Former CRISPAZ volunteer killed in Guatemala

The following remembrance of Father Larry Rosebaugh was submitted by Father Peter Hinde and Cathy Cornell.

Father Lawrence Rosebaugh, OMI, 74, formerly of the U.S. Oblate Province, was shot to death on May 18, 2009, in Playa Grande, Guatemala. Mass of Christian Burial was in Guatemala City on May 20.

Father Larry and four other Oblates were on their way to a meeting when assaulted in a “carjacking” by two men. Larry was shot twice and died; another Oblate, Father  Jean-Claude, was wounded but is doing well. The gunmen escaped –and did not take the van.
Father Larry was born in Appleton, Wis., on May 16, 1935, the son of Donald and Mildred (O’Gorman) Rosebaugh. He attended St. Henry’s preparatory seminary in Belleville, Ill., and did his college and theological studies at the Oblate seminary in Pine Hills, Minn. He took his first vows as an Oblate on Aug. 15, 1957, and was ordained to the priesthood on March 30, 1963 in Pine Hills.

His first assignment was as an associate pastor at St. Casimir in St.
Paul, Minn. He then spent four years teaching high school in Duluth, Minn., and
Chicago, Ill.

In 1975, he was assigned to the missions in Brazil, where he
spent six years. When he returned to the United States in 1981, he became a member of the Catholic Worker House community in New York City for four years and spent some time in El Salvador as a CRISPAZ volunteer. In 1993 he was assigned to the Oblate mission in Guatemala where he was still serving when he was killed.
 
During his many years of ministry, Father Larry was an advocate for peace and justice wherever he served.  His autobiography, To Wisdom Through Failure, was published in 2006.

Over the course of his time as a CRISPAZ volunteer Larry was stopped and held three times by the military. In Wisdom Through Failure, he recounts at one instance in which he was arrested, jailed and taken for interrogation (see pages 165-66). Fortunately the officers in charge did not identify him as one of the three culprits of the prophetic action at the School of the Americas. Larry's reflections on this incident highlight the tense atmosphere of  CRISPAZ work in Salvador under that repressive regime. It also highlights the preparation and discipline of the CRISPAZ team to look after one another in their dangerous albeit non-political, peace-promoting work.

The intervention of the U.S. Embassy late that day was due to the fact that the CRISPAZ team, on noting his unaccounted for absence, took action on his behalf. 
Larry was driven to the CRISPAZ Volunteer House late at night, as he reports it, in the Embassy's "huge bullet-proof limousine with two security guards armed with machine guns." Not exactly his style of transport!

If any members of Crispaz have not read his book, maybe this will encourage them.
Please remember Father Larry in your prayers.

An online donation to CRISPAZ can be made in Father Larry's memory. After making your online gift, please sent an e-mail to dennis@crispaz.org indicating that your donation is in memory of Father Larry. Thank you!