The Rev. Leslie Reimer retired from active parish ministry this past Sunday, February 27, 2022. Until then, she was the longest serving non-retired priest in the Pittsburgh diocese. In 1980, she became the third woman ordained to serve as a priest here. She began with short stints in Penn Hills, Indiana and Mt. Lebanon before moving on to hospital chaplaincy at Presbyterian and Children’s. Since 1998, she has been full-time at Calvary Church, East Liberty, eventually becoming Senior Associate Rector. But generations of children and adults have come to know her through her involvement with Sheldon Calvary Camp, a service she plans to continue.
Leslie has shared her life with this diocese, and in recognition of her retirement, we asked her to share some thoughts on her unique ministry. Here is our conversation with her.
Had you not become a priest, what would you have done, and what was it that drew you to ordained ministry?
I was on the way to being an English teacher. That was because the people who taught me English, in high school particularly, focused on writing and literature. There was a lot of exploration of meaning and story. I was interested in teaching English because I think it allows people to dig deeper into the meaning of things. The ordination of women hadn’t happened yet as I was forming my thoughts about where I might be going. But when I began to observe the priests at Calvary Camp and their work, especially Father John Thomas, I realized that they were also dealing in those same questions of meaning and listening to people’s stories. And so, as I look back on it, I see how that connection was oblivious for me. I think it was that same interest in exploring the deeper things that led me from one vocation to the next.
So you found ways to apply this background in English in your ministry?
I always say I give credit to the people who taught me writing, because I know that my preaching is influenced by those teachers, just in the ability to structure and to speak and to make sense out of things. People are often surprised that I will preach without a text or without notes. I completely give credit to the people who taught me how to organize writing for that ability.
As is often the case in many things in life, what attracted you to something isn’t necessarily what keeps you going over the long haul. What sustained you over the years?
I think that the ability to do pastoral ministry, through all the various different places where I’ve been privileged to minister, has sustained me. The gift of people allowing me to be their companion in good times and in difficult times has been extremely significant to me. I was sustained by the remarkable continuity that I’ve been able to have. Many priests don’t get to be part of a community in the way that I have been at Calvary Church, and in an on-going way at Calvary Camp, where I’ve seen generations of people in each part of their life and part of their spiritual growth. And spiritually, a strong sense of God’s presence with us through all of the stories of our life has been the common thread for me, and that sustained me when I was working at difficult pastoral situations in the hospital, and since then, in my pastoral ministry as part of a congregation.
Did you ever imagine that you would be rooted in one place for so long?
I don’t think I imagined it, but I’m a Pittsburgher, so I shouldn’t be surprised by it, right? It is our nature to either to stay or to return. So, I guess I’m a classic Pittsburgher in that way. I am rooted and grounded here, and grateful that I didn’t have to move around to do the ministry I’ve been privileged to do.
Have you every tried to keep track of how many people you’ve baptized and married and buried or just interacted with?
I have not, although people often ask me that question. I would have to go back through a lot of records. I wish I had been the kind of person that kept track of those types of things, but I am not. I know that it was a lot.
Are there particular people or situations from your ministry that stand out, even after years have past?
It’s hard to narrow in on any one thing. I have had a strong mix of life experiences and helped people through some very tragic times. Some of those stand out. And, the joyful times as well. Again, the continuity of having done weddings and then been able to baptize the children of that family – those kinds of things are meaningful to me.
There are still people from my time as a hospital chaplain whose stories are very close to me. Some of them, or the families, I’m still in contact with, at least in the world of social media. Across the Calvary Camp generations, there are lots of people. I love the fact that the person who was my first camp counselor is somebody that I still have contact with. And at Calvary Church, that’s true as well. One of the interesting things I can say about Calvary Church is that there are people in the congregation who have come to Calvary from other congregations where I served or where I grew up. There’s a couple who were at [my home parish] St. Andrew’s, New Kensington, who knew me before I ever went to seminary. There’s a woman who was at St. James, Penn Hills, when I served there in ’77-’78, who is a faithful eight o’clock person at Calvary who I see every week. So, I’ve always said that I can’t pretend that I’m anybody other than who I am, because there are folks who have seen me through the years.
Take us back to the ‘70s when you were going to seminary. Did you have any sense then of being a trailblazer or of shattering ceilings?
Ah, yes. First of all, I went to General [Theological Seminary] before the General Convention approved the ordination of women to the priesthood. Right there, out on a little bit on a limb. Women could be ordained deacons, so I knew that was possible, but women’s ordination to the priesthood didn’t pass until the fall of my senior year in seminary. So at that time at General, [each year’s] class was about forty people and there were four women in my class. So we were still pretty new. Then, as I moved out into working in the parishes in the beginning, I was often the first woman priest or deacon or minister that anyone had encountered. I used to say that they discovered that the ceiling didn’t fall in or the building wasn’t struck by lightning, but it was new.
I did have a sense of some people having opposition to women priests, although I never really experienced anything ugly. I did experience complicated things, like the rector of my home parish when it was time to sign my ordination paperwork and I wasn’t sure if he was really going to do that in the end. Or, my friend who said all along that he was not sure about the ordination of women, but at my priesting he joined the group laying hands on me – but there was no guarantee going into that moment that he was going to do it. And, people who were my mentors, even Father John Thomas. I remember telling him that I was feeling that I wanted to move in the direction of priesthood. He was, like many of his contemporaries, still not at all sure what he thought about that issue in the life of the church. He was very supportive, but it was very clear that we were in new territory. Everybody was ultimately very supportive of me. It was all just very new.
And other champions? How did they support you?
I was fortunate to have [Pittsburgh’s first woman priest] Beryl Choi here and as a role model and supporter. That was a great gift. She was assigned to be my senior priest/mentor when I was first ordained and I learned a great deal from her. The congregations where I served were very supportive. At St. James and Christ Church, Indiana, and both of those were not terribly long times, but there were people in both of those that were very supportive. My seminary friends and colleagues were a significant source of support. I would talk to them often, as they were out there on the same ledge and exploring the same new territory.
You just preached your final sermon as a staff priest at Calvary Church. What was your message?
A story from my very first experience as a clergyperson at St. James, Penn Hills, and [the day’s Gospel story about] the Transfiguration — how it’s a time of looking not only to the past but also the future. And, encouraging the people of Calvary Church to keep being the strong community they have been through their century plus of existence.
What are your near-term and your “crystal ball” long-term plans?
I think it is importance to say clearly that I intend to stay involved in my role at Calvary Camp. My near-term plans include being able to focus on that ministry differently, and to be ready for the summer, not leaving Calvary’s 11 o’clock service and starting staff training at camp at four without a breath in between. And I’m hoping to do some tutoring. I had started to, but then Covid got in the way. Mostly, I hope I can make a difference in the community. And then longer term, I don’t know. I’m grateful for being able to retire and enjoy a little bit of life while I’m healthy and able to do that. So, that might include some travel and to say yes to some things [where before] I had to say no.