named Secretary of Education for the Ogdensburg diocese.

In August of 1953, Arthur Leary was awarded the honor of Domestic Prelate with the right to the title of Rt. Reverend Monsignor by Pope Pius XII. On April 14, 1959, Monsignor Leary was named pastor of St. Mary's Church in Massena, New York (which I believe was the biggest parish in the diocese).

The work that most interests me, and will be the focus of further posts on Father Art, is his education work. His obituary said that as Secretary of Education, he was instrumental in updating curriculum for the Catholic schools in upstate New York and had a major role nationally as well. I'll be exploring that in the future.