Born in Camperdown, Victoria, to John and Mary, nee Thompson, Leo was the first child in a family of eight, four brothers and three sisters. Two of his brothers, Chris and Pat are also Columban Priests.
Leo was educated at Sacred Heart Convent, Tatura, Lemnos and Tatura State Schools, Mercy Convent Shepparton and Cobden State School.
He left school in 1936 at 14 years of age and worked on several farms until 1939 when he contacted the Columban Fathers in Essendon who advised him to further his education at St Patrick’s College, Ballarat. After matriculating, he went to St Columbans for three years formation and then to Corpus Christi diocesan seminary in Werribee for four years of theology.
Leo was ordained by Archbishop Mannix at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Melbourne, on July 25, 1948. He was the first ordained foreign missionary from Cobden parish.
In 1948, he was sent to a Columban Mission in Korea just in time to flee to Japan as the Korean War erupted and the communist north expelled Christian missionaries. Leo spent almost 40 years in Japan.
After a year of language study at the Columban house in Wakayama City, he was appointed to the Tokyo Archdiocese to start a new mission in Kamogawa, a coastal town about 100 miles from Tokyo.
Subsequent appointments were to Ryujin (1958-1960) Kumamoto City (1960-1962), Arao (1962-1964), Sakistu (1965), Tokyo as historian and regional correspondent (1966-1967), Shimasaki (1967-1968) and Choshi (1968-1976).
After a holiday in Australia in 1976 Leo served for three years at St Columbans, Essendon, as Bursar and House Superior after which he returned to Tokyo to serve again as Columban regional correspondant. From early 1981 to 1986 he was Director of an English teaching centre in Kawasaki established by The Good Shepherd Movement with five or six young American teachers.
In 1986 Leo was again appointed to Australia. That year he helped with a mission appeal in the parishes of Ballarat diocese. In 1987 he helped to conduct mission education and The Far East appeals in the archdiocese of Adelaide.
From 1988 to 1998 he served as chaplain to Nazareth House, a Home for the Aged in North Turramurra, Sydney, while living at St Columban’s College nearby. After celebrating his Golden Jubilee of ordination in 1998, Leo retired to St Columbans, Essendon. He continued to be active and busy at photography, making photo-greeting cards, gardening, letter writing and as a member of Religious of the Third Age (ROTA) community.
In 2014 Fr Leo moved to Mercy Health Care in Colac where he is near friends and family.
When asked about his life, Fr Leo said, "It has been quite an adventure."
Related links
- Read more from The Far East, July 2018
