Amarillo—Friday, March 1 is the deadline to register to take part in a Youth Pilgrimage to Oklahoma City in honor of Blessed Stanley Rother, Farmer, Priest and Martyr.
The Youth Pilgrimage, set for Saturday, March 30 and Sunday, March 31, is sponsored by the Rural Life Committee of the Diocese of Amarillo.
“The goal of the retreat is to introduce the youth—particularly youth from our rural communities—to the life and witness of Father Stanley Rother, a priest who grew up on an Oklahoma farm, served in the mission fields of Guatemala and was martyred there on July 28, 1981,” said Father Jim Schmitmeyer, diocesan Rural Life Director.
“The conferences will focus on how the communities and places that form our identity directly shape our response to the call of Christ to follow Him.”
According to Father Schmitmeyer, the parish that Father Rother served in Guatemala had not had a resident priest for over a century, nor did his people have a Bible in their own language.
When civil war engulfed the country, Father Rother did not become politically involved, but rather, he concentrated on serving the needs of his parishioners despite ever-present danger.
At the time, many of his people, especially the catechists, were being kidnapped, tortured and killed.
“When his family pleaded with him to return to the United States,” said Father Schmitmeyer, “Father Rother’s response was, ‘A shepherd does not run at the first sign of danger.’”
Father Rother was beatified Sept. 23, 2017 in Oklahoma City.
The upcoming retreat is open to all the high school youth of the diocese and will take place at the Archdiocesan Pastoral Center in Oklahoma City.
The retreat will include a trip to Okarche, Okla., Father Rother’s hometown. Mass on March 31 will be celebrated in the chapel where he is buried.
Lodging and meals will be at the Archdiocesan Pastoral Center and all adult chaperones will be certified by the diocesan Office of Safe Environment, according to Father Schmitmeyer.
For additional information or to register for the Youth Pilgrimage, please contact Father Schmitmeyer at St. John the Evangelist Church in Borger at 806-274-7064.