In Memoriam May 16, 1935 - May 18, 2009
He Did the Truth
Pentecost Sunday May 31, 2009
Acts 2:1–11 Gal 5:16–25 John Jn 15:26–27; 16:12–16
To the churched and unchurched (1)
gathered in a temple not built by human hands (2)
First reading from Acts 2:1–11
When the day of Pentecost arrived, all the believers were gathered together in one place. Suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.
Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven staying in Jerusalem. At this sound, they gathered in a large crowd, but they were confused because each one heard them speaking in his own language. They were astounded, and in amazement they asked, “Are not all these people who are speaking Galileans? Then how does each of us hear them in his native language? We are Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya near Cyrene, as well as travelers from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs, yet we hear them speaking in our own tongues of the mighty acts of God.”
The word of the Lord
Thanks be to God
Alleluia, alleluia.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John
Glory to you, Lord.
Jesus said to his disciples: “When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who issues from the Father, He will be my witness. And you too will be witnesses, because you have been with me from the beginning. I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when He comes, the Spirit of truth, He will guide you into all truth. He will not be presenting His own ideas, but will be passing on to you what He has heard. He will tell you about the future. He shall praise Me and bring Me great honor by showing you my glory. In just a little while I will be gone, and you will see Me no more; but then a little while later and you will see Me.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Introduction
The liturgical peak
With Pentecost we reach the peak of the liturgical cycle which begins with the Son’s descent to earth in the Christmas season. It continues with the Son’s ascent back to the Father in heaven through death, resurrection and ascension. The cycle now peaks with the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. Pentecost Sunday concludes the Extraordinary Time of Easter. On the Monday, the Easter candle will be moved to a less conspicuous spot near the baptismal font. There it will be lighted whenever the sacrament of baptism is conferred. On Monday, we return to Ordinary Time with its liturgical color green. We will coast along in green through the warm summer months until November 29, 2009. Then we will change the liturgical color to purple, as we start the cycle all over again with the first Sunday of Advent in preparation for Christmas 2009. 2009 rolls on, as do all the years.
John’s Spirit of truth
The evangelist John calls the One whom the Father and Son will send on Pentecost “the Spirit of truth.” “When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will tell you all about Me.” (Jn 15:26) “And when the Spirit of truth comes, He will lead you into the full truth.” (Jn 16:13) John writing for the Greeks (who were great philosophers) generously sprinkles his gospel with the word `truth.’ He uses it 25 times, while Mark and Luke use it only 3 times and Matthew only once.
Toward the end of John’s gospel Pilate asks Jesus, “What is truth?” (Jn 18:38) Jesus never gave Pilate an answer. Through a long journey of eighty-four years (fifty-eight of them as priest and preacher), I have come to formulate my own answer to Pilate’s question, “What is truth?” I have come to see that there are two kinds of truth: head-truth and heart-truth.
Head-truth
Head-truth is the stuff that resides in our heads. We explain and defend it. We write it down in books to be read and formulate it into creeds to be recited. We systemize it by means of questions and answers in catechisms. We even preach head-truth to the pews whose hearts instead are hungry for soul-food.
Head-truth can become a slippery slope. It can generate religious wars and persecutions. We remind ourselves that the Inquisitors of the fifteenth centuries were in hot pursuit of head-truth, as they demanded from Joan d’Arc the `right’ answers to their questions. She didn’t give them their `right’ answers, so they burned her at the stake in Rouen, France, on May 30, 1431.
Heart-truth
Heart-truth, on the other hand, is the stuff that resides in our heart. We don’t explain and defend it. We don’t write it down in books or formulate it into creeds. Much less do we burn people at the stake for it. Heart-truth is the truth we do! St. John writes, “The one who does the truth comes into the light.” (Jn 3:21) John’s truth is not something we preach or propagate but something we do.
Mother Theresa of Calcutta, who wasn’t the world’s greatest theoretician or theologian, believed that every single human being was precious in God’s eyes, especially those neglected and dying in the streets of Calcutta. That truth underlined her whole life. It didn’t reside in her head but in her heart. She didn’t preach or propagate her truth. She burned no one at the stake for it. Mother Theresa did her truth on the streets of Calcutta. Neither did Fr. Larry Rosebaugh preach or propagate his truth. He burned no one at the stake for it. He did his truth on various streets of the human condition.
Fr. Larry Rosebaugh OMI
Father Lawrence Rosebaugh was born in Appleton, Wisconsin, on May 16, 1935. On Aug. 15, 1957, he took his first vows as an OMI (Oblate of Mary Immaculate). He was ordained to the priesthood on March 30, 1963. After teaching high-school in Duluth and Chicago, Larry went to Milwaukee in 1968. There he became a member of Casa Maria, a hospitality house which gives shelter to homeless families and women. 1968 was a tumultuous time in American history: the nation was at war in Vietnam, and was still grieving over the deaths of Robert Kennedy and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
His journey of peace
Fr. Larry was an anti-war protester. On Sept. 24, 1968, he with 13 others (the famous “Milwaukee 14”) made their way into the U.S. Selective Service offices at 135 W. Wells St., Milwaukee, seized thousands of draft records, poured blood over them and then burned them with homemade napalm. For that offense Larry served two years in prison at Waupan, Wisconsin.
In 1977, Fr. Larry went to Recife, Brazil. There he lived on the streets among the poorest of the poor. His story thickens like the soup of salvaged vegetables that he and a Mennonite friend brewed each day on an open fire to share with his brothers and sisters on the street. He was arrested by brutal police who falsely accused him of stealing the vegetable cart used to collect food. He was jailed in unspeakable conditions, and was brutalized by inmate thugs. His fellow Oblates in the Recife mission finally located Larry’s whereabouts, and obtained his release through the intervention of Dom Helder Camara, the saintly Archbishop of Recife. Then friends arranged an interview to tell his story to First Lady, Roslyn Carter, who was visiting Brazil at the time.
Back in the USA, on a cold February morning in 1981 Fr. Larry’s peace mission sent him scaling the 12’ fence at the Pantex nuclear weapons assembly plant in Amarillo, Texas. That earned him a year in federal prison.
His passion for peace was reignited when El Salvador’s Archbishop Oscar Romero, a beloved advocate of the poor, was shot to death on March 24, 1980 while celebrating Mass. In 1983 Larry joined Maryknoll Missionary Fr. Roy Bourgeois and peace activist Linda Ventimiglia near the barracks where Central American death squad soldiers were being trained by the CIA’s School of the Americas near Fort Benning, Georgia. There Larry scaled a tree and broadcasted the last recorded words of martyred Archbishop Romero, beseeching Salvadoran soldiers to lay down their weapons and stop killing their brothers. The trio was arrested, but eventually released.
The last act
In 1993 Fr. Larry was assigned to the Oblate mission serving indigenous tribal people in the mountains of northern Guatemala. Then on Tuesday, May 18, 2009 his long heroic journey, which traversed the highways and the byways of the human condition, came to a sudden and fatal ending. As he and four other Oblates were on their way to a meeting in Playa Grande, Guatemala, two masked men stopped their car, robbed them, and then shot and killed Fr. Larry on the spot and seriously wounded another Oblate. Larry’s non-violent life came to a violent end by violent people to whom he did not preach truth but for whom he gently did the truth. Peter’s speech in Acts comes to mind: “He [Jesus] went about doing good. But they put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross.” (Acts 10:38–39)
Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated in Guatemala City, Wednesday, May 20. And on June 13, 2009, 2 PM , a memorial service will be held at St. Benedict the Moor Parish, Milwaukee, WI.
The rest of Rosebaugh’s missionary life and his quest for human justice and peace can be found in the book Prophets Without Honor: A Requiem for Moral Patriotism and in Larry’s autobiography To Wisdom Through Failure.
I knew him
Two personal stories about Larry come to mind. The first story: St. Benedict the Moor Church on State Street, Milwaukee, WI, is a church which reflects the words of Jesus: “When you throw a banquet, invite bums and those who can’t repay you.” (Lk 14:12) Daily, not just on Thanksgiving and Christmas, the friends of St. Ben’s host a tasty and substantial meal, and serve it with great dignity to all the hungry off the streets. (A blessing, indeed, especially in these days of economical stress when people are hurting.)
Years ago before Mass one Sunday at St. Ben’s, I spied a bum sitting in the pews. It was Fr. Larry whom I well knew to be a very remarkable man. Then in a moment of inspiration, I did what you could never do in a respectable parish: I invited him to concelebrate Mass with me just as he was! Just as you see him in the picture above - without any fine vestments to doll him up. He concelebrated with me just as he was, to the great edification of the whole Benedict community. Now that the man is dead, I am truly grateful for that moment of inspiration.
The second story: Toward the end of fall, 2006, I was dismissed from Old St. Mary’s — a very respectable parish in Milwaukee. My services were no longer wanted. Shortly after, Larry on a home-visit to the States dropped in on me unexpectedly. He had heard of my dismissal and had come off the streets of the world’s barrios to console me!
Conclusion
Well done, Larry!
The master in the gospel said to his servant, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful in small matters. Now I will put you in charge of more important affairs. Come and enter into your master’s joy.“ (Mt. 25:21) Jesus now says to Larry, “Well done, Larry! You have been faithful in small things (unbeknownst to many) in Milwaukee and Recife and Amarillo and Fort Benning and finally in Playa Grande. Well done, Larry! No more cooking soup from salvaged vegetables on an open fire to share with brothers and sisters. Come now and enter into the Banquet of Eternal Life.
1) By “the unchurched” is especially meant not those who have left the church institution but those whom the institution has left!
2) Acts of the Apostles 17:24
