Arkansas mission is first church to be named for Rother
Editor’s note: This story is part of “Road to Sainthood,” an ongoing series about the late Rev. Stanley Rother, the first U.S.-born male and U.S. priest named a martyr by the Roman Catholic Church. His beatification on Sept. 23 placed him one step closer to canonization. For more on this topic and Blessed Stanley Rother, read the Religion & Values blog at NewsOK.com/blogs/religionand-values.
A small Arkansas faith community of immigrants from Guatemala, El Salvador and Mexico recently became the first to recognize an Oklahoma priest by naming their church in his honor.
The Most. Rev. Anthony Taylor, bishop of the Diocese of Little Rock, dedicated a Catholic community in Decatur, Arkansas, as a mission and named it the Blessed Stanley Rother Catholic Church on Sept. 24.
The dedication came one day after Rother was beatified in a sacred ceremony at the Cox Convention Center in downtown Oklahoma City.
The Decatur church
is the first church in the world named for the martyred Oklahoma priest.
“He is not only the first beatified martyr of the United States, he was also the first beatified martyr of Guatemala. And everything I know about Blessed Stanley tells me that he would be delighted to have you as the first community in the world named after him,” Taylor said in his homily.
Rother was 46 when he was killed July 28, 1981, by unknown assailants in Guatemala. An Okarche native, Rother was an Archdiocese of Oklahoma City priest serving as pastor of the Santiago Atitlan parish in Guatemala at the time of his death.
Taylor has extensive knowledge about Rother through his ties to the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City. He was an Oklahoma City archdiocesan priest until 2008 when he was appointed to lead the Diocese of Little Rock. Also, he served as co-leader of the archdiocese’s tribunal committee charged with gathering evidence for Rother’s canonization.
In his homily at the mission dedication, Taylor pointed out that in addition to serving the main church in Santiago Atitlan and the mission church in Cerro de Oro, Guatemala, Rother served many small, isolated communities in the villages and plantations in the area.
He told the church members that they were similar to those parishioners in the outlying areas that Rother served. He also said it was fitting that the Blessed Stanley congregation includes many Guatemalans “which makes Blessed Stanley a doubly appropriate patron for your community.”
In an interview with The Oklahoman, Taylor said the Decatur church is in the northwest corner of Arkansas, near the border of Missouri and Arkansas.
“This was a community that was ready to get going. They needed a name,” Taylor said, explaining that the mission’s members loved the idea of honoring Rother in this way.
He said the dedication Mass was planned for the day after the beatification because he could lead it on his way back to Little Rock from the beatification Mass in Oklahoma.
The dedication was held at a local elementary
school to allow for more seating. Most of the members of the mission church wore blue T-shirts featuring an image of Rother on the back. Many of them wore the shirts when they attended the beatification ceremony with Taylor.
The Arkansas Catholic, the official newspaper of the Diocese of Arkansas, reported that the congregation made up of about 80 parishioners from Guatemala, El Salvador and Mexico currently is leasing a former Baptist church building.
Cousins Raul and Sebastian Mejia, natives of Guatemala, told the Arkansas Catholic that Rother’s courage inspired them.
“What inspired me is how he stood up for the people. … He was not afraid to give a testimony for Christ and his Church,” Raul Mejia said in the Arkansas Catholic report.
Sebastian Mejia told the newspaper: “It makes us feel very proud because he was a man who stood for our people, died for our people.”
Meanwhile, the Most. Rev. Paul S. Coakley, archbishop of the Oklahoma City archdiocese, said he was pleased with the recent recognition of Rother.
“I am very happy to see devotion to Blessed Stanley spreading beyond Oklahoma,” Coakley said.
“Bishop Taylor and the Diocese of Little Rock have done well to continue sharing the life and witness of our blessed priest, missionary and martyr.”
This was a community that was ready to get going. They needed a name.”
The Most. Rev. Anthony Taylor, bishop of the Diocese of Little Rock