A humble servant's life remembered

Humble. Humorous. Patient. Calm. Courageous. Determined. Faithful.

Those are some of the ways members of the Unbound community remembered Father John Goggin, a trailblazer in the history of the organization who died Oct. 22 in Guatemala. He was 85.

“Father John was the person who started the first project in Guatemala, in the community of Cerro de Oro with approximately 20 families,” said Ana Martinez, a regional director for Unbound programs in Latin America. “Since then, he has been an important and essential pillar of the Guatemala program.”

Martinez called Father Goggin “a great ambassador for Unbound” who connected sponsors in the U.S. with families in Guatemala working to overcome poverty. His collaboration with the organization began soon after its founding and continued for over 40 years.

“His presence was a balance between Unbound’s roots and the future, keeping the spirit of the organization alive in all moments,” Martinez said.

Courage to create change

Unbound was founded in November 1981, and the program in Guatemala got its start in December 1982 when two children were sponsored. It began formally in February 1983 with 20 children sponsored.

Father Goggin and Gaspar Baran Guoz, who was instrumental in starting the program in Guatemala and faithfully inspired it for many years, recalled those early days in a 2001 article for the organization’s 20th anniversary.

“Father Greg Schaffer [pastor of the parish in San Lucas Toliman, Guatemala] and Father John Goggin were serving the community of Cerro de Oro after their pastor, Father Francisco Rother [Blessed Stanley Francis Rother], had been martyred,” according to the article. “Gaspar Baran was left in charge of the local faith community. He asked Father Greg if he could find a few desks or tables for the local school, as the children had to kneel on the dirt floor and use the benches to write in their notebooks.

“About that same time, we believe that Father Rother from heaven sent [Unbound co-founder] Bob Hentzen to visit Father Greg and invite us to become members of the CFCA [now Unbound] family.”

From those humble beginnings, the Guatemala program now represents Unbound’s largest outreach, with more than 65,000 children, young adults and elders sponsored.

Listening to families and learning

Francisco Chavajay, program coordinator for Unbound in Guatemala, said Father Goggin was key in the program’s development, approaching his work with “a very calm attitude but with a very strong determination to get things done.” He knew the reality of every family and understood in depth the situations they faced.

“Father John had the ability to listen with care and patience, to give time to the person before him who needed him,” Chavajay said.

That ability to listen and learn built trust with families.

“A larger impact is that Unbound has a tremendous credibility in the communities and families that he served,” Chavajay said. “People believe in Unbound.”

Alberta Sicay Sulugui, 74, whose seven children were all sponsored through Unbound, was among mourners at the San Lucas parish pouring in during the days following Father Goggin’s death.

Sulugui met Father Goggin in 1969, early on in his ministry in Guatemala. She and her husband sang at Masses celebrated by the young priest on his visits to other rural communities.

Because the parish opened a medical clinic that was free for everyone, she never had to worry about her children’s health.

Father Goggin also started a literacy class that she attended.

“First he was teaching, and then, when others learned, they became teachers, and this is how many adults in the community learned to write and read,” Sulugui said.

Honoring the dignity of all people

A priest of the Catholic Diocese of New Ulm, Minnesota, Father Goggin served the San Lucas parish for 55 years, beginning in 1968. Working alongside the parish’s pastor, Father Schaffer, he showed tremendous courage in carrying out his ministry while a civil war in Guatemala, fought from 1960 to 1996, devastated families and communities.

Among those killed was Blessed Father Stanley Francis Rother, who was serving as pastor of a mission parish in Santiago Atitlan when he was murdered in July 1981 at the age of 46.

Father Goggin was among 200 priests and 50 bishops who participated in the beatification of Father Rother in Oklahoma City in 2017. Beatification is a step toward being declared a saint by the Catholic Church.

In an interview before the beatification Mass, Father Goggin said the efforts being made working alongside the people of Guatemala were so that “the people can live their dignity.”

Scott Wasserman, CEO emeritus of Unbound, said Father Goggin welcomed the participation and contributions of others with a spirit of hospitality.

“He was a very welcoming person,” Wasserman said. “He had a way of welcoming that really acknowledged the humanity of the person in front of him.”

Jake Hentzen, a member of the finance team at Unbound and son of the late Unbound co-founder Bob Hentzen, recalled Father Goggin’s ministry from his days growing up in Guatemala.

“Father John’s smile would always light up the room and warm the hearts of those around him,” Hentzen said. “His witty sense of humor would always make your day. His homilies were prophetic and served as guiding life lessons for me throughout the years growing up in San Lucas Toliman and attending the local parish elementary school.

“He will be greatly missed but his impact will live on forever.”

Father Goggin was diagnosed with cancer several years ago, and since August was being cared for at the mission hospital in San Lucas, according to the group Friends of San Lucas, a nonprofit that supports local development efforts in San Lucas Toliman and surrounding communities.

Funeral services were held Oct. 26 at the parish. Memorial gifts were requested for Unbound and Friends of San Lucas.

Regional reporter Oscar Tuch contributed photos and information for this story.