At 91, St. Joseph parishioner serves with gladness

Intermountain Catholic

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Leland Rice serves as an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion at Saint Joseph Church in Ogden on March 10. IC photo/Marie Mischel

OGDEN — Leland Rice’s love for the Catholic Church began as a teenager, when he converted to the faith while attending what is now Saint Louis High School in Hawaii.

"I took a very strong liking to the teachings I was going through," said Leland, who moved to Sunset from California last August and now is a member of Saint Joseph Parish in Ogden.

Like many young loves, however, this one faded. He graduated from high school, but "with the passing of time, and youthful activities and everything, then a war came along; I kind of fell out of Catholicism," he said. "I just stopped practicing it."

He served in the Merchant Marines during World War II, got married, had children, two of whom were baptized in the Catholic Church, "although at the time I only periodically went to church," he said. As a police officer in Los Angeles, Leland often worked on Sunday, which helped him justify in his own mind his failure to regularly attend Mass, he said.

Years went by. His wife died. He moved to the small northern California town of Rancho Tehama. He married again; the couple enjoyed square dancing, horses, motorcycle rides. In his late 70s, he was a member of the volunteer fire department, but began feeling unwell.

"The day before he went to the hospital for this checkup he was pulling a fire hose over his shoulder up a hill. It was like a time bomb," said his wife, Dixie.

Leland was diagnosed with a faulty heart valve and underwent surgery the next day. In the recovery room, a Catholic priest visited him and offered absolution.

"I said, ‘I would love to, Father, but I’ll tell you, my sins are so long that I don’t think you have enough time to sit down on my bed and listen to me.’ He said, ‘I’ll tell you, son, you’re in intensive care and we have a special dispensation for anybody in intensive care and you don’t have to go through that. You can get absolution right now if you want it.’ And I said, ‘OK. Yes, please.’ So he did, he gave me absolution and offered me the Host."

Leland immediately felt the healing power of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, he said. "It was like something engulfed me. I don’t know how to describe it. It’s unbelievable."

Although Leland and Dixie had been attending services at a different church, after he received the sacraments in the hospital he asked if she would mind going to the Catholic Church.

Dixie agreed. "I was there when he got [absolution and the Eucharist] and I have never seen the look on anybody’s face like that," she said. "You had to have seen his face. I was a Methodist, but I was interested in a religion that can bestow that much faith in somebody. That’s what caused me to come to the Catholic Church."

The couple began attending Sacred Heart Parish in Red Bluff, Calif., where Dixie undertook the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults. After she was received at Easter, the couple was married in the Church. They became active in their parish: He served as an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion; she was a lector.

"Getting back to practicing Catholicism felt awfully good," said Leland, who investigated becoming a permanent deacon and was disappointed to learn that, in his 80s, he was far beyond the age limit.

"I still have this craving to make up for the years that I missed," he said. "My biggest regret ... is not having done so many years before. There isn’t a day goes by that I don’t thank the good Lord in my prayers ... I thank him with my whole heart for giving me the opportunity to still be of some small service for him."

When the couple moved to Utah last year to be closer to children, Leland, 91, immediately offered to serve as a minister in their new parish of Saint Joseph in Ogden. Health problems now prevent Dixie, 74, from active ministry.

Father Ken Vialpando, St. Joseph pastor, said he was thrilled when Leland approached him with an offer of ministry.

"There’s a place for everyone of us in the parish, no matter what age or gender," Fr. Vialpando said. "In Christianity, there’s no such thing as retirement. As long as we can walk and talk and praise the Lord, we can still come and serve. Each of us has to do something to work together, and Leland offers that."