News - June 2023 RSS Feed

The Solemnity of Corpus Christi at Saint Benedict Catholic Church in Shawnee was celebrated this year by giving a prayerful startup to the parish Eucharistic Revival as recommended by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. 

Father Damian Okoye has spent the past couple of decades as a priest. Raised in a devout Catholic family, and influenced by his parish priest where he attended Mass, he felt a calling to the priesthood from an early age. He is now undertaking a new missionary role, serving as parochial vicar at Saint Mary Catholic Church in Ponca City and Saint Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Newkirk, and has quickly made an impact on the community in that role, along with seminarian Max Marcott, who himself is studying for the priesthood.

In the Catholic tradition, June is the month dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, with the Feast of the Sacred Heart celebrated on June 16. 

With a trip to Saint Peter the Apostle Catholic Church in Guymon on June 18, Archbishop Coakley wrapped up a busy confirmation season that saw him travel to all corners of the archdiocese.

Safe Environment protocols were put into place after the creation in 2002 of the USCCB’s Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.

The city of Newkirk was founded the day after the Cherokee Strip opened on Sept. 16,1893, and has been renamed three times. It was first referred to as Lamareaux, then changed to Santa Fe. The Santa Fe Railroad was not pleased so it became Newkirk to distinguish it from a stop on the line a few miles away known as Kirk.

The Catholic Foundation of Oklahoma awarded scholarships to eight new recipients during a luncheon on June 9 at the Catholic Pastoral Center.

The Catholic Daughters of the Americas Chapter No. 2166, Saint Jude, hosted their annual priest appreciation dinner on June 14 at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Lawton. The chapter is made up of women from both Holy Family Catholic Church and Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church. 

If you are looking for a daily meditation book on the Eucharist to go along with the Eucharistic Revival that is currently occurring in the Catholic Church in the United States, this book is a very good one. 

Members of the Oklahoma City region joined over 7,000 knights, dames and volunteers from 45 countries to participate in the annual international Order of Malta Lourdes Pilgrimage, taking thousands of sick and wheelchair pilgrims. 

WASHINGTON - On June 16, the Catholic Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Most Reverend Timothy P. Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), and Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee for Religious Liberty, joined by Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles, have called on Catholics to pray the Litany of the Sacred Heart, and make an act of reparation—an act offered to the Lord with the intention of repairing the spiritual damage inflicted by sin.

Saint John Paul II believed fathers were vital to the success of every family and laid out his “guide” for fathers in his encyclical “Familiaris Consortio.” He said, “Being a father isn’t always easy, but with God’s help, all things are possible.” Saint John Paul II laid out five principles in his encyclical: Love your wife and children, take an active role in the education of your children, don’t be an absent father, be a source of unity, not division and be a strong Christian witness.

The monks of Saint Gregory's Abbey continue to celebrate the ordination of Father Peter (Matthew) Shults, O.S.B., to the priesthood. The Most Reverend Paul S. Coakley, Archbishop of Oklahoma City, conferred the Sacrament of Holy Orders on Father Peter during Mass in the Abbey Church on May 31, the Feast of the Visitation of Mary.