2024-03-08-eEdition

PAGE 4 THE CATHOLIC WEEK MARCH 8, 2024 George Weigel THE CATHOLIC DIFFERENCE is neighbors in 1940s Oklahoma would have found it hard to imagine the boy they knew as Stanley Fran- cis Rother as a future martyr, and the first beatified Ameri- can parish priest. Young Stan did reasonably well at school, enjoyed farm work and sports, drove a tractor at age 10, and was a gifted mechanic. Change the scenery from “suburban” to “rural” and Stan Rother, in his elementary and high school photos, could have stepped right out of the cast of Leave It to Beaver: the quintessential American kid. But with a difference. Stanley Rother had a deep piety, of the sort one never saw inTheodore “Beaver”Cleaver or his family.That piety led Rother into the seminary, where he struggled with his studies, at one point being dismissed and sent home. He persevered, however, and finally found his academic legs at historic Mt. St. Mary’s Seminary in Em- mitsburg, Maryland. Ordained in 1963, he spent the first years of his priesthood in Oklahoma before volunteering for service in Latin America. For over a decade, Father Rother — known to the indigenous peoples he served as “Padre Francisco”— worked on the uttermost peripheries of Catholic life in a small village near Lake Atitlán in Guatema- la. And by “work,” I don’t mean simply running a sacramental service station. Yes, he celebrat- ed the sacraments, evangelized and catechized his people. But he also did hard, manual labor, using the skills he had mastered on his family farm. Father Stanley Rother walked the walk, demonstrating with his sweat that example was a powerful form of witness and an effective catechetical tool. And the quondam seminar- ian who had had a very hard time with Latin mastered both Spanish and the difficult local native language, Tz’utujil, in order to translate the Missal and the New Testament into his people’s first tongue. Guatemala was a politi- cal madhouse for over three decades, as a civil war tore the country apart between 1960 and 1996. Home on leave in 1980, Stanley Rother was warned not to return to his Guatemalan parish, as he would surely be a target for the death squads who murdered the indigenous peoples with impunity. But he was having none of that. “The shepherd cannot run at the first sign of danger,” he famously said. So he returned to Santiago Atitlán, where three masked men killed him on July 28, 1981 — but not before he seems to have put up a heroic fight at close quarters, in order to distract the murderers from the religious sisters living at the parish. Stanley Francis Rother was beatified as a martyr on September 23, 2017, and his body now rests in a magnificent shrine built on the south side of Oklahoma City — a new pilgrimage site in U.S. Catholi- cism, visited by tens of thou- sands in its first year. Blessed Stanley’s heart, however, re- mains in the church at Santiago Atitlán, at the request of the people for whom he gave his life as both priest and martyr. It was perhaps providen- tial that I was praying at the Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine on the day I learned of the death of Alexei Navalny, the latest victim of Czar Putin’s homicidal autocracy. For here was another martyr, if of a dif- ferent sort. By the testimony of his friends, Stanley Rother was completely apolitical; he died in odium fidei, “in hatred of the faith.”Alexei Navalny, a political leader of the noblest kind, died in odium libertatis, “in hatred of freedom”— the freedom and decency he wished for his beloved Russian people. I never had the privilege of meeting Alexei Navalny, although I knew of his heroic work to build civil society in Russia and a democratic op- position to the Putin regime through my nine years on the board of the National Endow- ment for Democracy. Na- valny was not just a committed freedom-fighter and master polemicist; he was a happy warrior, and I suspect para- noid Czar Putin most feared Navalny’s cutting humor and mockery. After surviving an as- sassination attempt in which he was poisoned with Novichok, a deadly nerve agent, he returned to Russia after recovering in Germany — and was imme- diately arrested on spurious charges. Consigned to a strict regime prison camp north of the Arctic Circle, he died there on February 16. Only fools imagine his a “natural” death. Both Stanley Rother and Alexei Navalny exemplified the cardinal virtue of cour- age, which is also a gift of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps, one day, a radically reformed Russian Orthodoxy, returned to its Christian senses, will honor Navalny, as the Catholic Church has rightly honored Stanley Rother. — George Weigel’s column ‘The Catholic Difference’ is syn- dicated by the Denver Catholic, the official publication of the Archdiocese of Denver. Two courageous men who didn’t run H Practicing good stewardship is a key part of our faith STEWARDSHIP IS ... Shannon Roh e learn at a young age that “practice makes perfect.” Living our faith and being a good steward of our gifts is no different.Why else would we call ourselves “prac- ticing Catholics?” We pray, go to Mass and practice our faith through the sacraments with the hope of eventually spending eternity in Heaven. Practicing good stew- ardship is a fundamental part of our faith as God clearly calls us to share the gifts He gave us. “As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God’s var- ied grace” (1 Peter 4:10). Stewardship can be defined very simply as our call to share the 3 T’s (Time,Talent and Treasure) that were given to us by God. The first T is giving God Time in prayer. How often do we use the excuse, “I don’t have time?”There are 24 hours in every day. Before we use this excuse, we should look at where we spend our time. We might be surprised if we re- viewed our time log like we do our bank account. Would God consider our time well spent? God has no time constraints and we have an open invita- tion to spend time with Him in prayer. The second T is sharing our Talent. In St. Paul’s letter to the Romans, we are reminded that God blessed each of us with unique skills and talents to glorify the Lord.To be good stewards, we must recognize our gifts and understand it takes everyone working together to use our different gifts to be the hands and feet of Jesus here on earth.This could be volunteer- ing for a parish ministry, sing- ing in the choir or serving as a lector or an usher at Mass. “Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us exercise them: if prophecy, in proportion to the faith; if ministry, in ministering; if one is a teacher, in teaching” (Romans 12:6-7). The third T is sharing our Treasure. Giving time and talent does not excuse us from giving treasure.We are all called to give sacrificially according to our means. Jesus makes this very clear in the Gospels with the parable of the talents (Mat- thew 25:14-30) and the story of the poor widow’s contribution (Luke 21:3-4).Throughout the Gospels, Jesus challenges us to give as it has been given to us. Let’s practice our faith and stewardship as a way of life and share this call with others. “Jesus said to him, ‘If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.Then come, follow me’” (Matthew 19:21). —Shannon Roh is the Ex- ecutive Director of the Office of Development and Stewardship for the Archdiocese of Mobile. W Custom designed jewelry DESIGN IN JEWELRY 4503 Old Shell Road Mobile, Alabama Hours 9:30 - 5:00, Mon. - Sat. PAT, DANNYAND TONY CLARKE PH. (251)342-6303 Gold Art