Father Lawrence Florian “Larry” Kolson, a Baltimore native who served six parishes in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and recently marked his 50th year in the priesthood, died Aug. 13 at Stella Maris Hospice in Timonium following a long illness. He was 76.
Friends recalled that the former pastor of Prince of Peace in Edgewood and St. Stephen in Bradshaw devoted his priesthood to sharing Christ’s love with others.
Franciscan Sister Angela DeFontes, who served as a pastoral associate with Father Kolson at St. Stephen, said her friend was well-known for saying, “Always remember that God is crazy in love with you.”
“He was a phenomenal homilist,” she said. “He always left you with something very profound to reflect upon.”
Nancy Van Poppel, a St. Stephen parishioner since 1950, said of Father Kolson, “He taught us how to love – to be kind. He epitomized the love of Jesus Christ to us.”
Born July 2, 1948 in Hamilton, Father Kolson attended St. Matthew School and St. Paul Latin High School in Baltimore, St. Charles College in Catonsville and St. Mary’s Seminary in Roland Park.
After serving as a deacon at St. Anthony of Padua in Gardenville, he was ordained a priest May 18, 1974 at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Homeland. That was followed by assignments as associate pastor of St. Mary, Hagerstown; Church of the Nativity, Timonium; St. Clement I, Lansdowne, and St. Mark, Fallston.
Father Kolson was pastor of Prince of Peace in Edgewood from 1988 to 1994 and pastor of St. Stephen in Bradshaw from 1994 until his retirement in July 2019. St. Stephen is now part of a pastorate with Holy Spirit in Joppa.
It was at St. Stephen where Father Kolson, a passionate amateur historian with an interest in the Civil War, found a particularly joyful home. In a 2009 interview with the Catholic Review he said he didn’t want to go anywhere else.
“We try to have fun,” he said. “We can celebrate our faith in a joyful, even fun, way. We can have a good time being Catholic.”
Drew Bonthron, a long-time parishioner and former pastoral council member at St. Stephen, recalled Father Kolson as keeping his sense of humor in at least one challenging circumstance.
At a packed funeral, he had to gently challenge the family’s choice of readings that were not in the lectionary, and searched for appropriate readings during the liturgy. He cracked, “If you don’t like organized religion, St. Stephen’s is your place!”
Bonthron also recalled Father Kolson greeting parishioners at the front door before Mass, instead of after, and said he was an early adopter of having small faith communities within the parish.
“He was always looking for the thing, whether it was in style or not, that would help people on their faith journey.”
And that drew in parishioners. “Seventy percent of the people who go there don’t live within the parish boundaries,” Bonthron said.
At the time of his ordination, Father Kolson told the Catholic Review the priesthood was the “only thing” that had meaning for him at that time.
“I think that a priest is mainly a reconciler,” he said. “I hope to bring some sense of reconciliation to the people I work with, to help people, especially the way things are now, to relax and allow God to save them.”
Father Kolson came to St. Stephen at a difficult time for the parish following the death of the former pastor by suicide.
Father George Gannon, the current pastor of the pastorate of St. Stephen and Holy Spirit, said in a Facebook tribute that his predecessor’s care and concern for Catholic schools and the parish religious education program “blessed many young people as they grew in the love of Christ and his Church.”
Visitation is Aug. 19 from 3 to 5 p.m. at St. Stephen. A funeral Mass is scheduled for Aug. 21 at 11 a.m. at Prince of Peace parish; the homilist will be Father William O’Brien.
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