Just about everyone who ever met Father Leo McAllister considered him a good friend.

The lengthy list includes the poor and abandoned, state legislators, fellow priests, longtime parishioners and schoolchildren — all people he loved equally and unconditionally.

Father McAllister, pastor of Our Lady of the Assumption Parish in Carmichael for the past 15 years, died Feb. 10 at Mercy General Hospital in Sacramento of a heart infection. He was 75.

On Feb. 16 people filled to overflowing the Carmichael church to attend his funeral Mass, at which Bishop William K. Weigand presided and Auxiliary Bishop Richard J. Garcia served as the main celebrant.

Father Ignatius Haran, pastor of St. John the Baptist Parish in Folsom, gave the homily, noting Father McAllister’s love for people of all faiths in the Diocese of Sacramento, where he served for the past 51 years.

“(Father McAllister) was way ahead of his time when it came to ecumenism,” Father Haran said. “He was not a canon lawyer or a liturgist, but he did know people and their needs.”

In an interview with The Herald, Father Haran said that for his longtime friend there was “no such thing as Catholic, Jewish, Protestant.”

“Everyone was the same,” he said.

The two priests attended elementary school together in Aclare, County Sligo, Ireland, where both were born. Father Haran remembers the “tall, slender, redheaded kid with all the freckles” who later “took me under his wing as mentor and advisor.”

Deciding to become a priest was difficult for Father McAllister, not because he lacked the will to serve God, but, in part, because of the sacrifice it would require of his family, which included nine children.

In a reflection he wrote for The Herald last June on his 50th jubilee as a priest, Father McAllister recalled an incident that occurred a year prior to his 1954 ordination at St. John’s Seminary in Waterford, Ireland.

He had decided to leave the seminary and went to tell a favorite professor the news. When the professor questioned his decision, Father McAllister said he felt he “wasn’t good enough to be a priest,” to which the professor responded, “Nobody is good enough to be a priest.”

“I was under the impression that I had to pretend to be better than everyone else. I’m not very good at pretense,” Father McAllister recalled. “So after a long discussion, I felt that if I can be myself as a priest, I have no problem with that.”

Donna Eaddy, pastoral associate at Our Lady of the Assumption Parish, is one of many people who experienced the wisdom of that final decision.

“He always preached about how much God loves you,” said Eaddy, who initially worked as Father McAllister’s housekeeper and then as parish wedding coordinator before becoming pastoral associate.

“He was a friend to the wealthy and because of them he was able to help the poor,” she said. “Taking care of the poor was everything to him.”

Eaddy said the priest always made it clear that all calls to the parish received a personal response. He also found time to care for several elderly priests when they became ill.

Theresa Sparks, principal of Our Lady of the Assumption School, said the students, many of whom Father McAllister had baptized or presided at their parents’ weddings, were “the joy of his life.”

She said students were eager to share memories of him in their classrooms and during a memorial Mass held on the school campus Feb. 14.

“The kids had such a sense of what he had done for their lives in making God so reachable for them,” Sparks said.

Gerardine McInerney, religious education director at Our Lady of the Assumption Parish, said one of Father McAllister’s realized dreams was the creation of an adult religious education program that focused on topics from theology and Scripture to stress management and care of the elderly.

Our Lady of Assumption now collaborates with three neighboring parishes who have started similar adult religious education programs.

“Father McAllister was the most incredible man in identifying gifts in people and bringing them to fruition,” McInerney said.

Joseph McElligott remembers Father McAllister from the years he served as chaplain of the state Assembly from 1968 to 1976 and as chaplain of the state Senate from 1986 to 1988.

During much of that time McElligott worked as director of the division of education for the California Catholic Conference.

Father McAllister “would alert legislators about things of importance to the poor but was careful not to overstep his bounds,” McElligott said. “His influence was by example and his vision of God as a loving God.”

He said the affable Irish priest, who seldom forgot a name, was appreciated among legislators for the “little bit of mirth in his prayers.”

“If they have St. Patrick’s Day in heaven they’d better invite him or they’ll miss a lot of good stories,” McElligott said.

What many are learning for the first time is the role Father McAllister played in launching the Sacramento Food Bank in 1976. Father Daniel Madigan, founder and president of the organization, credits Father McAllister with “coming up with the idea.”

“He had a great heart for the poor,” said Father Madigan of the priest he succeeded as pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish in Sacramento and later at St. Joseph Parish in Clarksburg.

“When you replace a man you know what he is really like,” Father Madigan added. “Father McAllister was easy to follow because he left behind such a positive feeling about the priesthood.”

Father McAllister is survived by three brothers, Martin, Paddy, and Kieran, his sister, May Kniefsey, a sister-in-law, Kathleen McAllister, and several nieces and nephews.

Memorial contributions may be made to Our Lady of Assumption School Endowment Fund, 5057 Cottage Way, Carmichael, Calif. 95608.

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