¡feliz cumpleaños Father Stan!

Today is the birth day of Blessed Stanley Rother, first U.S. martyr—and as you may recall, the subject of one of my biographies – “The Shepherd Who Didn’t Run: Blessed Stanley Rother, Martyr from Oklahoma.”

He would have been 84 years old.

I've blogged many times about Father Stan and his ministry to the Tz'utujil indians of Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala, for example here and here. And I have published several articles on him. Here’s one, and here’s another.

As a missionary priest serving in the Oklahoma mission in Santiago Atitlán, Padre Francisco, called Apla's by the Guatemala Tz'utujil indians, had a special place in his heart for the children. 

It's not difficult to see how this love, compassion and mercy manifested itself in his earnest commitment and ministry for the widows and the orphans during Guatemala's bloody civil war.

By the way, Our Sunday Visitor recently re-released a revised edition of my book, updating it to note Father Stan’s Beatification on September 23, 2017. Check it out here! The book is also available on Amazon for Kindle and as an Audiobook.

To join the cause, watch a beautiful documentary, or tell the story of a miracle, go to StanleyRother.org -- or contact me! I will point you in the right direction.

Blessed Stanley Rother of Okarche and Santiago Atitlán

I have many topics I want to tell you about... but this news trumps everything!

It is now official! Archbishop Coakley received official word this morning from Rome that Servant of God Father Stanley Rother will be beatified in Oklahoma City in September. 

Praised be Jesus Christ! 

Want to know more about the first American martyr?  

I humbly suggest my book, the first published biography on Father Stanley:  "The Shepherd Who Didn't Run: Fr. Stanley Rother, Martyr from Oklahoma"

reality belongs to the Father

Whenever I skip writing for a while – whether it is blogging, for an assignment, or even my journal, I notice that I start to feel a bit out of kilter.

I know that some of it is due to the fact that if I’m not writing chances are that I’m also not taking my usual quiet time for prayer. But there’s something about writing in and of itself that feeds what my spirit needs in order to feel balanced.

This is especially true if writing by hand. As my hand moves across the page, invisible yet very real connect-the-dots takes place… one that weaves through and merges my mind-heart-spirit, and often even manifests in how my body feels.

With Spring break, Holy Week, and Easter falling back to back to back this year, I found myself downright craving for silence and a pen in the midst of much busy-ness.

Yet I also noticed -- and had to admit -- that the crankiness that accompanied my yearning for silence had more to do with trying to control an uncontrollable reality than any sort of holy desire for prayerful healing. 

I was not in control. I was annoyed that I was not in control. I did not like the reality that was forced on me. And I even felt justified in my crankiness.

Then on Holy Thursday I had the opportunity to go by myself to the Adoration Vigil that followed that evening’s beautiful Mass… and I read this reflection:

“God our Father,

let us not be gripped

in the fear of our own

imaginations,

let us not be attached

to our own ideas

of how things are

supposed to be.

Let us face the reality

of our lives

with the certainty

that all reality

and all of our lives

belong to you.

Let the Real Presence of the Eucharist

be the beginning

of our welcoming

your real presence

in all of reality”

*emphasis mine

~Father Richard Vera,

for MagnificatMagazine,

“Adoration Vigil for Holy Thursday Night”

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One more thing, Easter Sunday was also the birthday of Father Stanley Rother, the Oklahoma missionary martyred in 1981 in the rectory of the Oklahoma Mission at Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala – and the subject of my latest book.

He would have been 81 years old.

Here’s what Father Stanley had to say about seeing the reality of his life as a sign of the Father:

The reality is that we are in danger. But we don’t know when or what form the government will use to further repress the Church. For a month or so now, all classes and group meetings have been canceled. We are working in smaller groups. My associate and myself are seen less in the street, and almost never leave the rectory at night. The tactic of the government has been to kidnap those they think are leaders, torture them and then kill them….

If I should be told to leave here, it would be almost impossible for Father Pedro Bocel to continue here alone. Being a Guatemalan and an Indian, it is more probable that he will be dispatched first.. I do not intend to leave him here to be killed if I have to leave, or if we see that he is in imminent danger, I want to get him out of the Country…

They haven’t killed an American priest yet. Given the situation, I am not ready to leave here just yet. There is a chance the Government will back off. If I get a direct threat or am told to leave, then I will go. But if it is my destiny that I should give my life here, then so be it… I don’t want to desert these people, and that is what will be said, even after all these years. There is still a lot of good that can be done under the circumstances…

Pray for us that we may continue to serve as best we can in the reality where we find ourselves.

[from a letter to the bishops of Tulsa and Oklahoma City,

dated 10 months before his murder]

“The shepherd cannot run at the first sign of danger.

Pray for us that we may be a sign of the love of Christ for

our people, that our presence among them will fortify them to

endure these sufferings in preparation for the coming of the Kingdom.”

[and from a letter written that final Christmas]

My book: “The Shepherd Who Didn’t Run: Fr. Stanley Rother, Martyr fromOklahoma”

[photos © María Ruiz Scaperlanda, 

taken in Amman, Jordan; 

Photos of Fr Stanley Rother, 

courtesy of Archdiocese of Oklahoma City]

FINAL DAY! 'The Shepherd Who Didn't Run' Blog Tour: Day 12, Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle

It's been a busy two weeks!  

At the same time that my friends and talented colleagues have been helping me spread the word about my new book and about the story of Father Stanley Rother's life through this Blog Tour -- I've also been blessed by participating in several local book signings and presentations, including a Sunday Mass visit to Father Stanley's family parish, Holy Trinity in Okarche, Oklahoma! 

Don't assume you won't hear about my book any more, but we'll definitely take a break from talking ONLY about "The Shepherd Who Didn't Run."

But first, here's the final stop... today we're headed to Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle's blog.  

Let's just say that I am ending  the Blog Tour with a big bang!  

Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle needs little introduction. Many of you already know her many books, including her recent memoir, "The Kiss of Jesus." She is also a frequent guest on EWTN television and radio. And she hosts EWTN’s “Everyday Blessings for Catholic Moms” and “Catholic Mom’s Café," not to mention a regular contributor to a wide range of newspapers, magazines, TV and online media outlets worldwide. Did I mention that she's also a popular speaker at national conferences and retreats?

She is also a generous friend who took the time to host today's final Blog Tour stop...

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The Shepherd Who Didn’t Run

February 8, 2016 - Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle

My friend and fellow author Maria Ruiz Scaperlanda just released a book The Shepherd Who Didn’t Run: Fr. Stanley Rother, Martyr from Oklahoma.

I have endorsed this fine book. This is what I said:

In this edifying and inspiring biography of Father Stanley Rother, priest, missionary, and martyr, the author draws us into the small town of Okarche, Oklahoma and the village of Santiago Atillan and unfolds one man’s faithful journey. She illustrates how God raises the faithful to the ranks of sanctity and how every small loving act of service deeply impacts lives. A must read.

I am including an excerpt. But, first here is a little about Maria:

In the past 30 years, María has been published broadly in the U.S., including the New York Times, Our Sunday Visitor, St. Anthony Messenger, Columbia, and other national and diocesan publications.

Maria’s work as a Catholic journalist has taken her on international assignments in Central America and the Caribbean, the Middle East, and throughout Europe. But perhaps her favorite assignment was covering Pope John Paul II’s historic visit to her native country, Cuba.

Her primary life-time assignment, however, has been as wife to Michael for 34 years, mother to four grown children—and now “Bella” to six beautiful grandchildren!

The Shepherd Who Didn’t Run

“How a 46-year-old priest from a small German farming community in Oklahoma came to live and die in the remote, ancient village of Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala, is a story full of wonder and God’s Providence.

When Pope John XXIII requested in the early 1960s that North Americans send missionaries to South and Central America, the Oklahoma Church responded.

In 1964, the then-Diocese of Oklahoma City and Tulsa took over the care of the church of Santiago Atitlán, the earliest parish in the Diocese of Sololá dating back to the 16th century. But no resident priest had served the indigenous Tz’utujil community of Santiago Atitlán for almost a century…

From the onset, that first Oklahoma missionary team understood that the Tz’utujil are an agricultural people who retain much of their ancient Mayan culture and pride. This was a perfect fit for Father Stanley Francis Rother, a farming boy from the western Oklahoma town of Okarche.

When he arrived at Santiago Atitlán in 1968, Father Stanley instantly fell in love with the volatile and stunning land of volcanoes and earthquakes, but above all, with its people. His Tz’utujil Indian parishioners called him “Padre Apla’s,” which translates “Francis” or “Francisco” in the native Tz’utujil language…

Once Guatemala’s civil war found its way to the peaceful villages surrounding beautiful Lake Atitlán, many people, like Father Stanley’s own catechists, began to disappear regularly.

Father Stanley’s response was to show his people the way of love and peace with his life. He walked the roads looking for the bodies of the dead to bring them home for a proper burial, and he fed the widows and orphans of those killed or “disappeared.”

Yet it was living these works of mercy that put Father Stanley on a death list.

“In his final Christmas letter to Oklahoma Catholics published in two diocesan newspapers in 1980, Father Stanley concluded, ‘The shepherd cannot run at the first sign of danger. Pray for us that we may be a sign of the love of Christ for our people, that our presence among them will fortify them to endure these sufferings in preparation for the coming of the Kingdom’.”

Servant of God Father Stanley Rother was shot to death in the rectory of his parish church on July 28, 1981. His cause for sainthood is currently under review.

This past June (2015) a panel of nine theologians handed a majority vote affirming that Fr. Stanley Rother’s death was in odium fidei, or in hatred of the faith. And now a panel of 15 cardinals and archbishops must approve the martyrdom cause. This is where we are today, waiting on this vote.

To learn more about this excellent book visit the author Maria Scaperlanda here.

Check out Our Sunday Visitor here.

'The Shepherd Who Didn't Run' Blog Tour: Day 11, Susan Stabile

My husband Michael likes to say that my work (for 30 years now?!) in the Catholic press has brought into our lives some of our best and closest friends. 

It is certainly true that my work has blessed me/us with some phenomenal faith-filled people!

But it is his work as a law professor that I have to thank for bringing Susan Stabile into my life! 

Susan is a spiritual director, a retreat leader, a gifted writer, and yes, a law professor. Like me, Susan yearns for the ocean and loves the Camino de Santiago (which she walked a few years back!). 

One of the many things that I appreciate about Susan is how well she brings together in her writing and her speaking the many aspects of her life and her rich experience, allowing her faith journey and honesty to touch the hearts of many. Her book, "Growing in Love and Wisdom: Tibetan Buddhist Sources for Christian Meditation," is a great example of this! 

Do check out Susan's blog, appropriately titled, CREO EN DIOS!

My Life is For My People

February 7, 2016 by Susan Stabile

Who is Father Stanley Rother?  Not a household name, except perhaps for the people in the state from which he hailed, and I knew nothing about him. My dear friend Maria Ruiz Scaperlanda, the incredibly talented and award-winning author and journalist, has done her part in rectifying our ignorance with her new book,The Shepherd Who Didn’t Run: Fr. Stanley Rother, Martyr from Oklahoma.

Given how many things are on my plate right now, it says a lot that once I picked up the book I did not put it down again until I finished it.  No small part of that is simply that Maria is a gifted storyteller who paints vivid descriptions of the man and the people who he served.

A large part of what compelled me, however, was the man himself.  Rother, once thought not smart enough to complete seminary studies to become a priest who seemed more at home tilling the fields or building retreat facilities than writing sermons, deserves to be remembered for his selfless commitment to his people, a commitment that led to his martyrdom.

Maria’s book takes us through Rother’s family background, his upbringing, his struggles in seminary and his early priesthood.  But the most compelling part of Rother’s life begins in 1968, when he was appointed to Oklahoma’s Guatemala mission team.  We learn from Maria about Rother’s growth in his life as a missionary.  One commentator observed that Rother “didn’t go there to do anything.  He went there to be there, with the people.  And because he was there, other things happened…like the school, and the clinic, and farming the fields.”  He was tireless in performance of his pastoral duties as well as developing cropland and other activities designed to better the lives of the poor in the area he served.

Alas, Guatemala during the time Rother was there began to look more and more like the El Salvador in which Oscar Romero ministered.  (And much of what I read about Rother reminded me of Romero.)  Violence and upheaval, massacres,  disappearances, persecution of the church as well as the people.  It was an increasingly dangerous situation, especially for those, like Rother, who raised their voices for social justice.

In early 1981, Rother made the last of his visits to his family.  At the time it was clear his life was in danger and most people believed he should not return to Guatemala.  He himself knew that if he returned he would be deported or killed.

But stronger than any fear or concern for his own safety, Rother felt, “I need to be with my people.  When warned not to return he said “My life is for my people.  I am not scared.”

And so he did return, much to the joy (and surprise) of the people he served and served with.  And he paid the ultimate price for doing so.

If you want to be inspired, if you want to look at the life of someone who truly deserves the label hero (as well as martyr), if you want an example of what it looks to give such a complete “yes” to God that you can accept whatever consequences flow from it, read Maria Scaperlanda’s book about this man, Fr. Stanley Rother, “the shepherd who did not run.”

I would also encourage you to take a look at Maria’s blog, which you can find here.