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About Southern cross. (Savannah, Ga.) 1963-2021 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 31, 2017)
Southern Cross, Page 4 COMENTARIO EN ESPANOL Thursday, August 31, 2017 An Oklahoma Martyr, Patron of the Peripheries L ast December Pope Francis offi cially recognized the martyrdom of Father Stanley Rother, a priest of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City who was killed in Guatemala by factions of that country’s military, making him the first recognized mar tyr bom in the United States. This recognition of martyrdom has cleared the way for his beatification which will take place on September 23 in Oklahoma City. Father Rother died while serving the flock entrusted to him as a mis sionary to the indigenous people of Guatemala. He knew that remaining with his parishioners in the town of Santiago Atitlan was a death sentence due to the tense political situation, yet he stayed. In his Christmas letter of 1980, Father Rother wrote to his friends and family, “The shepherd cannot run at the first sign of danger.” A few short months later, on July 28th, 1981, a military death squad entered the rectory, held the sacristan at gunpoint and demanded he lead them to the priest. That night, Father Rother was tortured and killed in the study of his house. On June 25th, 2015, a theological commission of the Congregation of the Causes of Saints voted to formally recognize him as a martyr. At that critical moment, Archbishop Coakley of Oklahoma City stated that “Father Rother laid down his life for Christ and for the people of his parish in Guatemala, whom he dearly loved. It is very encouraging to move one step closer to a formal recognition by the Church of Father Rother’s heroic life and death as a martyr for the Gospel.” A few years ago I visited Santiago Atitlan, the small town on the shores of the spectacular Atitlan Lake where Father Stanley Rother was killed by those who opposed his ministry to those in the periphery of society. I slept on the floor of a room adjacent to where he was shot. I met people who knew him and worked with him. I met one of his seminary classmates who described how Father Rother struggled academically and was not a good student. I met Chona, the woman who cleaned the crime scene and poured his blood into an empty glass jar. I heard stories from priests who saw him pacing back and forth in a chapel in Guatemala City days before his martyrdom. Father Rother had become a threat to the government because he was helping the indigenous and defending them against a government that had little use for them and considered most of them subversive. I recently heard the Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus Carl Anderson propose Stanley Rother as the Patron of the Periphery. In his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis condemns the economy of exclusion and inequality where masses of people find them selves excluded and marginalized without work, without possibilities, without any means of escape. He notes that this exclusion leads to peo ple being not just in the fringes of society, but to individuals who are not even part of society. These are the outcast and leftovers (EG, 53). Soon to be Blessed Stanley Rother stood for the rights of the outcast and left overs in the mountains of Guatemala and was martyred for his heroic love and perseverance. I agree with Carl Anderson, this man truly is the Patron of the Periphery. Father Pablo Migone is chancellor of the Diocese of Savannah and resides in the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist, Savannah. Martir de Oklahoma, Patron de las Periferias E n diciembre del ano pasado el Papa Francisco reconocio formalmente el martirio del Padre Stanley Rother, un sacerdote de la Arquidiocesis de Oklahoma City que fue asesinado por el ejercito guatemalteco, convirtiendose en el primer martir nacido en los Estados Unidos reconocido por la Iglesia. Este reconocimiento ha preparado el camino para su beatification la cual sera el proximo 23 de septiembre en Oklahoma City. El Padre Rother murio mientras servia el rebano confiado a el como misionero a los indigetias de Guatemala. El sabia que el permanecer con sus feligreses en la ciudad de Santiago Atitlan era una sentencia de muerte debido a la tensa situation politica, pero el no los abandono. En su carta de Navidad de 1980, el Padre Rother escribio a sus amigos y familiares, “el pastor no puede huir ante la primera serial de peligro”. Pocos meses mas tarde, el 28 de julio de 1981, un escuadron militar entro en la rectoria, encanono al sacristan y le exigio llevarlos al sacerdote. Esa noche, el Padre Rother, o Aplas como le decia su gente, fue torturado y asesinado. El 25 de junio de 2015, una comision teologica de la Congregation de las Causas de los Santos en Roma oficialmente reconocio el martirio del Padre Rother. En ese momento critico el Arzobispo de Oklahoma City, Monsenor Coakley, expreso que “el Padre Rother entrego su vida por Cristo y por la gente de su parroquia en Guatemala, la cual amaba entranablemente. Es muy alentador dar este paso adelante hacia el reconocimiento formal por la iglesia de la vida heroica y martirio del Padre Rother.” Hace unos anos visite Santiago Atitlan, la pequena ciudad a orillas del Father Stanley Rother, a priest of the Oklahoma City Archdiocese, is pictured in an undated photo. He was brutally murdered in 1981 in the Guatemalan village where he ministered to the poor. Father Rother will be beatified Sept. 23 in Oklahoma. (CNS photo/Diane Clay, Sooner Catholic) espectacular Lago Atitlan donde el Padre la periferia de la sociedad. Dormi en el Stanley Rother fue asesinado por quienes piso de una habitation adyacente a donde se oponian a su apostolado en medio de le dispararon. Conoci a personas que lo conocieron y trabajaron con el. Conoci a uno de sus companeros del seminario quien menciono que el Padre Rother batallo academicamente y no era buen estudiante. Conoci a Chona, la mujer que enjugo la sangre del Padre colocandola en un fiasco de vidrio. Oi historias de sacerdotes que lo vieron caminando pensativo de un lado a otro dentro de una capilla en la Ciudad de Guatemala pocos dias antes de su martirio. El Padre Rother se habia convertido en una amenaza ya que ayudaba al pueblo indigena, pueblo que el gobiemo no valoraba y frecuentemente consideraba subversivo. Hace poco escuche al Caballero Supremo de los Caballeros de Colon Carl Anderson proponer a Stanley Rother como el Patron de la Periferia. En su exhortation apostolica Evangelii Gaudium, el Papa Francisco condena la economia de la exclusion y la inequidad donde las grandes masas de la poblacion se ven excluidas y marginadas: sin trabajo, sin horizontes, sin salida. El Papa menciona que esta exclusion deja a muchas personas no solo al margen de la sociedad, sino fuera de ella. Estos son los desechables y sobrantes {EG, 53). El proximo Beato Stanley Rother defendio a los desechables y sobrantes de la periferia en Guatemala y fue martirizado por su heroico amor y perseverancia. Estoy de acuerdo con Carl Anderson, este nuevo beato es verdaderamente el Patron de la Periferia. Padre Pablo Migone, es Canciller DE LA DlOCESIS DE SAVANNAH Y RESIDE EN LA CATEDRAL DE SAN JUAN BAUTISTA, Savannah.
