On April 25 Sister Laurencia Listerman turned 100 years old.
Sister Laurencia taught English at Scecina Memorial High School when I was a
student there in the late 1950s. She also taught a journalism course and was
moderator of the school paper The Crusader. I took her journalism class and
became editor-in-chief of The Crusader my senior year. Sister Laurencia was one
of my mentors the three years I spent at Scecina. She continues to be an
inspiration.
My dad was a newspaperman and she met both my folks on
parents’ night. My mother became “her angel” because she would occasionally ask
my mom if “Mister Widner” could do a favor for her so that our journalism class
might have some perks. She and my mother became good friends.
Now that she has been at the motherhouse of the Oldenburg
Franciscan Sisters for some years, Sister Laurencia receives visitors as she
wheels around on her golf cart she calls “my Cadillac.” Still very alert and
still reading, Sister Laurencia has a very progressive mind. I would not
recommend that any bishop or any pope engage with her as they might come away
with their tails between their legs.
Sister Laurencia was a most practical woman. She once told
us in class that “it isn’t always what you know, it’s who you know.” She not
only gave advice, however. She listened. She could engage with students who
kept her up to date on the latest fads, gossip, thinking, etc., with her mouth
and eyes wide open in an incredulous stare. She learned a great deal from us
and she was genuinely interested in what we had to say. Although her wisdom
became part of us, she always gave us the signals that told us that she was
learning from us as well. When making a point, her speech became very
deliberative and precise.
In his homily on the Feast of St. Mark (April 25), Pope
Francis told his listeners how important it is for all Christians to go out
into the world and preach the Gospel. We do so, he said, by being witnesses to
the person of Jesus Christ. Sister Laurencia is a terrific witness to the
Gospel. She taught me and many others the value of being fully human. And that’s
as close to Jesus Christ as anyone can get!