The Shepherd Who Didn't Run
Subtitle: Blessed Stanley Rother, Martyr from Oklahoma, Revised
Edition: Revised Edition
Publisher: Our Sunday Visitor
Published: Mar 15, 2019
Language: eng
Format: paperback
Number of pages: 256
ISBN-13: 9781681924564
Description: "The shepherd cannot run at the first sign of danger." - Fr. Stanley Francis Rother
Fr. Stanley Rother was true to his word. He did not run. And was martyred at the age of 46.

Fr. Stanley arrived in Guatemala in 1968, and immediately identified with his parishioners' simple, farming lifestyle. He learned their languages, prepared them for the Sacraments, and cared for their needs. Fr. Stanley, or "Padre Francisco" as he was called by his beloved Tz'utujil Indians, had found his heart's calling.

After nearly a decade, the violence of the Guatemalan civil war found its way into the peaceful village. Disappearances, killings, and danger became daily occurrences, but despite this unrest Fr. Stanley remained hard at work, building a farmer's co-op, a school, a hospital, and the first Catholic radio station, used for catechesis.

In early 1981, his name was on a death list, so he returned to Oklahoma and was warned not to return. But he could not abandon his people, so he went back, and made the ultimate sacrifice for his faith.

"Pray for us that we may be a sign of the love of Christ for our people," said Fr. Stanley, "that our presence among them will fortify them to endure these sufferings in preparation for the coming of the Kingdom."
Notes: Source title: The Shepherd Who Didn't Run: Blessed Stanley Rother, Martyr from Oklahoma, Revised
Table of contents: title: Preface to the Revised Edition; title: Foreword; title: Introduction; label: Chapter 1:
title: Love to the Extreme Limit; title: July 20, 1981: The Shepherd Who Didn't Run; title: The Santiago Atitlan Mission: A Return to Ministry; title: "If It Is My Destiny That I Should Give My Life Here, Then So Be It..."; title: As We Get Started; label: Chapter 2:
title: Son of the Red Earth State; title: A Long Lineage of Germans, Farmers, Catholics; title: Becoming Oklahomans; title: The Rother Family; title: School: A Family Competition; title: Stanley's Road to the Priesthood: A Vision of Mission; title: I Want to Be a Priest; title: Everything Changes: The First Seminary; title: Where Do You Find God?; label: Chapter 3:
title: A New Beginning; title: Mount St. Mary's; title: Ordination Day: May 25, 1963; title: Ministry: The Early Years; title: The Texoma Undertaking; title: Stanley's First Work with Indians; title: An Oklahoma Mission in Guatemala; title: Why Me?; label: Chapter 4:
title: MICATOKLA: Stanley's New Home; title: MICATOKLA; title: Fitting in at MICATOKLA; title: Building the Hospitalito; title: Building Communication; title: The Making of a Home; title: The Tz'utujil People; title: And Then There Was One: MICATOKLA Changes; label: Chapter 5:
title: Padre Francisco; title: The Missionary's Work of Love; title: Family Bonds Across the Miles; title: Living a Eucharistic Life; title: The Gift of Humor; title: The Great Earthquake of 1976; title: Where Two or More Are Gathered; title: Build My Church; title: Watching Storms Building from a Distance; label: Chapter 6:
title: He Died an Atiteco; title: First Signs of Danger; title: The Violence Reaches Lake Atitlan; title: Orejas, Not for Listening; title: An Unwanted Top 10 List; title: The New Normal; title: A Martyr of Charity; title: Diego Quic; title: A Bloodbath in Atitlan; title: "What Can I Do?"; title: Stanley Rother's Garden of Gethsemane; title: The Letters; title: Coming Home; title: Summertime in the Village; title: The Hour Has Come; title: This Is My Blood...; label: Chapter 7:
title: The Flesh of Jesus; title: The Tree Cried Out and Bled, But It Did Not Die; title: "They Killed Stan"; title: Witness to the Living Christ Present in His People; title: A Martyr for His People; title: "From the Beginning of Our Priesthood"; title: Father Stanley Rother: Patron for All Priests; title: Epilogue; title: Notes; title: List of Works Consulted; title: Acknowledgements; title: Map of Guatemala