This alert from Gene Palumbo, occasional NCR contributor in El Salvador.
Fr. Lawrence Rosebaugh, OMI, 74, formerly of the U.S. Province, was shot to death on May 18, 2009, in Playa Grande, Guatemala. He and 4 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, Fr. Jean-Claude, was wounded but is doing well. The gunmen escaped –and did not take the van.
Mass of Christian Burial: in Guatemala City, tomorrow, May 20.
Please remember him in your prayers.
Rev. Lawrence Rosebaugh, OMI, was born in Appleton, Wisconsin on May 16, 1935, the son of Donald and Mildred (O’Gorman) Rosebaugh. He attended St. Henry’s preparatory seminary in Belleville, Illinois, and did his college and theological studies at the Oblate seminary in Pine Hills, MSi. 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’s in St. Paul, MN. H then spent four years teaching high school in Duluth, MN and Chicago, IL. In 1975, he was assigned to the missions in Brazil, where he spent 6 years. Returning to the US in 1981, he was a member of the Catholic Worker House community in New York City for 4 years, spent some time in El Salvador as a volunteer with Christian Volunteer Ministries, and, in 1993, was assigned to the Oblate mission in Guatemala, where he was serving when he was killed During his many years of ministry, Fr. Lorenzo was an advocate for peace and justice wherever he served. His autobiography, To Wisdom through Failure, was published in 2006.
