In December 2006, when Father Anthony Taylor of the Archdioceses of Oklahoma City requested a meeting with members of Asociación K'aslimaal, the board of directors of the Hospitalito, it was a meeting of old friends with much history and memories to share. Board members Dr. Juan Manuel Chuc, Juan Tziná, and Diego Chichom had grown up with MICATOKLA, the Misión Catolico de Oklahoma, and the Oklahoma priests.
Today, we celebrated Father Taylor's return to Atitlán with a special lunch with the employees of Hospitalito Atitlán and the president of Acción Catolico, Jose Ramirez.
MICATOKLA first came to Atitlán in 1968, when they sent Father Francisco Stanley Rother to be the priest in Santiago Atitlán. It was funds from MICATOKLA that built the first hospital in Panabaj. On October 5th, 2007, in Oklahoma City, the process began for the canonizing of Father Stanley Rother (Padre Aplas as he was known locally).
Funds for the construction of the medical storage building came from the Archdioceses of Oklahoma. The plaque says... To the Archdioceses of Oklahoma City in recognition of the continued help for the health of the people of Santiago Atitlán.
