Fr. Leonard Kostka, C.PP.S., who at 104 was the oldest living Missionary of the Precious Blood in the world, died at 12:05 p.m. on Friday, December 21 at St. Charles Center in Carthagena, Ohio, where he made his home. He had been preparing for his departure in recent weeks.
He was born in Chicago to Anthony and Rose (Schmidt) Kostka. Fr. Kostka entered the Society of the Precious Blood and was ordained on September 8, 1940. This year he celebrated the 78th anniversary of his ordination.
Fr. Kostka has had many ministries in his 70 years as a priest. He ministered in parishes in Brooklyn, N.Y., and Detroit, MI; was associate editor of the Precious Blood Messenger; served as a chaplain at Seton Hill College in Greenburg, Pa.; and was a navy chaplain from 1945-47.
In 1948, he was appointed a professor of Saint Joseph’s College in Rensselaer, Ind., which is sponsored by the Missionaries. There he has served as part of the college family for 65 years, as a chaplain and instructor of religion courses. He also helped at St. Augustine Parish in Rensselaer for many years. Fr. Kostka was a professor emeritus at the college, and was a great support to its students, faculty, staff and sports teams for many years, until a heart attack forced his move to St. Charles in 2013.
Officially retired and older than anyone else in the Congregation, Fr. Kostka continue to dream and envision and pray for the C.PP.S. during his years at St. Charles. He offered an impassioned plea for the community to “get fired up” for its bicentennial in 2015: “We talk about evangelization, we talk about reconciliation, and those are wonderful things—but they are the spokes of the wheel. At the hub is our devotion to the Blood of Christ. Unless all our missions and ministries are imbued with the Precious Blood, they will all come to nothing.” At the provincial assembly in May 2018, Fr. Kostka led the prayer before the members voted to elect new leadership.
He often mused about his long life, amazed that God had allowed him to live so long. “I wonder how many Masses I have offered, in 75 years?” he reflected in 2015. “Here’s a thought I like to contemplate: as the angels look down from heaven, what do they see? They see a million chalices raised aloft, adoring and imploring the Trinity. I like to picture myself up there with the angels, seeing those million chalices.”
He was able to concelebrate Mass the day before he died; infirmary staff members who cared for him said his dying wish was to see Jesus on Christmas.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at Friday, December 28, at 2 p.m. at St. Charles Center. Fr. Jeffrey Kirch, C.PP.S., will preside. Burial will follow in the Community cemetery.