By Mindy Ragan Wood
News Editor
Hundreds gathered at an old golf course between SE. 89th and Shields Boulevard Sunday afternoon to watch a historic moment for the Oklahoma Catholic Church.
The site will be the home of a multi-million-dollar campus in memory of Blessed Stanley Rother, the first U.S. born martyr to receive the distinction of beatification.
The humble farmer from Okarche was murdered in his own church in Atitlan, Guatemala on July 28, 1981 where he served the poor during a time of political unrest. He was beatified by the Catholic Church in 2018, placing him one step closer to canonization as a saint.
At the head of the Knights of Columbus procession Sunday was Holy Trinity’s pastor, Father Cory Stanley.
“In our archdiocese, I often assist with the larger ceremonies at which Archbishop Coakley presides,” Stanley said. “I am one of a team of five priests that helps to coordinate and arrange the movement of those involved in these liturgies, and it was really a great joy to be present and to be involved with such an historic event. On Sunday this work was even more humbling to me since I am doing it while also serving as Pastor at Holy Trinity in Okarche where so many of Blessed Stanley’s family and friends still live and worship.”
The historical significance was not lost on Yukon’s St. John Nepomuk Father Rex Arnold.
“It’s historic for the Catholic community in Oklahoma,” Arnold said. “This is 2019 and we got here about 1873.”
Archbishop Paul S. Coakley blessed a corner stone bearing Rother’s name as well as other important sites on the campus such as the chapel altar.
“It’s important today as we celebrate the blessing of this site, the blessing of the cornerstone that we understand why we are doing what we are doing,” Coakley said during his address.
“Most of you have seen the beautiful renditions of the shrine that we hope to build on this very site soon,” he said. “It is beautiful, but some have said ‘it seems ironic that you would build something like this to honor such a humble priest, Father Stanley Rother.’ Well the truth is there’s a certain irony in that. But ultimately, we don’t build this shrine, this church, this sanctuary, this temple to honor Stanley Rother. What we are about to construct here, we’re building for the honor and glory of God whose goodness, whose holiness, whose faithfulness, and mercy shone through the life of Stanley Rother.”
“It is God who we glorify. As God reveals himself through the life of his holy ones. Let us not be mistaken about whose life and glory abound. We do all of this as we do all things for the glory of God and for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is glorified in his saints, in the life and witness of Blessed Stanley Rother.”
The celebration was colored in the bright and beautiful Spanish and Asian cultures as dancers and singers performed during the event.
A group of Matachines danced a story of the Gospel in red ritual costume and masks.
The group usually performs in celebration of the Feast of Our Lady Guadalupe, St. Eugene’s Father Don Wolf said.
He described the philosophy of dance as a way to preach the Gospel.
“If you want to celebrate the truth, you have to dance the truth,” Wolf said. “The evangelization effort of the Spanish in the new world was the most successful evangelization in the history of the world. The fact that they were able to communicate the truth not just by proclamation but by dance is one of the reasons that it was so successful. These are folks out here dancing the truth.”
The Rother shrine church will the first new structure to be built on the south side of Oklahoma City in 50 years. Arnold said the Hispanic population is growing will be among those who fill the church.
“The fastest growing Catholic population is the Hispanic population,” Arnold said. “They’ve been underserved for a long time. This, (site) is a great wisdom.”
The campus will be constructed in a South American style in honor of the church Rother pastored in Atitlan, Guatemala.
Architect for the church grounds J.C. Witcher.
“It will be a proper shrine to Blessed Rother, both in the architectural significance and I think the location played into that,” Witcher said. “This will serve the community seven days a week and people will be coming from all over to see it.”
