FOX 23 News: Oklahoma’s Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine to be dedicated Nov. 4

OKLAHOMA CITY — Archbishop Paul Coakley and Shrine Executive Director Leif Arvidson announced Tuesday the dedication date for the Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine. The shrine will be dedicated during a public Mass on Friday, Nov. 4. The dedication will be the centerpiece of a week-long celebration.

“The shrine will be a beautiful place of prayer, reflection and pilgrimage for people from all over the world who come to Oklahoma City to learn about our native son and seek his intercession,” said Most Rev. Paul S. Coakley, Archbishop of Oklahoma City. “The dedication of the shrine will be a significant moment in the life of the Catholic Church in Oklahoma and for the broader community. Built to honor Blessed Stanley Rother, the first U.S.-born priest and martyr ever beatified, the shrine will be his final resting place. It will be a place of welcome, serving all people.”

The shrine is named for Blessed Stanley Rother, an Okarche farmer who in 1963 became a priest of what was then the Diocese of Oklahoma City and Tulsa and served as a missionary in Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala. In 1981, Father Rother was murdered in his rectory during a violent civil war. The perpetrators have never been caught. In 2016, Pope Francis declared him a martyr for the faith – the first recognized Catholic martyr from the United States. He was beatified in 2017 in Oklahoma City.

The $40 million shrine is the signature element of the first-ever capital campaign for the archdiocese – One Church, Many Disciples. The site eventually will include the 2,000-seat church, a chapel where Blessed Stanley will be entombed, an education building, an event space and several areas designated for shrines and devotion. The site will be developed over time.