Happy Birthday, Sister Laurencia!

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!