August 4, 2024 - "Blessed Stanley Rother"

I was at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas for a conference in July 2021.  One of the things to which I look forward on such an occasion is meeting other people attending the conference as they are often from all over the country.  I was not disappointed in this regard.  While I was there I met a priest from the Diocese of Tulsa and the Bishop of Little Rock, Arkansas.  With both of them I had a conversation about the recently beatified Blessed Stanley Rother who had been a priest from Oklahoma and volunteered to be a missionary in Guatemala.  Blessed Stanley was murdered because he did not want to abandon the indigenous people in his parish.  His parishioners were being tortured and murdered by soldiers and paramilitary squads.   When Stanley spoke out against this, he learned that he had been put on a list of people to be tortured and murdered.   He was killed on July 28, 1981.

 

The Bishop of Little Rock told me that he had been a priest from Oklahoma City Archdiocese.  He had been asked by the Archbishop to do research for the beatification of Blessed Stanley. This involved a number of trips to Guatemala to interview people who knew Stanley. I then told the bishop about a minor role that a recently deceased first cousin of my father (Joseph Dillon) played in all of this.  

 

Blessed Stanley grew up on a farm in Oklahoma and knew lots about farming when he decided to go to the seminary.  The bishop sent him to a seminary that was run by a Benedictine abbey.  The abbey also had a farm attached to it.  Blessed Stanley volunteered to help with the management of the farm.  The monks were glad to have his help but they should have been firmer in their insistence that Stanley study his Latin, which he had not studied it in high school.  It was important that Stanley become somewhat proficient in Latin because at that time many seminary courses were conducted in that language. Because Stanley’s knowledge of Latin was deficient, he failed a number of seminary classes.  After that happened, the seminary staff recommended to the bishop that Stanley not continue in his seminary studies.  When Stanley was dismissed from the seminary, he begged the bishop to give him a second chance.  Bishop Reed (bishop of Tulsa-Oklahoma City at the time) turned to Father Joseph Dillon for assistance.  He asked Joe to tutor Stanley in Latin and to give the Bishop a report as to whether or not Stanley should be given another opportunity to study for the priesthood.  Joe worked with Stanley during the summer and recommended to the Bishop that Stanley be given another chance.  Bishop Reed then sent Stanley to Mount Saint Mary’s in Emmitsburg, MD where he successfully completed the course of studies and then ordained a priest in 1963.

 

Joe’s and Stanley’s paths went in different directions after Stanley went to Guatemala in 1968.  Joe left active ministry in 1971 but remained in close contact with another former priest who lived in the DC metro area.  I was invited to the house of Joe’s friend in 2017 when Joe visited the DC area.  That is when I learned about his connection with Blessed Stanley.  

 

I would be grateful if you would remember Joe in your prayers.  He died on March 2, 2021 and was the last remaining first cousin of my father.  May Joe rest in peace!

 

Until next week,

Fr. John