Archdiocese Selects Contractor

OKLAHOMA CITY – Plans are in the works for a shrine and massive multi-million-dollar church to honor Blessed Stanley Rother.

Rother was martyred in 1981 in Guatemala. He was beatified in September of 2017.

Once complete, it will be the largest Catholic church in the state of Oklahoma.

It will be located at SE 89th & Shields, where Brookside Golf Course currently stands. The Archdiocese of Oklahoma City purchased the land a few years back.

“It will attract people from near and far,” said Archbishop Paul Coakley of the Archdiocese in Oklahoma City.

Coakley said it is a plan that has been in the works for a few years.

“We’ve been thinking about this, dreaming about this, planning for this for quite a long while now,” he said.

The shrine will serve as Rother’s final resting place and include a 2,000-seat church, a devotional prayer chapel, classrooms for religious education and ministry facilities.

Additionally, there will be a Blessed Stanley Rother Museum and Pilgrim Center. It will feature artifacts from his life, videos and testimony – all in hopes of keeping the life and legacy of the blessed alive for future generations.