Leo McIlrath celebrated the 60th anniversary of his ordination this week.

The longtime Sandy Hook resident was ordained to the priesthood for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Raleigh, N.C., on May 19, 1966, at St Patrick Church in Charlotte, N.C. He has been in a variety of ministries since ordination, including pastor, retreat director (Cursillo, Marriage Encounter, and Charismatic Renewal), chaplain at Duke University, and civilian chaplain to the US Marines at Havelock/Cheery Point, N.C.

After a decade of serving the Catholic Church in a traditional manner, the Danbury native returned to the Northeast, first spending one year in Weymouth, Mass., where he earned a nursing home administrative license from the State of Massachusetts, before moving back to Connecticut in 1978. He continued working as a social worker for the next ten years.

McIlrath returned to school in 1980, earning a master’s degree in counseling at University of Bridgeport. From 2002 until 2004, he studied with Global Ministries University to earn a master’s in pastoral counseling.

He has served as director of elderly services for the Department of Elderly Services in Danbury, chaplain for Regional Hospice, and health test coordinator for the Western Area Agency on Aging.

He has served as the ecumenical and interfaith chaplain at The Lutheran Home of Southbury for nearly two decades.

“I went to part-time just a few weeks ago,” the 88-year-old told The Newtown Bee last week. “I still remember going in for a meeting, and they asked me to start the next day,” he added, laughing. “We’re going on 19 years now.”

McIlrath is also a long-standing member of Newtown Interfaith Council. Members of that council reportedly offered their congratulations to their friend and colleague during the council’s May 12 meeting.

McIlrath has been a member of interfaith communities in Danbury and Southbury/Woodbury, and has had a pair of teaching positions. He taught Latin and psychology at both Western Connecticut State University and University of Bridgeport.

For years McIlrath served as a member of Corpus Christi, which he described as a community of faith.

“It’s a community without walls,” McIlrath told The Newtown Bee in 2006. “Anywhere someone has a need, spiritually, we can answer the call.”

Through Corpus Christi, McIlrath assisted those who found themselves on the fringe.

“These are people who are not directly related to a church of some sort, but want to feel faith. We try to respond to people who have needs sacramentally,” he explained.

He also, with Dr Paul Hines and John Simonelli, co-founded Dorothy Day Hospitality House in 1981. It was the first emergency food kitchen and the first shelter in Danbury.

“We all had the same idea at the same time about that need,” McIlrath said May 19. While speaking with The Newtown Bee in 2006, McIlrath said someone “put us together because each of us expressed a similar idea, without knowing each other.”

Forty-five years later, the organization continues to operate at 11 Spring Street, feeding the hungry and helping the homeless through donations, volunteering, and community programs.

McIlrath was also responsible for Unity In Diversity, a cable television program that debuted in 1996 and featured leaders and representatives of religious, cultural, and social communities and which aired in 17 towns through two networks, Charter Communications and Comcast Cable.

Unity In Diversity emerged while McIlrath was still working at Danbury Senior Center. He saw, he told The Bee two decades ago, that cable would be a good way to get information out in the public eye about different facets of religion. The series was launched by McIlrath and Sam Deibler, the initial and longtime director of the Danbury-based Association of Religious Communities (ARC, another group McIlrath has volunteered for), and the two men covered the full spectrum — from Buddhism and Catholicism to Hinduism and beyond.

“We thought this was a good way for people to learn about each other in a nonthreatening way,” said McIlrath, who continued the program even after its co-founder left. “If you could just listen to where a person is coming from — without stress, phobias, or fear — we’re really not all that different. There really is a unity between everyone.”

Unity In Diversity continued airing until at least 2017.

McIlrath also developed Seniority, a program that aired on Comcast cable stations. During the 40 episodes of that series, McIlrath served as producer and host while interviewing municipal agents and other officers that affect the lives of senior citizens.

When he visited with The Newtown Bee on May 12 while en route to this month’s Newtown Interfaith Council meeting, McIlrath said he didn’t have any specific plans to celebrate his ordination milestone beyond hoping to connect again in July with a former classmate who still lives in North Carolina.

McIlrath and wife Diane Wassmann-McIlrath have lived in Sandy Hook for 42 years. They are the parents of six children: Scott, Jennifer, Brian, Julio, Mari, and Daniel.

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Managing Editor Shannon Hicks can be reached at shannon@thebee.com.