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April 25, 2022Shrine to accommodate growing parishes with 2,000-seat church
OKLAHOMA CITY – Archbishop Paul Coakley announced Saturday the merging of Sacred Heart Catholic Church and Holy Angels Catholic Church on the campus of the new Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine. The parish will celebrate weekend Masses at the shrine, which opens Nov. 4.
Archbishop Coakley also announced Father Don Wolf, cousin of Blessed Stanley, as pastor of Sacred Heart, and Father Rusty Hewes and Father Brannon Lepak as parochial vicars. Father Wolf also will serve as rector of the shrine with Father Hewes and Father Lepak serving as vice rectors.
“This is an answer to our prayers,” said Father Hewes, pastor of Holy Angels. “We’ve been praying for a new church for years and we wouldn’t have been able to afford building a big, beautiful church. We are fortunate to have the opportunity to celebrate Mass and to stay together.”
Father Hewes will continue to celebrate Mass at Holy Angels through October until the shrine is open. Father Wolf and Father Lepak will start their assignments at Sacred Heart on July 1.
“For years, parishioners at Sacred Heart have had to celebrate Mass in a gymnasium. They deserve a beautiful sacred space to worship. The shrine church with its Spanish colonial architecture, Blessed Stanley’s tomb and 2,000 seats will be an amazing place to carry on this rich tradition,” Father Wolf said.
Father Wolf and Father Hewes, both fluent in Spanish, will be joined at the shrine by Father Brannon Lepak, yet-to-be named deacons, a parish staff and shrine staff. Until a ministry building is completed on the shrine campus, religious education classes will continue at Historic Sacred Heart at 2706 S. Shartel Ave. Sacred Heart Catholic School, adjacent to the church, will remain at its current location.
“One of the things we identified at the start of planning for the One Church, Many Disciples capital campaign was the need for a larger church to accommodate our growing Catholic communities,” Archbishop Coakley said. “Parishioners from Holy Angels and Sacred Heart will
make the shrine their home, and their families will be the first to breathe life into its walls, celebrating weddings and baptisms surrounded by its beauty.”
Leif Arvidson, executive director of the shrine, added, “What a beautiful ministry parishioners will have in welcoming pilgrims from around the state, the country and the world to the Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine with its spacious grounds and its own Tepeyac Hill!”
Holy Angels Catholic Church and Sacred Heart Catholic Church have unique and important histories in the development of Oklahoma City.
Holy Angels at 317 N. Blackwelder Ave. was built on what was then the outskirts of Oklahoma City in 1926 to provide a place for Father James Garvey, first head of Catholic Charities in Oklahoma City, to serve as pastor. It is about a mile west of Saint Joseph Old Cathedral. The current small brick structure was completed in 1950. The parish is home to 1,500 families, most of whom are from Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, Argentina and Columbia.
Sacred Heart was built across the street from what was then Mount Saint Mary Academy atop Capitol Hill southwest of downtown Oklahoma City. Its first Mass was celebrated in April 1911. Over the past decade, the parish has grown substantially, requiring nine Masses each weekend, most of which are being celebrated in the school gymnasium.
Father Wolf and Father Hewes will meet soon with Sacred Heart and Holy Angels parishioners to answer questions and provide more details.
More information is available at archokc.org/shrinesacredheart.