Join us on Saturday, October 14, as Fr. Jason Cargo leads the young adults of the parish on a Pilgrimage to the Shrine of Blessed Stanley Rother on Oklahoma City, OK.  Early Registration through Friday, September 29 is $75.00 per person and covers bus to and from, morning snacks and bottled water, and lunch.  Early Registration ends on Sept. 30 and the cost will increase to $100.00 per person. 

6:00am - Charter bus arrives at St. Mark Parish Center (entrance to Youth Center)
6:30am - Boarding begins
7:00am - Bus departs to the Shrine of Blessed Stanley Rother, Oklahoma City, OK
10:00am – Arrive at the Pilgrim Center (Large Building next to the Shrine Church) Tour the Pilgrim Center Museum and Gift Shop)
11:00am – Guided Tour of the Shrine Church
11:45am – Time on Your Own (Visit Tepeyac Hill, private prayer, etc.)
12:15pm – Mass in the Chapel
1:00pm – Lunch on your own
2:00pm – Adoration in the Chapel
3:00pm – Benediction and Divine Mercy Chaplet
Depart the Shrine
7:00pm - Arrive at St. Mark Parish Center (approx. time)


Did you know.....
Stanley Francis Rother was born March 27, 1935, in Okarche, Oklahoma. The oldest of the children born to Franz and Gertrude Rother, he grew up on a farm and attended Holy Trinity Catholic Church and School. He worked hard doing required chores, attended school, played sports, was an altar server and enjoyed the activities associated with growing up in a small town.  While in high school, he began to discern the possibility of a vocation to the priesthood. He was accepted as a seminarian and was sent to Assumption Seminary in San Antonio, Texas. He completed his studies at Mount Saint Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland, and was ordained a priest on May 25, 1963. 

He sought and received permission to join the staff at the Oklahoma diocese's mission in Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala. He served the native tribe of the Tz’utujil, who are decedents of the Mayans. Although he struggled with Latin in the seminary, Father Rother learned Spanish and the Tz’utujil language in Guatemala. He celebrated Mass in their language and helped translate the New Testament.

Within a few months, three men entered the rectory around 1 a.m. on July 28, 1981, fought with Father Rother and then executed him. His death shocked the Catholic world. No one was ever held responsible. The people of Santiago Atitlan mourned the loss of their leader and friend. They requested that Father Rother’s heart be kept in Guatemala where it remains enshrined today.

 In 2007, his Cause for Canonization was opened. In June 2015, the Vatican in Rome voted to formally recognize Oklahoma’s Father Stanley Rother a martyr. The determination of martyrdom was a critical step in the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City’s Cause to have Father Rother beatified, the final stage before canonization as a saint.  On Dec. 1, 2016, Pope Francis officially recognized Father Rother as a martyr for the faith. He is the first martyr from the United States and the first U.S.-born priest to be beatified. The Rite of Beatification was held on Sept. 23, 2017, in downtown Oklahoma City – an event attended by more than 20,000 people from around the world.  Interested in reading more about Fr. Stanley Rother or the Shrine, pelase click here.