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July 1, 2020Archbishop Paul Coakley announced Wednesday the selection of Leif Arvidson as the executive director for the Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine in Oklahoma City. Arvidson was selected after a national search.
“I am excited to begin this new adventure and join the effort to recognize the faith and witness of this holy Oklahoma priest,” Arvidson said. “I am honored to be chosen to help carry out the vision for the shrine and to assist with the creation and development of this beautiful destination of prayer, faith, education and ministry for the Oklahoma City community and for faithful from around the world.”
Arvidson most recently served as executive director of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wisc., from June 2010 to the present where he oversaw a $2 million budget, 45 full-time and part-time employees, more than 50 volunteers, more than 30,000 benefactors and 75,000 pilgrims who visited the shrine each year.
He graduated summa cum laude from Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, in 1996 with a bachelor’s degree in history and a minor in theology. In 2002, he earned a juris doctorate from Notre Dame Law School.
In Wisconsin, he has coordinated or volunteered for a food pantry, Eucharistic adoration and pro-life initiatives, and served on a parish council and as an RCIA teacher for people wanting to join the Catholic Church. He and his wife are proud parents to 10 children.
“Leif is a wonderful leader in the local church, for his family and in his community,” Archbishop Coakley said. “He understands the importance of Blessed Stanley in Oklahoma and will be dedicated to telling the story of our parish priest who gave his life for his Catholic faith and for the love of his people.”
The $40 million shrine at S.E. 89 and Shields Boulevard in south Oklahoma City is the signature element of the first-ever capital campaign for the archdiocese. The site will include a 2,000-seat church, a chapel where Blessed Stanley Rother (ROW-ther) will be entombed, an education building, an event space and several areas designated for shrines and devotion. The site will be developed over time.
The archdiocese broke ground on the shrine on Nov. 3. It is expected to be completed in 2022.
Blessed Stanley was a priest from Okarche who volunteered to serve the diocesan mission in Guatemala. The Catholic Church in Guatemala was caught in the middle of a civil war at the time and Blessed Stanley was targeted for helping to educate the local indigenous people and for creating a co-op to help them get better prices for their crops.
On July 28, 1981, he was murdered in his rectory at Saint James the Apostle Catholic Church in Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala. In September 2017, he was beatified during a Beatification Mass in Oklahoma City, becoming the first martyr from the United States and the first U.S.-born priest to be beatified.
Each year, on July 28, the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, the Diocese of Tulsa and the Diocese of Little Rock, Ark., celebrate his feast day.
For more information on Blessed Stanley, go online to stanleyrother.org. For more information, architectural renderings and a live webcam for the Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine, go online to rothershrine.org.