Fr. Leo A. Wiley

    A Mass of Christian Burial for Father Leo A. Wiley will be celebrated at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, June 4, at Holy Family Church, Watertown. Bishop Terry R. LaValley, Bishop of Ogdensburg, will be the principal celebrant and Father Timothy G. Canaan will be the homilist.

   The reception of the body will be at 6 p.m. on Monday, June 3, at Holy Family Church. Calling hours will continue until Night Prayer at 8 p.m. Calling hours will resume at the church on Tuesday morning from 9:30 until 10:30 a.m. Burial will be in the family plot in St. Vincent of Paul Cemetery in Cape Vincent.

   Father Leo A. Wiley, 93, of Watertown and formerly of Cape Vincent, died Tuesday morning, May 21, 2024, at St. Joseph's Home, Ogdensburg, where he had been a resident for three months.

   Born in Watertown on April 15, 1931, he was the son of William O. and Helen E. (O'Neill) Wiley.

   He was raised in Cape Vincent and graduated from Cape Vincent High School in 1948. He then attended Wadhams Hall before completing his studies at St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore. He was ordained at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Ogdensburg on May 19, 1956, by Bishop Walter P. Kellenberg, the sixth Bishop of Ogdensburg.

   After ordination, he was first assigned to St. Joseph’s Church in Malone, where he served as a parochial vicar for nearly three years. He later served in that role in St. Bernard’s Church in Saranac Lake, the Roman Catholic Church of St. John the Baptist in Plattsburgh, Church of the Sacred Heart in Massena, and St. Mary’s Church in Clayton. In 1968, he was named pastor of St. Gabriel and St. Mary’s Church in Indian Lake. After that assignment, he served as administrator at Church of St. Philip and Jesus in Willsboro and St. Joseph’s Church in Essex. In 1975, he became pastor of St. Mary’s in Massena. He later served as pastor at Notre Dame Church in Ogdensburg, St. Bernard’s Church in Lyon Mountain and St. Stephen’s Church in Croghan, where he served until his retirement in 2006.

   After his retirement, Father Wiley assisted the pastors of Alexandria Bay and Redwood and Adams and Henderson. He also celebrated daily Mass regularly at the Motherhouse of the Sisters of St. Joseph.

   In addition to his parish assignments, Father Wiley served on the Senate of Priests, as Pro-Synodal Judge, as chair of the Diocesan Liturgy Committee, as Cursillo Spiritual Director and as Dean of the Lewis Deanery and aided at Marriage Encounter at various points in his ministry. He also taught courses in the Commissioned Lay Ministry program.

   His hobbies include reading and bridge.   

   Father Wiley is survived by his brother priests of the Diocese of Ogdensburg; four nephews, Dennis, Michael, Kevin, and Bill Wiley; three nieces, Cathy Stull, Diane Bower, and Patti Caulfield; and numerous cousins, including Sister Janet Coseo, a Sister of St. Joseph, Sister Veronica Coseo, a Sister of St. Joseph, and Father Timothy Canaan, a priest of the Diocese of Ogdensburg.

   Along with his parents, he was predeceased by two brothers and their wives, Joseph and Mary Wiley, and William and Athalie Wiley; a sister, Margaret Wiley; an uncle Father Leo O'Neill, a Redemptorist Father; and cousins Father John Wiley and Sister May Louise Wiley, a Sister of Mercy.

   Arrangements are entrusted with Cummings Funeral Service, Inc., Watertown and online condolences may be made at www.cummingsfuneral.com.  Donations in his name may be made to the Diocese of Ogdensburg Priest Retirement Fund, PO Box 369, Ogdensburg, NY 13669.

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