Divine Direction

Miguel Mireles repeatedly recognized the Lord’s calls on his journey to the shrine


Miguel Mireles, on the cusp of a dream job, slipped into a chair inside the office of Tulsa Bishop David Konderla, and seated across from the bishop, requested a blessing.

There in the chancery, Konderla prayed over Mireles. They shook hands and Konderla delivered what Mireles considered magical words.

“He said, ‘You’re going to be our guy,’” Mireles recalled in having accepted the position of director of development for the Diocese of Tulsa. “I felt blessed and excited about this new opportunity in my vocation serving the Church.”

That was May 1, 2023.

On May 2, 2023, Archbishop Paul Coakley called to bring Mireles back to Oklahoma City.

Back home.

Back to the Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine.

Approaching the Feast Day of Blessed Stanley Rother on July 28, Mireles now stands as a fitting fixture at the South Oklahoma City palace built to celebrate the martyred Oklahoma priest. For Mireles, his vocation serving the Church continues, as executive director of the shrine, which he saw rise from red dirt origins to a pilgrimage destination for Catholics across the country and the world.

Still, he was left uncomfortable by the events of those early May days just more than a year ago. Then the two bishops came together to recognize and accept a Holy Spirit moment.

West Texas roots

Mireles was formed in the Texas panhandle, raised in Amarillo among loving family and stout faith.

His father Mexican, his mother from the valley of South Texas, the couple worked to make it possible for their children to attend Saint Mary’s Cathedral School.

And the Catholic education took.

“Well, I’m a West Texas kid,” Mireles said. “I just love Texas, loved growing up there, but also loved the fact that my mom and dad at a young age sacrificed for us to go to Catholic school.

“My mom would work in the rectory, cleaning the rectory to receive discounts for us to go to school there. So we were really rooted in education and faith. I think that’s why I’ve always been drawn to the Church.”

The young Mireles played violin, and later drums.

“I was a band geek and an orchestra geek,” he said. “That was my family.”

The lure of music paid off, too. He was playing drums later in the Life Teen band at Saint Mary’s when he met his future wife, Cyndi. 

But before that, Miguel joined the Boy Scouts, engaging in all things scouting. And he got involved at church, as an altar server, and in assisting the parish priest, a monsignor, who often peppered Miguel with questions about what he was learning in school, particularly in religion class.

“I don’t know if he was trying to plant the seed of a vocation, maybe a calling to the priesthood,” Miguel said. “But I know he was planting a seed to continue to follow the faith and that the Word is calling you to do something, and you need to listen.

“I still hear his voice.”

It was through scouting that Miguel met Peter de Keratry, forming a bonding friendship that would last, one that would also shape Miguel’s future.

Scouting Ahead

A love for scouting led to a job in scouting – 15 years with Boy Scouts of America, with a rise in the ranks leading to a move from his West Texas home to Louisville, Kentucky.

“Those were 15 wonderful years,” Miguel said. “And I wouldn’t have had that opportunity if the Lord didn’t call me to do that.”

The Lord kept calling, too.

Ultimately, Miguel and Cyndi, married in Amarillo, started longing for home. And on a trip back to Amarillo one Christmas, Miguel and Cyndi stopped in Oklahoma City to visit his old friend de Keratry, now the executive director for the Secretariat for Stewardship and Development for the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City.

Knowing Miguel, and his skills and experience in fundraising and program development, de Keratry suggested Mireles consider a job on his staff.

The archdiocese was in the process of a major capital campaign, and there was a need for someone like Miguel.

“I was searching, in prayer with my wife, and looking at what we could do to get closer to home,” Miguel said. “I’m a firm believer that the Lord knocks on the door and it’s my job to open that door and listen to what he has to say.

“Doesn’t mean I have to say yes, but I at least have to listen.”

Miguel said yes.

And when Rother’s cause moved swiftly through the beatification process, putting him on the doorstep of sainthood, the campaign – One Church, Many Disciples – took root, moving the vision of a Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine toward reality.

Catholics responded generously to help fund the shrine and Miguel spent many days in South Oklahoma City, cowboy boots on the ground where old Brookside Golf Course used to attract duffers.

Miguel made friends fast.

He connected with construction workers and landscapers, serving them freeze pops in the heat of summer. With architects and planners from Boldt Construction, which has earned awards for their work building the shrine. With the folks across the road at Frontline Church, who welcomed the building committee for meetings when they had no such space.

Miguel connected with anyone and everyone, really.

“He likes to build relationships,” Cyndi said. “He makes friends wherever he goes. And he keeps those friends forever.”

Sounds like it’s good to be Miguel’s friend, too.

He’s “famous,” according to Cyndi, for his salsa, which he happily shares. He likes to grill and smoke meats, too, plenty for a feast.

And he shares his ongoing love for music, particularly blues, sometimes sliding into concerts with the archbishop.

“Miguel has a servant’s heart,” Archbishop Coakley said. “I’ve met few people in life who genuinely wish to be helpful to everyone they encounter the way that Miguel has done for as long as I’ve known him.

“And he loves to share his enthusiasm for Blessed Stanley and the shrine.”

Holy Moments

Miguel recalls many “holy moments” through his journey to the shrine and to present day.

But it’s a Holy Spirit moment that occurred when he needed it most – that stress-filled brief period when he weighed staying in Tulsa against pivoting back to Oklahoma City.

Miguel had ushered through the stages of fundraising and construction of the shrine, then filled a parish support role with the archdiocese, which he enjoyed. The Diocese of Tulsa, however, was offering a growth opportunity with the director of development position. The job was offered and Miguel accepted.

Then Archbishop Coakley called, recognizing what a pivotal person Miguel could be at the shrine, offering him the opportunity to return.

“I remember thinking, ‘Well, it’s near and dear to my heart,” Miguel said.

Conversations continued, yet Miguel started the job in Tulsa.

“I hit the ground running in Tulsa,” he said. “And I kid you not – again, this is the Holy Spirit speaking to me – I’m going to parishes to introduce myself to pastors, to staff, talk to them about what they needed.

“And everywhere I go, I see Blessed Stanley prayer cards on people’s desks. I see icons on the wall. I see a room named the Blessed Stanley Rother Library. And I get the sense inside my heart that it’s Him saying, ‘I’m calling you back.’”

Still, Miguel had given his word to Bishop Konderla. And while it’s nice to be wanted and needed, something didn’t fully feel right.

And Archbishop Coakley sensed it.

“Archbishop had a conversation with me,” Miguel said, “and he says, ‘What’s the one thing that is really stressing you?’ And I said, ‘Archbishop, I’ve always been taught to be a man of my word, and I went and shook Bishop Konderla’s hand.

“He said, ‘Don’t worry about that. I am going to pray and I am going to talk to Bishop Konderla and we will take care of it.’”

The two bishops, friends, talked. Soon, Miguel had a phone text from Archbishop Coakley informing him all was good. Moments later, another text arrived, this time from Bishop Konderla, requesting Miguel come to the rectory.

“He kind of pulls me over and says, ‘The Holy Spirit’s calling you back to Oklahoma City.’

“Wow.”

Chic-fil-A moments

A year removed from taking leadership of the shrine, Miguel sure looks like he’s home.

The joy he shows, and shares, beams forth for all to see and feel. He’s still making friends and hopes to make thousands more, as traffic to the shrine continues to increase with the story of Blessed Stanley Rother spreading.

“Miguel wants to make the Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine a place of genuine pilgrimage and a venue of holiness and hope for everyone who comes,” said Father Donald Wolf, rector of the shrine. “Whether that be a pilgrim from Sacred Heart Parish, who is here every week, a regular Mass-goer who comes every day or a one-time visitor who has driven by on the interstate and decided to drop in for a moment.

“He works to welcome as many people and as many opportunities as possible in order that they can experience coming to know the life and example of Father Rother and can touch the gift of Christ poured out in Blessed Stanley’s example.

“That is the vision that animates him and that will bring the shrine into its fullest potential.”

While Father Wolf describes Miguel’s service to the shrine eloquently, Miguel offers a more simple model.

The Chic-fil-A example.

The popular fast-food restaurant specializes in customer service. The food is quality. The system is smooth even as people crowd the counter and cars line up outside. The workers are always polite.

Then, Miguel points out, there’s the final exchange, one he can truly relate to:

“You say, ‘Thank you,’ and they say, ‘My pleasure.’

“It’s my pleasure to serve the Church. It’s my pleasure to serve at the Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine. I want people to feel the pleasure of being here.

“This is sacred ground. And people are beginning to catch on to who and what Blessed Stanley stands for and represents. And it’s an honor to be here.”

John Helsley is the editor of the Sooner Catholic.

Miguel Mireles. Photos Avery Holt/Sooner Catholic.