A Fr. Leonard Barbian ”bobblehead” doll?St. William’s Parish in Waukesha is a warm, caring Catholic congregation. For several years now, Fr. Leonard Barbian has served as Pastor and a steadying, guiding influence to over 2,500 Waukesha families.
Our family moved to this Parish in 2000. The youth program had an energy and commitment which brought our family in. Early on, it was refreshing to experience the “banter” between Fr. Leonard and his then-young protégé – Father Mark Payne.
Let’s take a step back…Fr. Leonard was raised in West Allis and brings a candor and light sense of humor which is enjoyed by all ages. His good nature often belies the experience he has gained through a lifetime of service to our local Archdiocese. He relates to all, and has that very rare ability in conversation to make you feel that you are, at that time, the most important person in his life.
Back in 2000, Fr. Mark was a young, earnest, almost naïve (in a good way!) priest commissioned to St. William’s to work with and learn from Father Leonard. Leonard’s years…OK…
decades of experience would serve him well as he tutored Fr. Mark in his development. This partnership at the helm of the Parish was serendipitous!
Mutually bound and dedicated to the good of the Parish, both nurtured a wonderful youth ministry program while engendering a loyal, devout following. During this time, Fr. Leonard’s education of Mark could best be described as “mentoring with a grimace and a sigh”. His feigned exasperation at Mark’s verbal miscues would be followed by a warmly humorous “parent to child” type of guiding comment which every parent in the audience could relate to. And…inevitably Mark would take these good-natured ribs and try (and I do mean “try”) to “tweak” Leonard at the next Mass. Again, as parents we could relate to what Mark was attempting – all the while our experience told us the young child rarely, if ever, gets the better of a verbal exchange with their senior. Particularly if that “senior” was someone as sage as Fr. Leonard…
This went on for several years and the Parish was much better for it. In retrospect, the “youth ministry” was occurring at (2) levels: the kids were getting their underpinnings in the Catholic faith while Mark was gaining invaluable experience under the watchful eye of Leonard. A subtle transition also occurred during this time – Mark’s enthusiasm and exuberance were actually keeping Leonard younger and sharper: He could not let his guard down for even an instant for fear that Mark would actually gain traction in his attempts to “win” even a modest victory in their verbal repartee. Interestingly, the genuine sincerity behind their interplay served as a lesson to us all about the values of respect and interest towards each other.
Well…time inexorably carries on; Leonard’s mentoring resulted in Mark eventually ministering to his own Parish,
St. Veronica’s in Milwaukee, and Fr. Leonard’s homilies and Masses at St. William’s are still punctuated by his trademark “OkeeDokee…” The Christian spirit and Faith Community continues to be well-served by both of these exemplary, caring, inspirational individuals.
Recently, we parishioners were offered the opportunity to buy a rare, much-coveted, limited production Fr. Leonard “bobblehead” doll. As I look at (and admire!) ours while writing this article, a small part of me can’t help but wonder if Fr. Mark is waiting for one of these to hit Ebay so he can get one for himself. And then, at last, he could get the last word in on Leonard…
