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Father
Lenard Collins, CSC
Position:
Director of the Candidate Program in Mexico
Location: Guadalupe, Nuevo Leon, Mexico
Date of Birth: September 13, 1942
In
his 33 years as a priest, Father Lenard Collins has been involved
with inner city and minority ministries. Underlying his many
and varied positions is his desire to minister to the poor
and less fortunate.
| "I
went to The City of St. Jude in Montgomery, Alabama as
an associate pastor but ended up doing that and teaching
in the high school as well as working in the grade school.
I even drove the school bus for athletic activities." |
Here
is his story . . .
During
high school, I felt I had a vocation to be a priest and the
road to the seminary was simple, since my uncle, A. Leonard
Collins, was a Holy Cross Priest at the University of Notre
Dame. I was born the year he was ordained and so my name:
Leonard James Collins.
I
graduated from Notre Dame in 1965 and received an MA in Theology
from Holy Cross College in Washington, DC in 1968. There,
I began working in the African American community. I was ordained
on April 12, 1969.
Community
Organizing as a Means to Social Justice
My first assignment was as an associate pastor at
Sacred Heart Church in New Orleans, Louisiana. I started an
outreach program to the Black community and also began some
community organizing. Three years later I went to The City
of St. Jude in Montgomery Alabama. This diocesan project included
a parish, grade school, high school, social service center,
hospital and nursing school, all about 99 percent African
American. I went as an associate pastor but ended up doing
that and teaching in the high school as well as working in
the grade school. I even drove the school bus for athletic
activities.
 After
five years in Montgomery, I served as pastor of Our Lady of
Sorrows Parish in Houston, Texas. It was an inner-city parish
about 80 percent Mexican American, 10 percent African American,
and 10 percent undocumented. There, I became involved with
the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) and community organizing
on a bigger scale. To this day, I am convinced that the IAF
way of community organizing is the best way to go for real
social justice change on a parish level.
Shift
from Parish Ministry to Internal Ministry
After nearly 17 years of parish ministry, I moved to Holy
Cross High School in San Antonio, Texas to begin our province’s
theological formation program. In 1988, I was elected provincial
and served nine years as provincial. My time as provincial
had many rewards. I attended and participated in the Council
of the Congregation and saw how international Holy Cross is
and what a blessing we are to the church. During one meeting
in Rome, we concelebrated Mass with the Pope in his chapel.
During another meeting in Ghana, we toured a slave castle
in Elmina.
 Starting
Something New in a New Land
Now, I am in Guadalupe, Nuevo Leon. My Council and
I thought we could take our founder as an example and start
something new in a new land for us. Father Moreau sent men
and women off to North American when there were real needs
in France. We did the same. It seems to be paying off. We
have two Mexicans in vows, three in the novitiate and six
in the candidate house with about 40 seeking admission.
I
also help out in La Luz Parish, which is a Holy Cross Parish.
There is an interesting story here as well. Five years ago,
Sto. Tomas Moro Parish just became too big to handle. So the
Archbishop divided the parish and gave us the choice of which
part we wanted. We opted for the poorer part, even though
we had put a lot of Holy Cross money into the living space
at Sto. Tomas Moro. This has made quite an impression on the
diocesan clergy, who originally thought the American Priests
were coming to Mexico to rest and play golf.
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