In this Year for Priests, few stories could be more surprising, or inspiring, than this one, about a priest named Msgr. Leon Dobosiewicz, from Florida Catholic:

At 90, the monsignor, who is parochial vicar at Holy Spirit Parish in Lake Wales and celebrates Mass at the Mission of St. Leo the Great in Nalcrest, doesn’t mind confessing, “I’m one of the oldest active priests in the Orlando Diocese. Maybe the oldest.”

Here is an extraordinary man who, at his own expense, bought a closed bank in Polk County, remodeled it into a Catholic mission, and presented it to the Orlando Diocese. He also flew airplanes, was a certified scuba diver, maneuvered his own speedboat and excelled at downhill skiing.

“I can attribute my calling mostly to my uncle,” he said. “He was a dedicated priest who kept his church alive in the height of the Depression, when a total of $10 in the weekly collection plate was a rarity. I watched as he applied his priestly skills in harsh circumstances, and I knew I wanted to be like him.”

Msgr. Dobosiewicz and his two brothers and three sisters grew up in Erie, Pa., in an energetic family, proud of their Polish roots. There is even proof of nobility on his mother’s side of the family tree. He graduated from Erie Academy High School in 1939. He then went to Gannon University in Erie, at that time a two-year Cathedral College, and on to St. Francis College in Loretto, Pa. — founded in 1845 by the Brothers of the Third Order of St. Francis of Assisi. That’s where he earned his bachelor’s degree in philosophy and theology.After graduating from St. Mary Seminary in Wickliffe, Ohio, he was ordained to the priesthood April 6, 1946, at St. Columba Cathedral in Youngstown, Ohio, by Bishop James McFadden.

As a priest, he inspired his parishioners at St. Joseph the Provider Church in Campbell, Ohio — where he served as pastor for 20 years — to raise their own funds to build a school, a gym, a convent and complete the construction of their church.

“Ours was a territorial parish, predominately Polish,” he said, “so we had a common denominator. Same mentality, ideals. The building project became our common goal, and we were on fire. Everybody worked diligently, faithfully. Our secretary cut her own salary to $50 a month. At the end of seven years of bingo, car raffles and festivals, we paid off our debt.”

After an age-required retirement from the Youngstown Diocese in 1984, and hearing a fellow priest glorify a Florida vacation — “He told me it was like going to heaven”– Msgr. Dobosiewicz headed for Clearwater where his sister resided.

For several years, he lent a hand in both the Orlando and St. Petersburg dioceses, until — at Bishop Norbert Dorsey’s invitation — he settled in the Lake Wales area where he founded the Mission of St. Leo the Great in Nalcrest, a community of retired letter carriers.

“People sometimes ask what I might say to young men who are discerning their calling to the priesthood. Well, we live in a consumer society, chasing happiness that is not here. It’s personal, temporal. Families are unstable. But serving Christ and serving others — it’s a wonderful life.

“And, since priests have no children of their own to rear, there’s time to develop ourselves, our personalities, our gifts.”

Read more at the link.