Rower remembered at memorial

"He spoke the truth as he saw it," said Rev. Joseph Marchese, First Year Experience director, in his homily at a memorial mass for Scott Laio, A&S '06. "He was a man who was always thinking, and he would share his own vulnerability, but always with a deep faith, with a love, knowing that he was accepted."

The Mass, which was celebrated by University President Rev. William P. Leahy, S.J., along with several other resident Jesuits of Boston College, took place last night in St. Ignatius Church. It honored Laio, who died last spring at the Dad Vail Regatta in Philadelphia.

The Mass was attended by Scott's family, friends, teammates, and teachers as well as musicians from campus ministry.

Originally from Pittsford, N.Y., Laio, 20, was a bowman for the BC men's lightweight eight and member of the crew team since his freshman year. He lost consciousness on May 14 immediately after his boat crossed the finish line, winning the event in which it was competing.

Ned Borgman, BC '05, performed CPR on Laio before an ambulance arrived and drove him to Hahnemann University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Family, friends, and teachers of Laio, who was double majoring in biology and marketing, described him as always amicable and energetic.

In the homily, Marchese read passages from Matthew about the two greatest commandments - to love God and to love one's neighbor. Scott manifested these two commandments throughout his life, Marchese said.

"God called Scott - not in or out of life, but when earthly life ended - because the frailty of human feelings failed him. It was God who called him to a new loving beyond death."

In his homily, Marchese honored Laio with anecdotes, remembering how Laio waited for him after class to discuss and explore life through conversation.

Marchese revealed how, in his first semester, Laio attempted to answer personal questions of existence - what he wanted to do with his life, how he fit into the adult world, how he could make a difference.

"He was always discerning, questioning a premature movement to a safe existence," Marchese said. "He truly believed his purposes were tied to the purposes of God."

Marchese paraphrased a passage from Margaret Craven's I Heard the Owl Call My Name, which featured the book's character, a bishop, realizing that the meaning of life is being ready to die. Up until the moment of his death, Laio had lived a complete, faithful life and was ready to die, Marchese said.

He spoke about grace as he borrowed words from Paul Tillich, whom he called the greatest theologian. "Grace is the realization that your relationship with God means to be in a relationship of honest and reciprocal love - and all that flows from it," said Marchese.

Tillich wrote that when one has grace, he is accepted, said Marchese. "You are accepted, accepted by that which is greater than you, and the name of which you do not know," he said. Marchese knew that Laio had grace and felt accepted. It is because he possessed this grace that he was able to be perpetually friendly and committed to life, friends, family, God, and crew, he said.

In the preparation of the Eucharist, Leahy asked those present to remember Scott. On Friday night, the men's and women's crew teams held a fundraising banquet including alumni and family members. Part of a slideshow was also dedicated to Laio.

At the Head of the Charles regatta this weekend, the crew team sold blue "Livestrong"-style wristbands with Laio's initials and a BC oar engraved on them. The money will go toward the Scott Laio Memorial Fund. Other donations can be sent to BC Rowing, Scott Laio Memorial Fund, 140 Commonwealth Ave., Chestnut Hill, Mass. 02467.