A year later, Blessed Stanley Rother shrine offering worship, fellowship in spectacular setting
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Thousands of pilgrims, along with Catholic leaders from around the world, state and civic officials attended the much-anticipated 2023 dedication of a religious shrine in south Oklahoma City.
One year later, the Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine's first anniversary will be observed at the 12:15 p.m. Mass on Feb. 17 and Masses later in the day ― without the pomp and pageantry of last year's dedication ceremony, but special nonetheless, said the Rev. Don Wolf, pastor of the shrine church, Sacred Heart, and Miguel Mireles, the shrine's executive director.
The two leaders said the early afternoon Mass on Saturdays has drawn large crowds throughout the year and they don't expect the shrine anniversary to be any different. The shrine, they said, has a way of drawing people from all walks of life, geographic regions and faith traditions — 120,000 in its first year.
The Catholic faithful have flocked to the $50 million shrine at 700 SE 89, hoping to learn more about the life and legacy of the late Blessed Stanley Rother, the Okarche native and Oklahoma priest who is on the path to Catholic sainthood. Through a major fundraising effort, the Oklahoma Catholic faith community transformed property that once included a former golf course into the huge shrine named in Rother's honor. Visible from Interstate 35 and SE 89, the shrine complex includes a pilgrim center and a large, Spanish colonial style shrine church ― fashioned in a style similar to the Guatemalan church where Rother served as a missionary.
The house of worship, Sacred Heart Church at the Rother Shrine, is the largest Catholic church in Oklahoma, with seating for roughly 2,000 people.
Mireles, the shrine's executive director since June 2023, said people are often curious about the Catholic shrine they see while driving along the interstate or SE 89, and it draws people from many faith traditions and those with none.
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"The beauty of coming in this winding drive is you kind of escape the noise of the city, you come to a very sacred place and people understand that, even though they may not be Catholic," he said.
"Once they come in, they're kind of in awe, and I think they feel the presence of something special here. When they leave, they leave a little different, a little changed, a little bit more open to the idea of understanding Blessed Stanley's life and his witness, and what it is we were trying to do, which is to welcome all and to be kind and humble servants of the Lord."
Year of transitions, special occasions
Wolf said what stands out to him most from the past year is that the shrine quickly became filled with crowds soon after its dedication. The priest said that was because the first special occasion after the shrine opened was Ash Wednesday. He said Ash Wednesday Masses are always packed, and people were excited to attend the first Ash Wednesday Masses in the shrine church. Easter and Christmas Masses were just as packed, Wolf said, as people made time to come together for joyous holidays in the new sacred space.
Mireles said the replica of Tepeyac Hill on the shrine grounds also been a drawer of big crowds of people who are familiar with Our Lady of Guadalupe, but also others who want to walk up the hill. In its first year, flowers planted on Tepeyac Hill have blossomed, making it especially pleasant.
"The spring and summer was so beautiful with all the roses and flowers in bloom," Mireles said. "It's just really a nice place to go and reflect and pray."
Tepeyac Hill is the site in Mexico where, according to tradition, the Aztec peasant Juan Diego (declared a saint by Pope John Paul II in 2002) is said to have seen an apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a brown-skinned and pregnant version of the Virgin Mary, on Dec. 12, 1531.
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According to accounts, the apparition told Diego to tell Roman Catholic Church leaders to build a cathedral for her in the mountains. When a clergyman demanded proof of the encounter, the apparition told Diego to gather roses on the side of a mountain — in the middle of December. When Diego appeared at the church with the miraculous roses, the shocked bishop believed him and a church was built just as Our Lady requested. An imprint of the apparition appeared on Diego's tilma, or cape, in which he'd carried the roses.
The faithful, particularly those of Hispanic heritage, pay homage to Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patron saint of the Americas, by leaving roses and other flowers on the original Tepeyac Hill in Mexico City, where they go to pray on and around her feast day of Dec. 12.
Joining congregations and places
Wolf said he also has been pleased to see how his blended Sacred Heart Church congregation has come together. The shrine church congregation is made up of joined congregations from Holy Angels Catholic Church, which formerly gathered for Mass near downtown Oklahoma City, and Sacred Heart Catholic Church in south Oklahoma City.
The men said pilgrims from at least 30 states have visited the shrine. Wolf and Mireles said they noticed that many people from Kansas, Texas and Arkansas have visited the site.
Mireles said he thinks more and more people will begin to associate the shrine and Oklahoma City.
"When you mention Oklahoma City to folks outside of Oklahoma, what comes to mind is the bombing memorial, the Oklahoma City bombing that happened, and now we have the Oklahoma City Thunder, we have Scissortail Park and some other things," he said.
"I want us to get to the point to where when people say Oklahoma City, they're like, 'Oh, that's where they have that shrine to Blessed Stanley Rother. He was a farmer from this small town and he gave his life for the Lord. And it's an amazing place and an amazing story.'"
By the numbers
120,000 shrine pilgrims
3,979, monthly average of Pilgrim Center visitors (excluding shrine church/Tepeyac Hill)
5,000 average Mass attendance per weekend
80-90 average attendance at a12:15 p.m. daily Mass
30 number of states represented by visiting pilgrims
Who is Blessed Stanley Rother?
Blessed Stanley Rother was an Oklahoma priest serving as a missionary in Guatemala when he was shot and killed by unknown assailants in the rectory of his parish church in July 1981. He was 46. Pope Francis proclaimed him a martyr for the faith in 2016. He is the first recognized martyr from the United States and the first U.S.-born priest to be beatified by the Catholic Church. Rother has been given the distinction of being called "blessed" to signify that he has been beatified and is one step away from sainthood.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine marks first anniversary in south OKC
