|
Oblate Father Lawrence Rosebaugh killed in robbery in Guatemala |
|
|
|
By Catholic News Service
|
|
Wednesday, 20 May 2009 |
Oblate Father Lawrence Rosebaugh, a U.S. priest with a long history of taking risks to aid the poor, was killed in a highway robbery in Guatemala May 18.
A Congolese Oblate priest in the vehicle with him was wounded by the
bullet that killed Father Rosebaugh, but is expected to recover.
According to Guatemalan newspapers, two other Oblate priests traveling
with them were uninjured.
Father Rosebaugh, who turned 74 two days before his death, was
remembered by friends for his sunny, cheerful disposition and his life
of extreme simplicity. One fellow U.S. Oblate, Father Seamus Finn, said
it was ironic that his friend who once bicycled from Brazil to the
United States and rarely set foot in a car had been killed in one.
A funeral Mass was celebrated May 20 in Guatemala City, where Father Rosebaugh had served with the Oblate mission since 1993.
Born in Appleton, Wis., Father Rosebaugh focused his ministries on the
poor and marginalized in the United States and Latin America. He served
as a missionary in Brazil and a volunteer in El Salvador.
While in Brazil in the 1970s he helped expose abuses by the Brazilian
military dictatorship. In 1977 he personally delivered a letter to
then-first lady Rosalynn Carter detailing his discoveries, helping
bring attention to the abuses of the Brazilian government.
 |
Sign up for our eNewsletter and get
Show/hide comment form