Oklahoma City is likely one of the last places in America that you would expect to go on a pilgrimage. Yet, the state capital and some of its neighboring communities are home to some important destinations for Catholic visitors.
The city’s many tourist districts are fun to explore, especially the interactive science museum, the mile long canal and riverwalk in Bricktown, the luscious botanical gardens, complete with waterfalls, in the heart of the downtown, and the Riversport Adventure Park, where families can try their hand at everything from kayaking to white water rafting. Even the state capital building is somewhat unique, being that it sits atop an active oil well! And of course, the region is a great sports destination from catching the NBA’s Oklahoma Thunder in action to taking the short drive to Norman to see the Oklahoma Sooners play.
Oklahoma City remains partially defined by its pioneer and frontier heritage, with the famous Land Run setting everything in motion. Some of the city’s main attractions, including the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, Stockyards City (full of western themed shops and restaurants and the world’s largest feeder cattle market) and the Orr Family Farm recall this pilgrim heritage. The Catholic Church and its missionaries have been with the people of Oklahoma right from the state’s early beginnings and the Church continues to be an important presence in the lives of so many locals.
St. Joseph’s Old Cathedral and the Oklahoma City Bombing
One of the worst atrocities in modern American history took place in the heart of OKC on April 19, 1995, when domestic terrorists set off a bomb destroying the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, killing 168. The land on which the building once stood has been transformed into a green space, museum, and national memorial, lined with sculpted chairs commemorating each of the victims of the terrorist act. Rising just beyond the edge of the memorial is the simple spire of St. Joseph’s Old Cathedral. This church was the first Catholic church in Oklahoma City and actually, the first church of any denomination to be built in the city. It was founded by Catholic pioneers who participated in the Land Run and who initially gathered for mass at the nearby general store, before a formal church structure was created.
St. Joseph’s Old Cathedral was considerably damaged in the explosion. While the stained glass windows were blown out and the plaster significantly damaged, the frame remained intact and most miraculously of all, the tabernacle candle was not extinguished despite the impact of the blast. In addition to visiting the ornate church, there is a special memorial statue of Jesus weeping outside the church, to commemorate the bombing.
The Pride of Oklahoma: Blessed Stanley Rother
Another victim of terrorism linked to OKC is Blessed Stanley Rother. He was a native Oklahoman priest who spent most of his priestly ministering serving the poor of Guatemala. He grew up on a Catholic farm in western Oklahoma and ordained a priest in the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City. Soon after his ordination he took up assignment as a missionary to the descendants of the Mayans in Guatemala and drove the 2,000 miles from Oklahoma to Guatemala to begin a ministry that would last over ten years.
During the terrible civil war of the 1980s, he elected to stay close to his flock despite the great danger posed to priests and religious in Guatemala at that time (and the option of safe refuge in the U.S.). As the violence intensified, and priests were targeted and ended up on death lists, Father Rother briefly returned to the safety of Oklahoma. However, just as Christ spoke of a shepherd never abandoning his sheep, so too could Father Rother not fathom leaving his parish flock unattended as the persecution and violence intensified in Guatemala. So, he risked his life and returned to Guatemala to be with his parish in time for Holy Week 1981. He was unswerving in preaching a Gospel of Love and non-violence. Just over three months later, he was killed by a right wing death squad who broke into the rectory in the middle of the night targeting him. His remains were returned to OKC and he was beatified by Cardinal Amato, the Prefect for the Congregation of Saints, at the OKC Convention Centre in 2018.
Today, visitors to Oklahoma City can pray at the tomb of Blessed Stanley at the Memorial Resurrection Cemetery. You can also travel about 40 minutes outside the city to rural Okarche, where the hometown parish of Blessed Stanley, Holy Trinity, is located. The parish has personal belongings artifacts on display related to Blessed Stanley and also offers guided tours recounting the oral history of Blessed Stanley’s life.
In a few short years, a far more formal pilgrimage center will be open to the public. The National Shrine to Blessed Stanley Rother is currently under construction and will include a museum on the saint’s life and a church modeled in the style of the Spanish colonial parish in which he served in Guatemala.
DAY TRIPS
As fascinating as Oklahoma City is to visit, there are also some wonderful day trips that should be added to the itinerary.
Shawnee
About 40 minutes east of Oklahoma City is the City of Shawnee. It is home to one of the most unexpected sites in Oklahoma – a medieval-looking Benedictine Monastery, St. Gregory Abbey. The Abbey is open to the public and provides a step across time and space to the great monastic traditions of the old world (and there is also a gift shop on site selling many of the products made directly by the monks). The Abbey can trace its origins to the first missionaries in Oklahoma, who crossed into the new territory from Arkansas to minister to the Indigenous peoples and the new settlers.
Right next to the abbey grounds is the Mabee-Gerrer Museum, an art gallery that is one of the oldest museums in Oklahoma. It is renowned for possessing the only Egyptian Mummy in the entire Sooner state. The museum is named after Father Gregory Gerrer, who was a Benedictine monk at the monastery with an appreciation for fine art. Many of the items on display are a collection of works of art that Father Gerrer had acquired during his travels to Europe, Africa, and South America. A fun stop on the way out of town is the Pottawatomie County Museum, located inside the turn of the century Santa Fe Depot train station.
Prague
Continuing northeast from Shawnee, another thirty minutes or so, will take you to the town of Prague, Oklahoma, where the National Shrine of the Infant Jesus of Prague is located. The town was originally settled by Czech immigrants to Oklahoma. They came for the famous land run and about 300 families of Czech origin decided to settle together on the land that is now Prague.
In the 1940s, the pastor of the local parish – St. Wenceslaus – was inspired to turn the tiny rural parish into a major shrine dedicated to the Infant of Prague. The story of how this came about is quite interesting. It started when the pastor was in California at the hospital bedside of his ailing mother, when the nuns at the hospital offered him a statue of the Infant of Prague. He brought it back with him to the parish in Oklahoma and ordered literature for his parishioners that explained the devotion. The parishioners in turn started reporting examples of prayers being answered. The pastor himself then made a solemn promise that if the Infant of Prague was able to provide the funds needed to significantly expand the parish church, then he would transform it into a shrine to the Infant of Prague. Suddenly, donations began coming in from across the country and the funding was secured for the expansion. To honor his commitment, the pastor had the statue enthroned in gold in its current location behind the main altar and the Bishop of Oklahoma established it as a national shrine in 1949. In that same year, permission was obtained from the Carmelite friars in Rome (who were given responsibility by Pope St. Pius X for the devotion) to enroll members in the Association of the Infant Jesus of Prague.
Tulsa
Tulsa is a delightful city about one hour from downtown Oklahoma City. Its claim to fame is as the first major oil drilling city in the U.S. and the early wealth that the discovery of this “black gold” bequeathed to the city is still evident today in some of its buildings, galleries and museums. It is chalk full of appealing attractions to youngsters, including the Tulsa Zoo, the Oklahoma Aquarium, and the Air and Space Museum. For adults, one of the main draws is the ornate mansion that houses the Philbrook Museum of Art. For all ages, one “must do” in Tulsa is to snap the family photo in front of the 75 foot Golden Driller statue, the sixth tallest statue in the United States, recalling Tulsa’s oil past.
For Catholic visitors, the main draw is the Church of Sts. Peter and Paul, where the only shrine in the United States dedicated to Mexico’s St. Toribio Romo is located. The shrine contains a first class relic of the patron saint of migrants and a lovely adoration chapel. The shrine’s design draws inspiration from the original shrine to St. Toribio in Jalisco, Mexico. St. Toribio was a priest killed by Mexican soldiers during an uprising in 1928 and ever since his martyrdom many migrants have sought his intercession on their journey. In fact, many migrants have attributed miraculous interventions from the saint to aid them in safely crossing the border.
CATHOLIC CONCIERGE 
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