Oklahoma City, Okla., Aug 20, 2019 / 23:01 pm
The shy and unassuming Blessed Father Stanley Rother, a missionary priest and martyr from a farming family, would likely be surprised to learn that the largest Catholic Church in Oklahoma will bear his name.
On Tuesday, the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City announced that it will be breaking ground for the Blessed Stanley Rother shrine in November. The $40 million shrine will seat 2,000 and be the largest Catholic church in the state once it is complete.
The project is the "signature element" of the archdiocese's first-ever capital campaign, the archdiocese told Oklahoma News 4.
Besides the main church, the shrine site will include a prayer chapel devoted to Bl. Stanley Rother, where he will be buried, religious education and ministry classrooms, and a museum and pilgrim center with artifacts and stories about Rother's life.
"Padre Francisco", as Rother was affectionately called at the mission in Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala where he served, was shot and killed by masked gunman early in the morning on July 28, 1981, in the midst of the country's civil war. Rother had refused to call for help, not wanting to endanger anyone else at the mission.
The five-foot-ten, red-bearded missionary priest was from the unassuming town of Okarche, Okla., where the parish, school and farm were the pillars of community life. He went to the same school his whole life and lived with his family until he left for seminary.
In June 2015, the Theological Commission of the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints voted to recognize Fr. Stanley Rother as a martyr. Pope Francis recognized his martyrdom in early December 2016, and on Sept. 23, 2017, Rother was beatified at a Mass in Oklahoma City.
"The groundbreaking for the shrine will be a significant moment in the life of the Church in Oklahoma and for the broader community," Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City told News 4.
"The shrine is being built to honor Blessed Stanley Rother, an Oklahoma original and the first U.S.-born priest and martyr ever beatified. It will be a place of pilgrimage where the faithful will come from near and far to honor Blessed Stanley at his final resting place and to seek his intercession for their many needs. It will be a place of welcome, serving all people."
The groundbreaking for the shrine is set to take place at 3 p.m. on November 3 in Oklahoma City.