Fr. Adrian, R.I.P.

Fr. Adrian Laible, O.S.B. – 1932-2014

It was under difficult circumstances that I returned to Mount Michael today. Sunday's death of Fr. Adrian Laible, O.S.B., was not unexpected. He had suffered from Alzheimer's disease for years and Fr. Richard had been dutifully keeping us updated with Facebook posts as the end neared.

Fr. Adrian was my social studies teacher my junior year (if my memory serves me correctly). He was also in charge of food service my freshman and sophomore years. This meant he was my direct supervisor on kitchen work study. Fr. Adrian was a kind-hearted priest. But he could be firm when it came to making sure you did your job right. I recall many a day where he stood in the kitchen, watching us work, all the while picking his teeth with a toothpick. He was the same way in the classroom: firm, but kind.

Like all of the monks, I considered Fr. Adrian an extended part of my family. And returning to "The Mount" is always like coming home. While the physical nature of many of the facilities have changed (and certainly there are more gray and silver hairlines among the monks now), the atmosphere of prayer and serenity, the familiar surroundings, and all the good memories of high school always come flooding back. It will be 30 years this May that I graduated from Mount Michael. In that time, about 1,000 students have also earned their degree there. But each and every time I come back, priests and brothers come up to me and welcome me by name, as if it was only yesterday that they saw me bounding through the halls on my way to class or cross country and track practice.

Due to the cold conditions, we drove to the nearby cemetery.

Abbott Michael Liebl ("Fr. Mike" to me) shared a poignant (and at times, tearful) homily that was a nice retrospective on Fr. Adrian. A particular memory of his was seeing Fr. Adrian and Fr. Robert (also deceased) in the monastic lounge every evening, cigarette smoke wafting in a thick blue haze, watching the 10 o'clock news. Fr. Adrian also loved tending to bluebirds. From the program:

It would be safe to say that at the height of Father Adrian's bird feeding days, every bird in Douglas County ate at Mount Michael. As one of the monks said, "Father Adrian feeds more birds than Saint Francis."

I have attended a few funeral masses for Mount Michael monks over the years. Fr. Joseph's funeral mass (back in the early 90s?) was actually so large that it was held at St. Patrick's Church in Elkhorn. On this morning, as warm sunshine splashed through the stained glass windows belying the frigid temperatures outdoors, I was a bit surprised not to see more alumni. But there was a nice contingent of lay faculty, a student group of pall bearers (all of them wearing neck ties – and all players on the Knights' varsity basketball team) and even some notable priests, like Bishop Miloni and Fr. Richling.

The burial at Mount Michael's cemetery (near the guest house) was absolutely frigid as a strong wind howled. But I am convinced I heard at least one bird chirping as Fr. Mike recited the final prayers and sprinkled holy water on the pine wood coffin. Fr. Adrian will be missed.