Faithful express gratitude, excitement for new Blessed Stanley Rother shrine

A Guatemalan man took in the sights and sounds all around him at the recent dedication of the Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine in south Oklahoma City.

At 43, Felipe Coche said he was too young to remember much about the shrine's namesake, but he said the humble priest from Okarche played a big role in his life.

“I was three years old when Father Stanley baptized me,” Coche said, speaking in Spanish. “Father Rother was a protector of the indigenous people. He was very brave to face the problems of the country and of Santiago. He never abandoned his sheep in Santiago Atitlán, even during the civil war.”

Coche was among several people who made the trip from Guatemala to Oklahoma City to see the new $50 million shrine at 700 SE 89. The Guatemalans were among the estimated 3,000 people who attended Friday's dedication Mass in the shrine church. Avery Holt, interim communications director for the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, said about 13,000 people viewed the event via livestream on the archdiocese's various social media platforms.

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.

Oklahoma Catholic leaders have said thousands of people each year are expected to make pilgrimage to the shrine honoring the Okarche native's life and legacy.

More:The Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine is offically open. What to know

Several Guatemalans said they felt a connection to Rother. In his homily, the Most Rev. Paul S. Coakley, archbishop of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, said not only was the martyred holy man special to Oklahomans but also to Guatemalans because he chose to live, work and share God's love among his parishioners at St. James the Greater parish in Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala, even at risk of his life.

The Most Rev. Gonzalo de Villa, archbishop of Santiago, Guatemala, agreed with Coakley's statement. The Guatemalan clergy leader and Archbishop Christophe Pierre, Pope Francis' ambassador to America, were among of 37 bishops from across the U.S. and the globe to attend the dedication.

"I'm very grateful to God that I had the opportunity to be here," de Villa said. "Certainly, the story of 'Father Aplas' is so touching — it has touched my life in so many way since I was a bishop for 13 years in the diocese where he was martyred."

Describing the shrine as "gorgeous," de Villa said Rother's example was an inspiration to him and others in Guatemala.

"Now, I'm in Guatemala City, but I remember very warmly all the precious memories I have of Atitlan and the people of Atitlan," de Villa said. "The feeling of Stanley Rother is something that I treasure."

Coche said he was proud that he got to play an important role in the Oklahoma City archdiocese's cause for canonization for Rother. He said he was appointed as the church notary for "Father Stanley's" Guatemalan parish and help the archdiocese as it prepared documents including parishioners testimonies. These were sent on to the Vatican to support the efforts to have Rother declared a saint.

“I started working in the research from 2008 until 2011, recording information, conducting interviews and asking the people of Guatemala about the life of Father Rother," Coche said. "We asked more than 100 people about their testament for the cause (for canonization).”

Jose Maldonado, a native of Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, said he was a leader at Holy Angels Catholic Church, which recently merged with Sacred Heart Catholic Church to become the Sacred Heart Parish at the Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine.

"It’s a unique experience ... very special," Maldonado said.

"I can’t express what I feel in my heart. It is not a parish, it is a sanctuary of a beatified person who lived his life defending the faith and the truth. I don’t know if we're ever going to see another one in Oklahoma because these occasions and dedications don’t happen one after the other."

Faithful express excitement

Jacob Morgan, 26, and his mother Deana Baker, 60, traveled from Durant to attend the shrine dedication Mass. The pair said they got in line about 8 a.m. to make sure they were among the people allowed into the new church in time for the 11 a.m. event.

"Growing up in Catholic school, we had a lot of priests and sisters who knew Blessed Stanley Rother and they would just talk to us about the importance of knowing him and what he did in Guatemala," Morgan said. "The life of righteousness that he lived was just instilled in us and we thought it was a great day for Oklahoma and the world to come here and celebrate this."

Dominick Denney, an Oklahoma City Archdiocese seminarian from Enid, said he was inspired by Rother's story — "just his love and his dedication for the priesthood and how he's just not afraid to lay down his life for the Lord."

"He has such great trust in the Lord," Denney said. "He doesn't give up, he doesn't quit because I'm sure that there were many, many times in his life where he faced great difficulty. That's one of the ways I really look up to him."

The seminarian said the shrine was "amazing and absolutely breathtaking" and a great way to honor a priest who has inspired so many.

If you go

The Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week at 700 SE 89. The Pilgrim Center, which includes a museum and gift shop, will be open from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily. Admission is free. For more information, go to https://rothershrine.org/.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine dedication brings Guatemalans, Vatican