At a young age, Blessed Stanley Rother and his siblings were willing to put their lives in the Lord’s hands, Archbishop Bernard Hebda said. Father Rother was convinced early on in life that the Lord might be calling him to be a priest, the archbishop explained.
“As hard as it was for him to leave his family, he did just that,” Archbishop Hebda told Leah Heselton, co-host of the “Practicing Catholic” radio show, for an episode set to air at 9 p.m. Aug. 14 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM.
At the time of the Second Vatican Council, Pope John XXIII believed it would be important to respond to pastoral needs in South America. He asked that priests in Europe and North America go to South America as a “gift of faith,” Archbishop Hebda explained. Father Rother, a priest in Oklahoma, was asked by his bishop to answer that call.
“Then Father Stanley (Rother) agreed to go to the parish that … his diocese was serving in Guatemala (in Central America),” Archbishop Hebda said. “It was an area in the Highlands, I believe, and there’s a big lake, volcanic lake (there). He was on one side of that lake. … He also had a great ‘in’ with the people there because he knew a lot about farming. They were mostly subsistence farmers, and he managed to help them with a co-op and teach them some farming techniques. But most especially for him, it was a way of getting, really, to know the families. He really integrated himself into that life.”
Archbishop Hebda said Father Rother was helping people in Guatemala grow in faith but also improve healthcare and nutrition.
“Then there came a period of great political turmoil in Guatemala,” Archbishop Hebda said. “The people in the Church and their advancement of society was seen to be a threat to those who were in control. It really became a very difficult situation to the point that he would see some of his catechists killed. He would see some of the people in his community, in his little town, they would disappear and presumably they were killed as well. He knew it was a very difficult assignment, but he felt so attached, and he wanted to be there as that presence of Christ, especially with the celebration of the sacraments.”
Archbishop Hebda said that Father Rother was told to leave because he was number one on a list of people to be killed.
When he came back to the United States, Father Rother visited his friend Archbishop Harry Flynn, then Msgr. Flynn, at Mount St. Mary’s University in Maryland where Father Rother was once a seminarian. Father Rother described the horrors in Guatemala “with a passion,” Archbishop Flynn said.
“It was there that he (Father Rother) had that strong sense that he had to go back, even though he was fairly certain that he would be put to death. He so much wanted to be with his people, his family, at that time of need,” Archbishop Hebda said. “And so, when he went back, he was indeed, eventually he was killed.”
His death was such a tragedy for the people in Father Rother’s village that they didn’t want to let his body go, and only eventually agreed when promised they could retain Father Rother’s heart, Archbishop Hebda said.
“(Father Rother) had given his beautiful instructions as well, that if he were to be killed, that they were supposed to play the joyful Easter music that would remind people of the Resurrection,” Archbishop Hebda said. “That was how he’s remembered in his little town in Guatemala.”
To hear more from Archbishop Hebda about Father Rother, listen to this episode of “Practicing Catholic,” which repeats at 1 p.m. Aug. 15 and 2 p.m. Aug. 16.
Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the latest show also includes a Practicing Catholic episode from 2017 featuring Archbishop Harry Flynn in an interview about his friendship with Father Rother.
Listen to interviews after they have aired at practicingcatholicshow.com or choose a streaming platform at Spotify for Podcasters.
