Native New Orleanian Fr. Meyer served 58 years

By Christine Bordelon
Clarion Herald

A loving pastor, a quick confessor, a pilot, a Texaco businessman and Uncle Bud were the roles that friends and relatives ascribed to Father Leo (Lee) Meyer at a Funeral Mass held Oct. 6 at St. Francis Xavier Church in Metairie. He was 91.

“He was a caring, committed and loving priest who touched each of our lives and yo
urs in one way or the other,” said his nephew Craig Floyd, who delivered words of remembrance with his sisters Kathy and Peggy beside him. Craig and Kathy attended his ordination, and all three were with “Uncle Bud” when he died Sept. 27.

“He was a family man who loved his sister (Lorilei) and was the best uncle,” Craig Floyd said.

Floyd also called Father Meyer a “renaissance man” who loved to  travel, eat great food, collect replicas of the cars he drove and planes he flew.

“He had a talent for making others feel special and loved,” said Floyd.

A priest’s good example 
Archbishop Gregory Aymond, Mass celebrant, mentioned how Father Meyer’s example as a priest and homilist when was as an altar boy at St. James Major inspired him to become a priest.
 
“I attribute God for using you, Lee, to help me understand what a true priest was like,” he said.

A native New Orleanian, Father Meyer attended St. Dominic and Sacred Heart elementary schools, graduated from Holy Cross School, earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Tulane University and studied Latin at St. Philip Neri College in Boston.

He was a pilot and served in the U.S. Air Force from 1954-63. On Dec. 18, 1965, he was ordained a priest, serving as associate pastor of St. James Major Church in New Orleans and St. Francis Xavier Church in Metairie. He was the founding pastor of St. Brigid Parish, pastor of St. James Major for 23 years and was dean of the City Park-Gentilly Deanery. He was a member of the Archdiocesan Insurance Commission, chaplain of the Knights of Columbus Gentilly Council No. 2925 and the Court Blanche Castille. He retired in 2003 but continued celebrating Mass at St. Francis Xavier until COVID in 2020. From 2007-20, he celebrated 1,938 funeral Masses, many at Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home, averaging 138 a year.

“He lived the corporal works of mercy that we call burying the dead,” said Father Joe Palermo, the homilist.

Friendship of 16 years
Father Palermo first met Father Meyer in 2007 at Notre Dame Seminary after inviting him to hear confessions. There was no stipend involved, but Father Meyer would always be invited to evening prayers and dinner. He accepted, saying, in retirement,  “The day you don’t have to forage for food is a good day.”

Father Meyer was a popular confessor with seminarians, Father Palermo said, jokingly, “I am convinced that one of the reasons was he was so fast,” an efficient practice he learned in the Air Force.

Father Palermo also mentioned a story Father Meyer relayed to him on why he became a priest. He was at a Mass where the celebrant was grumpy, and Father Lee thought, “I know I can do better than that.” He approached then-Archbishop Joseph Rummel about becoming a priest and entered the seminary.

“I quickly knew he was a man of faith, a man of God, a man who was faithful to serve wherever God asked him,” Father Palermo said, adding that his 50th anniversary Mass as a priest was celebrated at St. Francis Xavier. “People were enriched by his homilies. He was well-prepared ... to the point, a great explainer ... wonderful historian ... precise in his language, where at the end, you really got the point.”

“Anything you needed, he was right there,” said former St. James Major director of religious education Betse Person. “He was truly a good priest.”

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