Rev. Lawrence M. Lott
Deceased: 2005-11-30
Diocese: MOBILE
Seminary Graduation Year: 1990
The Rev. Lawrence Michael “Larry” Lott, former pastor at St. Philip of Neri Catholic Church in Belle Fontaine and retired U.S. Navy chaplain, died Wednesday, November 20, 2005 at a Mobile health care facility. He was 49.
Lott, a native and resident of Mobile, suffered from cancer, according to Mobile Archbishop Oscar Lipscomb.
“He was a good priest. He served the people well,” Lipscomb said Wednesday.
A 1974 graduate of McGill-Toolen High School, Lott received his bachelor’s degree from Spring Hill College in 1985 and then entered St. Joseph Seminary College in St. Benedict, La., as a seminarian for the Archdiocese of Mobile. He received a degree in philosophy from St. Joseph’s, then entered North American College, Vatican City, and commenced academic studies in theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, where he earned a bachelor of sacred theology degree in 1988, and began academic studies in canon law, earning a judicial canon license in 1990.
Ordained a deacon at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, he returned to Mobile where he was ordained to the priesthood on July 6, 1990, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. He celebrated his first Solemn Mass at Little Flower Catholic Church, the parish in which he had worshipped as a youth and where he had attended elementary school.
He served as associate pastor and administrator at St. Bede’s Catholic Church in Montgomery and administrator at St. Maurice Parish in Brewton before being assigned to the Metropolitan Tribune in Mobile.
In June 1995, Lott began full-time service as a Navy chaplain. During his career as chaplain, he was stationed in Okinawa, Japan; served aboard the aircraft carrier USS Wasp; and served at the Rota Naval Station in Rota, Spain, and then at the New Orleans Naval Air Station, where he was designated as command chaplain. Following his medical retirement from the Navy this past April, Lott was appointed pastor of the St. Philip of Neri Catholic Church in Belle Fontaine.
Survivors include his parents, Guerre P. Lott and Jude Betancourt Lott; two brothers, Thomas P. Lott and Anthony “Andy” Lott, both of Mobile; and one sister, Marylin Lowry of Daphne.
Visitation is set for 5 to 8 p.m. today at Little Flower Catholic Church, 2053 Government St., with a wake at 6 p.m. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at noon Friday at the church. Burial will be in Catholic Cemetery with Radney Funeral Home on Dauphin Street directing.
Memorial donations may be made to the St. Philip of Neri Catholic Church Building Fund; or to the Priests’ Burse Club.
