THE GOOD NEWS
ARCHBISHOP BELTRAN

January 15, 2006

The Good News

...“The Year of Father Rother”

Twenty-five years ago on July 28, 1981, Father Stanley Rother, a priest of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, was cruelly attacked, gunned down and killed. This event occurred in the middle of the night in the rectory of the parish in Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala. Father Rother had served as a priest in Guatemala since 1968 and at the time of his martyrdom, he was the pastor of Santiago Atitlan.

In honor of one of our faithful priests and a great missionary, it seems right that we, the Catholic people of Oklahoma, should consider 2006, the twenty-fifth anniversary of Father Rother’s death as “The Year of Father Rother.”

Principally during this year, I would encourage all Catholic people of Oklahoma to pray for the canonization of Father Rother. Accordingly, prayer cards will be made available to distribute through the parishes. I also suggest, much as we did last year with the centennial prayer, that this prayer for Father Rother’s canonization be recited publicly at all Sunday Masses throughout 2006.

Although July is a long way off, I do wish to apprise you now of some specific plans to honor Father Rother. I hope that many of you will participate in these events.

On Wednesday, July 19th, a very special Memorial Mass will be celebrated at Holy Trinity Church in Okarche at 6:00 p.m. Okarche is the birthplace of Father Rother and Holy Trinity was his home parish. Father Rother’s body is buried in the Holy Trinity Parish cemetery. This Memorial Mass will be an archdiocesan ceremony and all are invited and welcomed to participate.

Also, in honor of Father Rother, there will be an archdiocesan pilgrimage to Santiago Atitlan leaving from Oklahoma City on July 22nd and returning on July 29th. During that one week trip, we will have the opportunity to see the place where Father Rother ministered and to meet the people he knew and served. Details on this pilgrimage are printed elsewhere in this issue and will be published in parish bulletins.

One of the highlights of the pilgrimage to Guatemala will be the Memorial Mass on July 28th (the actual date of Father Rother’s death) at the parish church of Santiago Atitlan. Bishop Raul Martinez, Bishop of Solola-Chimaltenango, will be the principal celebrant. He has invited me and the priests of Oklahoma to concelebrate with him and he welcomes all visitors from Oklahoma.

Just as we begin our tribute in Okarche on July 19th, we will end it in Okarche at the cemetery with a prayer service on Sunday afternoon, July 30th, at 3:00 p.m. Because mid-summer in Oklahoma is very warm, the service at the graveside will be brief. All Oklahomans are invited to attend this occasion also.

Our association with the Guatemala mission at Santiago Atitlan goes back forty years. During that time much has changed and the local diocese is now administering the parish and continuing many of the good things we began. Therefore, through the “Friends of Oklahoma,” both the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa budget funds to help the people of Santiago Atitlan. In fact, this past year when the area suffered devastating mudslides that buried thousands of people, many of you generously responded. Almost $150,000 was donated by you and has been sent to assist the victims who were left homeless.

Though much has changed over the years and much more will change in the future, the bond between Oklahoma Catholics and the people of Santiago Atitlan will always remain. I mentioned above that Father Rother’s body is buried in the Holy Trinity cemetery in Okarche and that is true. What I didn’t mention yet is the fact that Father Rother’s heart is enshrined in a monument in the parish church of Santiago Atitlan. At the time of his martyrdom, as his body was being prepared for transmittal to Oklahoma for burial (as his parents wished), the people of Santiago Atitlan asked to keep his heart. His parents and Archbishop Salatka approved their request.

Father Rother loved his people and they loved him. Our two communities of Oklahoma and Santiago Atitlan were brought together by Father Rother’s life, ministry and death because “we are all one in Christ.” During this “Year of Father Rother,” pray for his intercession and for the beginning of the process of canonization of this great and worthy Oklahoma missionary.