Sainthood cause formally opened for Oklahoma priest slain in 1981

Published: 2007-10-10

OKARCHE, Okla. (CNS) -- Inside Okarche's Holy Trinity Catholic Church, the same church where Stanley Rother was baptized two days after his birth on March 27, 1935, Oklahoma Catholics gathered Oct. 5 to celebrate the Eucharist and to again pray for the canonization of the beloved priest they believe was martyred for the faith. They witnessed the formal start of the sainthood cause for Father Stanley Francis Rother, a priest of the Oklahoma City Archdiocese who was brutally murdered in 1981 in the Guatemalan village where he ministered to the poor. "This is the very first time in history that a canonization process has been initiated here in Oklahoma," said Archbishop Eusebius J. Beltran of Oklahoma City. "It is my hope and my prayer that almighty God will bring to a happy conclusion this good work which he has begun in us." Archbishop Beltran commissioned a canonization committee and named Deacon Norman Mejstrik, a parishioner at St. Philip Neri Church in Midwest City, as its coordinator. Carol Davito has been named assistant coordinator.

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