Leonard F. Chrobot
Roman Catholic priest, college administrator, educator
Born Apr. 16, 1938, South Bend (IN), U.S.; son of Henry and Marie (Wroblewski).
Education: Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), St. Mary's College, 1960, Master of Divinity (M.Div.), SS. CyriI and Methodius Seminary, 1964, Orchard Lake (MI); Master of Arts (M.A.), Purdue University, West Lafayette (IN), 1969; Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Wayne State University, Detroit (MI), 1975.
Career: academic dean, 1968-78, president, 1978-88, St. Mary's College, prof., University of Notre Dame (IN), 1988 -.
Author: 12 articles; lecturer, over 100 conferences and meetings and over 50 colleges and universities.
Member of, i.a.: U.S. Conference Task Force on Urban Problems, 1970; Committee on Cultural Democracy, Michigan Department of Education, 1970-72; advisory council member, National Coordinating Assembly on Ethnic Studies, Catholic University of America, Washington (DC), 1972- 76; associate editor, Polish American Studies, 1972-75; associate director, since 1973, and Ethnic Clergy Steering Committee member, 1974-76, National Center for Urban Ethnic Affairs, Washington; associate director, Southeast Michigan Ethnic Heritage Studies Centertr., 1973-79; American Revolutionary Bicentennial Admnistration Steering Committee, 1974-75; American Catholic Bishops' Commission on Liberty and Justice, 1975-76; board directors member, Southeast Michigan Education TV Consortium, 1980-82; Citizen Committee for Community - Media Cooperation of the Greater Detroit Round Table of the National Conference of Christians and Jews, 1980-82; Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Michigan; Consortium of Catholic Colleges and Universities of Michigan (chairman, 1976, 1982); Polish American Historical Association (P.A.H.A.) (president, 1987-89).
Honors: Phi Delta Kappa; Outstanding Educator of the U.S., 1970; Outstanding Service award, Knights of Dabrowski, Chicago, 1973; Service Above Self award, Rotary Club of Dearborn Heights (MI), 1973; Bicentennial Special Tribute award, Central Citizens Committee of Greater Detroit, 1976; Governor's Minuteman award, 1978; Righteous Gentile citation, Shaarit Haplayah (Holocaust Survivors) of Metropolitan Detroit, 1979.
Languages: English, Polish, French, Latin.
Hobbies: cooking, gardening.
Home: 2420 W. Huron St., South Bend, IN 46619.
From: "Who's Who in Polish America" 1st Edition 1996-1997, Boleslaw Wierzbianski editor; Bicentennial Publishing Corporation, New York, NY, 1996
Rev. Leonard F. ChrobotTestifies: Congressional Hearings Heritage Studies Bill
Washington - The U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Education has held hearings and testimonies from numerous educators in behalf of the Ethnic Heritage Studies Bill.
The bill (H.R. 14910), is being sponsored by Cong. Roman C. Pucinski, Democrat of Chicago, and fifteen other congressmen.
It would authorize $30 million over the next two fiscal years to establish several Ethnic Heritage Studies Centers throughout the country in order that they can develop curriculum materials for use in American elementary and secondary schools. This would enable students to study the cultural heritages of the major ethnic groups in the country, in order to gain a greater appreciation of their contribution to the American way of life is a pluralistic blend of all the good from the backgrounds making up the total culture.
Orchard Lake School
Rev. Leonard F. Chrobot, Academic Dean of St. Mary's College, Orchard Lake, Mich., who testified before the congressional subcommittee, announced that one of the prime focal points of the legislation is the Orchard Lake Schools which already have established several centers on their campus, one of which is the Center for Polish Studies and Culture.
Rev. Chrobot in his 25-page testimony included a rationale of the cultural pluralism theory of American society and the need to study the diversity making up the culture of this country.
Federal Funds Needed
He said, "the Orchard Lake Schools, strongly favor passage of this bill. We see federal funds as the only possible source of help for many of the small ethnic groups. Already much as been for them with their own money but spiraling costs will not permit them to continue". He related, ". . . no youth should feel ashamed of his national heritage here in America; we must return to the American dream of cultural pluralism where diverse religious, ethnic, racial or other groups may cleave to their own traditions within their own group and, at the same time, live together within a single economy and harmony . . . and mutual forebearance".
He continued, "Laws do not make people respect other people. Only the knowledge of the other person can do that. The Ethnic Heritage Bill has the potential of institutionalizing in our society, the promise carved in stone on the Statute of Liberty. We can now truly become what we have always said we were. The Orchard Lake Schools for eighty-five difficult years, have represented the idea of cultural pluralism at a time when few understood what we were talking about. The Schools strongly believe that every major ethnic group in the country should be given the opportunity to study it's history, language, literature, art and to teach others about its rich cultural heritage".
Beverend Chrobot, a native of South Bend, Indiana, is presently pursuing the Ph.D. degree from the University of Michigan. He received the M.A. degree from Purdue University and the B.A. degree from St. Mary's College, Orchard Lake, Michigan. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1964 and was appointed Dean of St. Mary's College in 1968, by the Orchard Lake Schools' President-Rector, Very Rev. Walter J. Ziemba.
From: Polish American Journal, March 14, 1970