A Giant Goes to Heaven: Fr. Lawrence Boadt, CSP

To those who have known and loved and worked with him, it came as both a relief and as a very sad event. Paulist Father Larry Boadt died this morning after an incredibly courageous battle with terminal cancer. The Paulist Fathers' obituary says it all much better than I, so please read it there. 

I not only belong in all three of the above categories, I am also one of the untold thousands who, in their theology student days, could never have passed Old Testament without having used his magisterial book Reading the Old Testament. Also, I suppose I have the dubious distinction, as a photographer, of having been the last person to photograph him. Here are some images from the farewell party given for him only last month when he stepped down from the helm of Paulist Press, of which he had been CEO and Publisher since 1998. They show him in his typical way--always smiling and always glad to be around people. He may have been one of the greatest Old Testament scholars in the world, but he never stood on ceremony. Gracious humility was his style. In November 2009, as we were both returning from Montreal on the same flight after attending the American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, he cheerfully guarded my luggage while I did some last-minute duty-free shopping and then drove me home from Newark Liberty Airport. This was typical of him.

As he lived, so he died. His colleague at Paulist Press, Fr. Mike Kerrigan, CSP, who devotedly looked after him during his illness, said that watching him go toward that inevitable meeting with his Creator was an inspiring and transforming experience.
R.I.P., Fr. Boadt. May not only the angels but also Fr. Isaac Hecker and the other early Paulist saints lead you into Paradise. I know St. Mary Magdalene will be on the welcoming committee--I already had a word with her.