Wednesday, 8/10/16
Today is the feast day of St. Lawrence, but it is also the
feat day of every Christian bearing the name of Lawrence. I’d like to speak
about two fiends of mine who have done honor to the name Lawrence,
Larry Schierhoff from my home parish was two years ahead of
me in the seminary. We worked summer jobs together, with Larry amazing me and
everyone else with his cleverness in working with machines. Ordained in 1951,
he was assigned to a pastor who made fun of him day and night. After he put up
with that abuse for two years, the parish secretary came up to him, offering him
a job in her brother’s firm where they did inventive things with machinery.
Larry and the former secretary were married, raising five children
while Larry worked at such projects as designing coin slots that could issue the
exact change for any bill or coin you inserted. They settled in a parish where
the grade school was folding up for lack of funds; but with Larry’s wife
volunteering her time as school secretary and treasurer, and with Larry volunteering
his services for maintenance and improvements, the school became such a success
that Larry and his wife were decorated with a papal meddle.
My other Lawrence, Sister Lawrentia, taught school in
Ireland for eleven years. Then, she taught for eight years in Jacksonville, and in
St. Louis for thirty-four; all the while preparing the next day’s classes
before going back to the convent in the evening; and her math students piled
up awards over the years. In ways it was a more saintly career than she would have had being thrown
to the lions just once. Anyway, it did more people more good.
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