This a transcript of the reflections shared at the Memorial Service for Lorenzo Rosebaugh on June 13, 1943 at St. Benedict the Moore Church. Transcript provided by Bill Sell and pictures provided by Mark Goff.
Now we have a chance for - to share our memories of Lorenzo. Bill Sweeney and Bill Durkin would be roaming around with microphones and after each brief memory, I will say “And we pray”, your response is on the sheet, “We give thanks for your life Lorenzo”.
Since I’m here, I’ll start. My first memory of Lorenzo is in a building across the street, kitty-corner, now the Safety Building, December 24th 1968, when all 14 of us were locked up in one small dormitory room. I knew him before, but I don’t have memories of that. I knew he was … before that and he was part of the planning, but I remember him there, simple, holy priest and he was on the road to becoming a holy man. From there - from that, I saw his life flow all the way to … , to Brazil, El Salvador, Guatemala, … and with all of us. In fact, I think I know why he didn’t want to come to any of the states, any time he came back, he ended up in prison. But he was coming back, but he is home now, a block away from where I remember him in the beginning. So - and we pray.
1) On June 6, 1964, my wife and I were married by Larry. You call him Lorenzo, but he was my cousin and I knew him since he was just a little baby, although I’m a year or two younger than he is. And at this marriage, because I had studied for the priesthood, Monsignor Schneider and Monsignor Holleran were present there. And today, we think nothing of a priest praying with their arms spread like this. But in those days, in the seminary, you were taught your arms could not extend past your shoulders. Both of those now dead - I wouldn’t talk about them if they were alive. Both of those monsignors approached him after mass and really raised hell with him because he was a radical who was praying with his hands outstretched. And we had a family reunion a year ago in St. Louis and everyone was kidding Larry about - that was his first wedding, by the way. He had been at a high school in Minneapolis for his first years after ordination. So that would be one of my favorite memories - oh, there’s one other thing that he said, and do you John, take Patricia to be your - whatever they say. And I looked up at him - I wasn’t nervous of course - and said what do I say.
2) Several years later, Lorenzo also married my wife and I … swear his normal wedding was even more informal. It was after he had gotten out of jail, it was in our backyard … pretty much the same. And it was, to the say the least, low key, it was just my family … sort of a bit surprised by the way the whole thing went, but by the end of the service, he had forgotten to do the part where you say do you take this person - So my wife and I … So then when - as time went on, he - he had to leave. And apparently didn’t sign the marriage license. … So I caught him as he was leaving, he said well, I don’t know, he said … the whole service…. and so he signed it…. but he gave a wonderful talk and he talked about marriage … he really spun an amazing story … everyone who had ever been married or was presently married, it was a wonderful thing. And even later, he came back and baptized my older daughter …
3) The first time I saw Larry, of course, was at Casa Maria and he came in and he had his black suit and his white collar and he was giving the grand tour, and I think that was the last time I saw him in a black suit and a white collar, because he used to - after he decided - you know, this was the life he wanted to live, he would go down to the docks with the guys who were working in the morning … and then he would come back. While we worked at Casa, we were primarily interested in women and children and there were always, of course, men coming in off the streets, so eventually Larry and Bob Phelps decided they wanted to open up a place on State Street called Living Room. And so they found a place that was inhabited and then I earned enough money to pay the rent on the place and they staffed it and got enough money for coffee and they’d get day or three or four day old dip - doughnuts and it was a way to go in there But I guess the one thing I - I remember Bob - Bob Phelps - Bob and I were the ones who were - the only people, other than his parents, who were able to visit him when he was in solitary in prison and I always told my daughter, you didn’t go to church on Sunday, you went to prison on Sunday and met - you know, your pastor. But the thing, I guess, I remember most about Larry is when he built a shack in the backyard and it was just like the ones you find down in South America, he scavenged this stuff off the street, he - you know, it was just pieces of cardboard and whatever and whatever, and he - that was his retreat house. He’d being going out to work wherever he was working that day, whether it was in the boarding room or someplace else and then he had his books and stuff in the shack in the backyard. The only problem was sooner or later somebody called the building inspector and he had to take it down, but that’s my - my best memory of Larry, living in my backyard … But there’s so many, it’s just hard to remember all of them, but that’s my best one.
4) In January of 1969, Larry Mathias, his brother Mark and - started the Waukesha NCDO Resistance Movement. And we called up Mike Cullen and told him that we needed some radicals to come out to Waukesha. And Mike Cullen sent Bob Phelps and Larry Rosenthal to Carroll College. And after getting it together, I - well, I’m sure it was Larry and I and his brother Mark, my mom and maybe Mark’s friend, the Dude, that was it. But I was thinking that Larry Rosenthal was a missionary even then because he came out to Waukesha and then brought Larry and I back to Milwaukee, that was 40 years ago and we’ve been here ever since.
5) The stories about the mass and the mention of Mike Cullen brought back one of my memories that I saw Lorenzo say only one mass - you know, and the priest that I knew and admired at that time - you know, frankly said at mass was that I had to participate, but Jack Champagne, the deacon of St. Ben’s, once described Lorenzo the most humble man he ever met. And you know, my experience was of Lorenzo not saying any masses, but one day sometime … Mike Cullen asked him to - to say and he did and - you know, it just occurred to me that for Lorenzo, it was nothing special - you know, about his saying mass - you know, it was something that he’d do for a friend. The other memories that I have are from a trial, the state trial where the judge at one point referred to him as Mr. Rosenthal and I think it was Fred Ojile who said that’s Father Rosenthal and the judge said oh, you don’t look like a priest. Then I don’t remember whether it was that time or - you know, another occasion at a trial where Lorenzo wasn’t saying much and - you know, he said well, I’m sorry, I was at Casa last night and - you know, people were coming in, in distress and I had to take care of them and - you know, as a result of that, I’m tired, but to me that’s where life is.
6) Now that makes me think - Bill Durkin and I worked with Larry for a while in the Living Room and this day old bakery, the second day, we would throw it out. But on more than one occasion, we would just simply have mass, we would have some day old bread and we would be just sitting around talking and he would decide just to have mass and take a piece of bread and break it and have a little mass and that would be mass, it was very special.
7) Marian Jorgen introduced me to Larry as I met him, when she took me to Casa Maria in 1967 and then brought me back a number of times over the next few years. And my memories of Larry are sort of jumbled in terms of time sequence, but one of them is meeting him at a seminar on violence that he was a part of at UWM, and he was in and out of that … the next couple of months. And another, Mike’s comment about Larry being tired raises from that. There were two churches where we were often - and gather as groups, one of them was right here at St. Ben’s before they had this floor, Larry would be on the floor, right in front of the kneel, which wasn’t there at the time, sound asleep at almost every meeting we ever had, he’d just curl up like a little ball and go to sleep. The meeting would start, then he’d be awake, then by the time it got - probably about two minutes after it’d start, he’d be asleep. There was another church on Wisconsin Avenue and I think went over a … where he did kind of much the same thing. Whenever Larry came back to Milwaukee, one of the people he always stopped to see was Lucille Ellis and Lucille, in our family, was Grandma Lucille, but the stories that Lucille would tell about Larry or visiting with us about - he would tell us about Lucille, were just very inspiration. He was just so simple and so genuine and so loved by just everybody we know who knew him.
8) One of the memories that I have of Larry is he gave a talk - clarification for thought at Casa Maria. That … United States and how democracy had gone too far in the United States, according to the - this … and they had decided to … internationally. They were going to roll back democracy in the United States and around the world using what we now know as pure trade agreements, … commission - you know, be whatever … , and it sounded very strange coming from Larry Rosenthal, but he had learned this when he was in Brazil, working with Bishop … He came back to Milwaukee to give this lecture, Larry wasn’t a lecturing type of person and it sounded really bizarre and crazy, but over the years, he was so accurate and clear, so well, it just alone in a way because he was ahead of his … and understanding. What the poor were up against is they wanted to … for justice.
9) … known Larry since right after … We have some wonderful memories, I’m going to repeat the one that I think is most precious to my family. When we traveled with him … and we slept in tents because we - nobody had money for hotels and he wouldn’t have gone to one anyway, and it was cold. And one of our naughty kids, I can’t remember which one, we had quite a few, said something to him about how cold it was in the tent and how cold it was … he had a big bag of those giant pretzels and he crunched … and he said … But he changed our life … because like so many people … we didn’t know what … and he was a blessing …
10) During the days when Larry was working at Casa and following the Living Room … coming asking if I could help to find … So he said, how about … I guess there were a number of them … disappeared at some point … Then he started bringing people over … and people that Larry … There were such extremes of people that he’d pick up off of the street, it was always an adventure. And then he also … and two good friends of his who he brought to our house to stay and living with us for a couple … they were working on the job with him. So Larry would stop by the house to pick them up … he’d be hitching rides … in and out of the house, going off to some - any kind of work that he could find … creating jobs of other people … it always was so amazing … open to anything sort of approach. So when I saw him a couple years ago … “Julie and Tim, well, it’s as simple as this, just step out, open one’s door, put out a little food for someone and then let it happen. Julie and Tim, you know that this is what it’s all about and that nothing ever stops.” That is Larry.
11) In the early 70′s I was teaching a course on theology … and each semester, Larry … and at the end of the semester, several - a number of students - most students would remark that one of the highlights of the semester, not so much what he said, but what he was.
12) From someone who would have loved to be here today, Father Alexis Bougie, he’s now in Texas. He was the one that I guess got … Casa and the other day, when I was talking to him, he said I still remember the time I was at mass at Ben’s and I saw Larry in the congregation and he invited him to come up and come celebrate with him. And Alex said … for my sake to come up and celebrate.
13) … when Larry - I took somebody over … Casa too and one of the people that helped was John … and he worked at the Living Room with Larry and … and one day I took my two little daughters there, four and two, to this little Living Room and he saw Larry and he - I really didn’t know that he was a priest because he had work clothes on, like gray clothes, like a man that’s a mechanic … And he was just a very kind man. And John … and then he would come home and tell stories about people at the Living Room. I remember the over-stuffed furniture and it being a store front and it was just … , it’s just one of the things that people did in the community, he was one of us … , never was above you and … very kind, gentle person, just like a brother.
14) My last thought of Larry was someone … but not subjective, did not give direction well. He was just - it was incapable of performing. But I just remember that chuckle and that kind of disarming smile that allowed him to get away with so many things.
15) I only met Larry actually once in my life and it was at Dan and Jackie’s house and we celebrated Eucharist while we were having dinner. And for me, I think from that moment onwards, Larry was St. Francis in my life and that Eucharist must have been powerful because it has stayed with me even today.
16) When everyone was talking about what a good guy - and last year - or maybe two years ago it was … telling a story … Someone had the audacity when he was with the … at the - well, at the Theology Council - and someone had put … beer. And so they had a - a little workshop and they kept the beer there and somebody that was a good friend of theirs … , had a swimming pool. So as St. Louis was - this was right across the river from St. Louis, they all snuck out one night and took the case of beer, went down and went swimming. And three of the guys that went along were … , Larry somehow was put on probation and he did succeed in getting ordained. But following that, some years later, when his dad died, Larry had a mass and - boy, am I getting old, I forgot the point I was going to tell you. Larry mustn’t want me to tell you. Thank you.
17) I suppose I’d have to bring this up, otherwise … About three years ago, Larry came to St. Ben’s and … about 17 years. Jeff … to be a part of general ministry … During that time, I - my life has never been the same. But when - when Larry came in, I had no idea how well he was going to get involved in life. They had spend a lot of time in culture resistance in their past … so they talked about a lot. Well, I went down the stairs and I decided … because I didn’t know what was going on … I walked downstairs and he immediately starts laughing, he was just looking right through me and seeing right past me into the future and he can’t stop laughing. Hey come down here … Yes Father Larry, that’s what he sounded like. So I tell him - I’m walking by and it’s time … says hi to me, he’s sitting right over here and I says well, we have to get going. And he says … I said yeah. He said “Boy, do I feel sorry for you.”
18) Well, the last time I saw Lorenzo was - he was driving a car away from my house, he had just done his book tour and … and he just drove away and I thought it was just sort of a strange sight, Lorenzo’s driving a car, I’d never seen that before, and that’s how he died …
19) I was the Chaplain of the prison for Larry. But I was sort of a liberal chaplain in prison and these guys - and it’s like it was very life-changing … but with Larry … , those are the three who were there together. And I began to - the first thing I did was - you’re not supposed to have mass, because they’re in prison. So the first thing I did was offer … in a mass and Larry just said no, I won’t do that … , I can do what I can do. And it was a whole different kind of - way of looking at life, he was always - he was always just there. But in being just there, he would do things like - he wrote a letter that got publicly - he sent it out through my chaplain program, that got published in a Madison paper and all of a sudden up come the - the … take him over, put him in the hole … most gentle of all … and the least violent of any - he was the one who spent the most time in prison, he spent it in the hole because he had written a letter. It was - it was whole life kind of change for me. And so I’d seen Larry since he’d come back … my family … and it’s been a wonderful experience knowing … and I know what his love for the South America, Guatemala, all those countries were and how he had gotten all the stories we heard here today, I decided inside of me … and it was … I have never known a person in my life who lived every … Every single one of you, he was probably one of the … persons I’ve ever met in prison … that’s not weakness, that’s strength. He suffered persecution for justice’s sake. He was a peace maker. He … for his people of Central America. He did all - he carries out all of these things … - you know, he was the person who embodied every single … that Jesus said, you have to do - the new commandants and … It’s not the thou shall nots, but this what it should be, it should be … , you should warn, you should suffer for justice’s sake, you should reach out and be a peace maker, you should be pure - you know, pure of heart. People who know anyone who was more pure of heart … He was just all of those things. And as I saw him, I said … and so I ask that each of you consider in your hearts that as they used to do, declare by community acclamation Lorenzo a saint.
(ANSWERS OF AMEN, FOLLOWED BY APPLAUSE.)
