- Feb 5, 2002
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“I was there to introduce them to the person of Jesus Christ,” says Norbertine Father Leo Celano
Father Leo Celano (photo: St. Michael’s Abbey)
Among his many apostolates, Norbertine Father Leo Celano, 89, served as a jail chaplain at the Southern Reception Center and Clinic (SRCC) in Norwalk, California. Although the facility is no longer used as a jail, at the time of his service it was one of two state diagnostic detention facilities for male juvenile offenders, who underwent testing and were then sent to serve their sentences at other facilities in the state.
Father Leo is a member of the Norbertine Order at St. Michael’s Abbey in Southern California, and is the community’s first American-born vocation after seven Hungarian members fled communist Hungary and established St. Michael’s in 1961. After spending time in seminary on the East Coast, he entered St. Michael’s in 1967, and was ordained a priest in 1972. He is well known in the community for being an outspoken defender of the Catholic faith, as well as for his pro-life activism, including his arrest for blocking the entrances to abortion clinics at Operation Rescue protests.
Continued below.
Norbertine Priest, Pro-Life Hero, Recalls Time as Jail Chaplain
Father Leo Celano (photo: St. Michael’s Abbey)
Among his many apostolates, Norbertine Father Leo Celano, 89, served as a jail chaplain at the Southern Reception Center and Clinic (SRCC) in Norwalk, California. Although the facility is no longer used as a jail, at the time of his service it was one of two state diagnostic detention facilities for male juvenile offenders, who underwent testing and were then sent to serve their sentences at other facilities in the state.
Father Leo is a member of the Norbertine Order at St. Michael’s Abbey in Southern California, and is the community’s first American-born vocation after seven Hungarian members fled communist Hungary and established St. Michael’s in 1961. After spending time in seminary on the East Coast, he entered St. Michael’s in 1967, and was ordained a priest in 1972. He is well known in the community for being an outspoken defender of the Catholic faith, as well as for his pro-life activism, including his arrest for blocking the entrances to abortion clinics at Operation Rescue protests.
Continued below.
Norbertine Priest, Pro-Life Hero, Recalls Time as Jail Chaplain
