BUILDING BRIDGES: Msgr. Leo Enlow receives Chaddock’s “Friends of Children” award

QUINCY – Msgr. Leo J. Enlow, the pastor of Quincy’s St. Peter Church at 25^th and Maine, recalls he once received a parish-campus security report advising him to build a fence between St. Peter’s and its next-door neighbor, Chaddock.

“I remember thinking, ‘I’ll never do that!’” he saID. “Instead, I’ve tried to build a bridge.”

On Sunday, Msgr. Enlow (affectionately known as Fr. Leo by his parishoners) was honored for doing just that as the 2021 recipient of the Harry and Carlene Geisler “Friend of Children” Award at the Chaddock Rose Tea. The award was established in 2004 and is given annually to an individual or organization for exemplary service. 

A Model for Ministry

As a seminarian in St. Louis and at Our Lady of Angels Seminary (now the North Campus of Quincy University), Fr. Leo remembers being deeply influenced by a theology professor who emphasized the mandate to care for the “anawim.” (Anawim is the Hebrew word for the most forgotten and vulnerable people.) The lesson’s stayed with him.

Fr. Leo preaches that shortly after his ordination to the priesthood in 1975, he was named chaplain for the Illinois School for the Deaf in Jacksonville. He quickly realized he was in over his head. Indeed, Fr. Leo recalls, the first time he celebrated Mass there with the aid of an interpreter, a kid lobbed part of a broken chair over his head! 

After that experience, Fr. Leo resolved to learn sign language so he could communicate directly with the students. His decision was the start of a blessed, decade-long chaplaincy and a model for anawim-focused ministry.

Serving as St. Peter’s pastor since January 2011, Fr. Leo was named chaplain at Quincy Notre Dame High School in 2019. He has been dean for the Quincy, one of five geographic regions of the Catholic Diocese of Springfield-in-Illinois, since 2017. 

Caring for the ‘Anawim’

“I see Chaddock kids as modern-day anawim, and Chaddock as the best-kept secret in Quincy (although not elsewhere),” Fr. Leo reflects. “Chaddock is a resource for reconciling and healing relationships and a blessing and gift to those it serves. The staff there is remarkable; they do take care of the anawim.”

Completing the maximum two consecutive three-year terms on the Chaddock Advisory Board last November, Fr. Leo is proud that St. Peter parishioners now have a ministry of service to Chaddock. He stresses that the parish’s efforts are well-reciprocated.

It’s a relationship that should continue to grow because, while good fences sometimes make good neighbors, strong bridges make the best.