On Dec. 1, 2016, Bl. Stanley Rother became the first U.S.-born person to be declared a martyr for the faith. And on Sept. 23, 2017, the first U.S.-born priest to be beatified.
Four years later, the construction of a shrine in his honor continues in Oklahoma City. The placing of this 45,000-pound steel dome was a major milestone in the construction project.
ABP. PAUL COAKLEY
Archdiocese of Oklahoma City
“We conceived this project even before Bl. Stanley was formally beatified, recognizing a need in this part of the city for a large church to serve a growing population of Spanish-speaking Catholics, and then the Church gave us the gift of the beatification.”
Bl. Stanley Rother's story begins in 1935. He is born to a German Catholic family in rural Oklahoma. In 1963, he is ordained a priest.
Five years later, he is granted permission to join the Oklahoma diocese's mission in the town of Santiago Atitlán in Guatemala. For the next several years, Fr. Stanley lives in poverty alongside the native tribe he serves, as a civil war rages in Guatemala.
The conflict makes the Catholic Church a primary target of persecution, and thousands of Catholics are killed. When Fr. Stanley's name appears on a hit list, he returns to Oklahoma. But despite the risks, he asks to be sent back to Guatemala to continue ministering to the people of Santiago Atitlán.
On July 28, 1981, just a few months after Fr. Stanley returns to Guatemala, three men enter his rectory in the middle of the night and gun him down. His death leaves his community reeling, but with a desire to keep his legacy alive.
That's precisely what the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City hopes to do with the Bl. Stanley Rother Shrine, which is expected to be completed in summer 2022.
The shrine will include a 2,000-seat church, an event space, an education building and a chapel where Bl. Stanley will be entombed.
ABP. PAUL COAKLEY
Archdiocese of Oklahoma City
“This is indeed a shrine for all the people. It will be a shrine not just to serve local Catholics, not just to serve local Hispanic Catholics, but to serve everybody who will be attracted by the life and witness of Bl. Stanley.”
A witness of courage and total commitment to the mission of service entrusted to him by the Church.
CT
Archdiocese of Oklahoma City
