The Rev. Richard G. Laszewski

1922 - 2012

The Rev. Richard G. Laszewski of Stevens Point died Sunday, Feb. 12, 2012, at the Maryknoll Residence in Los Altos, Calif. He was 89 years old and a Maryknoll priest for 60 years.

Father Laszewski spent most of his 60 years of mission service ministering to the people of South America. After his ordination on June 9, 1951, Father Laszewski was assigned to the Pando region of Bolivia, where he worked among the isolated communities in the tropical rain forests. Traveling by boat and on horseback, he visited the different settlements including those of the Chama Indians along the wide and muddy rivers of the Pando Vicariate. It was in this remote jungle river community that he developed his lifelong interest in medicine and cooperatives. He taught the basics of first aid and cooperative production to the people of the Beni. During 1959, he returned to the United States and worked in the Maryknoll development department in Chicago, followed by a year at Maryknoll College in Glen Ellyn, Ill.

Father Laszewski returned to South America in 1960, ministering in Peru until 2004. As assistant pastor in the Juli Prelature, he served on the Juli Mission Band and traveled to parishes in the Altiplano to administer sacraments to the Aymara people. He established two lnstitutes for Rural Education (IER), one in the Altiplano and one in the city of Huacho on the desert coast. The IER, one of Father Laszewski's proudest accomplishments, provides men and women with courses in agriculture, animal husbandry, leadership and the social teachings of the Church.

"Through the IER we promoted people's freedom," said Father Laszewski. "Their bosses never taught them they could run things themselves. A lot of IER is about breaking down the patron system. The object of this program is to enable people to take a responsible and critical role in determining their own destiny."

After 19 years in Huacho, Father Laszewski was invited by the Yanesha people, who live in the jungles of central Peru, to set up an IER for their communities. But, a revolution forced him to change plans.

Father Laszewski was next assigned as pastor of La Merced Parish in Iscozacin, where he dispensed medicine and helped the people with a project to raise and market shrimp. He retired in 2004 and moved to the Maryknoll Residence in Los Altos, California.

Father Laszewski was born Feb. 22, 1922, in Stevens Point where he attended St. Peter's Grammar School and Glinski Public School. He graduated from St. Mary's High School, Orchard Lake, Mich., in 1944, and studied for three years at St. Mary's College in the same town. Father Laszewski held a bachelor's degree in philosophy (1950), and a master's degree in theology (1951) from Maryknoll Seminary, Ossining, N.Y.

Father Laszewski is survived by his sister, Velma Laszewski of Milwaukee; and his brother, Stanley Laszewski of Wausau.

He was preceded in death by his sisters, Catherine Barnsdale, Alice Mason, Eleanor Guidinger and Theresa Morrison; and his brothers, Henry, Ambrose "Buddy," Anton "Bobby," Joseph and James.

A funeral Mass was concelebrated at 10:30 a.m. Feb. 17 at the Maryknoll Chapel in Los Altos, followed by Christian burial in the Maryknoll Society Cemetery. During March, a memorial service for Father Laszewski will be held at Maryknoll headquarters in New York and another will be held in Stevens Point.

Memorial donations in Father Laszewski's name may be made to the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers, P.O. Box 302, Maryknoll, NY 10545.

For more information about Maryknoll you can visit http://maryknollsociety.org.