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April 3, 2025Denise Waters, looking to relocate from Tulsa to Oklahoma City, took a detour from house-hunting to venture downtown not long after the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.
“You could feel the sorrowful souls,” she said. “It doesn’t feel like that anymore.”
Waters, who has served as a volunteer at Saint Joseph Old Cathedral, located just steps across N. Harvey Avenue from the bombing site, has witnessed a rebuild of Saint Joe’s – the state’s first cathedral – of both structure and spirit.
“Everybody came together,” she said. “So much love has poured through here.”
Approaching April 19, the 30th anniversary of the bombing, which killed 168 – including 19 children – Saint Joe’s stands strong, as it did that tragic day, suffering damage, but not destruction, despite the megaton explosion.
The roof was lifted several inches by the blast, leaving rafters broken. Most of the beautiful stained glass windows were shattered. The prized old organ took a beating, with several of its pipes tumbling onto the pews below. Many artifacts and documents were lost. Much of the three-layer thick embellishing plaster covering the entire interior fell ankle deep onto the floor, taking carefully painted symbolic medallions with it. Much of the rectory was also destroyed by the blast, sending Father Louis Lamb, the cathedral’s pastor, to take up residence in a nearby apartment complex.
Amid the tragedy and rubble, however, were signs of hope.
The Tabernacle candle remained alight and the mission crucifix stood undamaged. A sign, perhaps, to forge ahead, which the archdiocese did, with a $3.5 million restoration of Saint Joseph.
After the bombing, Father Lamb and the congregation met for Mass in the basement of Catholic Charities. But on Dec. 1, 1996, a rededication Mass was held in the church with Archbishop Eusebius Beltran as principal celebrant.
In May of 1997, the cathedral officially re-opened, including a solemn dedication of the “… And Jesus Wept” statue on the church’s northeast side, a testament to those whose lives were lost or forever changed by the act of domestic terror.
In 2019, Archbishop Paul S. Coakley celebrated the 130th anniversary Mass of the Old Cathedral.
Today, three decades later, worshippers and pilgrims continue to stream through the doors of Saint Joe’s.
“When we experience darkness and loss, Jesus shelters us and gives us hope,” Archbishop said on the 25th anniversary of the bombing.
He continued, “(W)e are a resilient community, a people of faith, who overcame evil with goodness.”
John Helsley is editor of the Sooner Catholic.
Photo: (Above) Archbishop Coakley offered the blessing during the 20th anniversary ceremony of the Oklahoma City Bombing on April 19, 2015. President Bill Clinton also attended. Photo Archdiocese of Oklahoma City Archives.
A two-foot seedling of the “Survivor Tree,” blessed by Archbishop Beltran, was presented to the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City by the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture on the 10th anniversary of the bombing of the Murrah Building. Photo Archdiocese of Oklahoma City Archives 
The full-grown tree, above, has thrived on the grounds of the Catholic Pastoral Center. Photo Avery Holt/ Archdiocese of Oklahoma City. 