The Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine(27)
- Jonathan Elmore
- Jul 12
- 3 min read
OKLAHOMA CITY
There is something about holy site that fascinates me. I've been to Buddhist and Jewish temples, Mosques, and Churches that have a sense of sacred space. I've had that same feeling from a few museums I've been to, but buildings and areas dedicated to religious rites and practices can sometimes be otherworldly. Such was the case with the Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine.
I didn't know much about The Shrine when I visited it. I'm not Catholic so I didn't see it as a pilgrimage. I had just driven by and wondered what it was. I learned that it was a church and chapel dedicated to the martyr Stanley Rother and that it was funded wholly by donations, no sponsorship from the Catholic church. That seemed pretty cool. I knew I had to go see what was going on and if I could look around even if I wasn't of the church. So, I made my way to south OKC, parked and walked around this gorgeous Spanish colonial style structure that sits just off of I-35.
I wasn't sure where to start, but I saw a small group go into what I thought might be the museum. It's a seperate building from the church, so I casually checked it out and decided it was the place I needed to be. It was a bit of an icy reception when I walked in. Everyone in the foyer seemed to know I wasn't Catholic and they weren't good at hiding their facial expressions of "what are you doing here?" But, I'm not detered by things like that. People are people and it's none of my business what they think about me. (Side note: When I got to the gift shop, the young woman was super nice and very helpful. And, when I was in the church, a lovely woman helped me navigate and answered a few questions I had about the place. They saved the day simply by being nice.) I made my way into the museum section of the building. It is a very well displayed collection of the life and work of Blessed Stanley. I noticed every display was in both English and Spanish. I looked around and realized I was among mostly Spanish speakers touring the Shrine. Now I understand the bilingual museum! I learned so much about him like he was born in Okarche and grew up on a farm there. He's now called Blessed because Pope Francis recognized his martyrdom in 2016. I learned he got kicked out of seminary because he couldn't pass his Latin class. But he was still adamant about becoming a priest. Finally, he passed all his classes in Maryland and started his mission work in Guatemala with the Mayan people in Santiago Atitlán. He learned Spanish and was quickly immersed in the local language Tz'utujil.
He was making a lot of positive changes in the community with farming, education, health, and spirituality. But the civil war in Guatemala was coming to a boiling point and Blessed Stanley would be the victim of small minded men who wanted power over people rather than a population of happy Guatemalans. He was killed in 1981. His heart is enshrined in Atitlán and his body is enshrined in his home state of Oklahoma, here at the Shrine. The work that he did to make people's lives better is the ideal model of how people should act, especially people who insist on being called religious. In his last weeks alive, he chose not to abandon the people that he had come to care for as family, but stayed and help them through the painful experiences of an ignorant war. He was a saint, with a little "s", but he should be a Saint with a capital "S".
If you're of the Catholic faith, this is a must see pilgrimage site. If you're not, it's still a place to go because of the beauty and sacredness that surrounds it. Go see the church. Make your way to the chapel. See the amazing mural that's in the apse. Maybe buy a votive candle from the vending machine. (This made me laugh a little bit, but I see the practicality of it.) Sit in the silence for a few minutes. Maybe some of Blessed Stanley Rother's goodness will rub off on you.
700 SE 89th Street, OKC
405-421-9800
