⛪︎ $50 million shrine honors Catholic farm boy who became a martyr 🔌
Dedication of Blessed Stanley Rother shrine set for today
By Bobby Ross Jr.
Most Fridays, I send a “live” version of Weekend Plug-in.
This week, though, I expect to be on an airplane as this e-newsletter arrives in your inbox.
So if any UFOs got shot out of the sky overnight, don’t look for the religion angle until next week.
But please do enjoy this prescheduled roundup of the best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.
What to know: The big story
Blessed Stanley: A dedication Mass for a $50 million shrine honoring the Catholic Church’s first U.S.-born martyr is set for today in Oklahoma City.
I wrote about the life — and death — of slain missionary Stanley Francis Rother for The Associated Press.
My story notes:
The Spanish colonial-style structure incorporates a 2,000-seat sanctuary as well as a visitor center, gift shop, museum and smaller chapel that will serve as Rother’s final resting place.
The shrine grounds also will feature a re-creation of Tepeyac Hill, the Mexico City site where Catholics believe the Virgin Mary appeared to an Indigenous Mexican man named Juan Diego in 1531. An artist created painted bronze statues of Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Juan Diego — each weighing thousands of pounds — for the Oklahoma site.
Life and ministry: For the best in-depth coverage of Rother and the shrine, be sure to follow The Oklahoman’s faith editor, Carla Hinton, who has covered this story for years.
Among her features this week: a detailed look at the shrine museum and an exploration of how “Rother’s heart has remained with his beloved Guatemalan parishioners.”
A final shrine note: I first wrote about Rother in 2001 during my time as religion editor for The Oklahoman. In 2017, I did a Religion News Service feature on the love for “Father Stan” in his hometown of Okarche, Oklahoma.
Power up: The week’s best reads
1. ‘Ready to meet God’: What a powerful cover story in Christianity Today by global staff writer Sophia Lee.
In her latest dispatch from Ukraine — coinciding with the upcoming anniversary of Russia’s attack on that Eastern European nation — Lee details how “pastors and church leaders who stayed behind serve as if every day might be their last.”
2. A Duggar’s religious upbringing: “Jinger Duggar Vuolo, who was one of 19 children on a popular reality show, becomes a powerful voice in a trend of young adults re-examining their own conservative Christian childhoods.”
Religion writer Ruth Graham tackles that compelling angle in the New York Times.
For more on the sixth-oldest Duggar child’s “personal theological memoir,” see Arkansas Democrat-Gazette religion editor Frank Lockwood’s story.
3. Asbury revival: Why are students at a Christian university in Kentucky praying and singing round the clock?
Religion News Service’s Bob Smietana provides answers.
To go deeper, see coverage by Mark A. Kellner at the Washington Times and Meagan Saliashvili coverage at JulieRoys.com. For historical insight, check out Christianity Today’s 1970 piece on a past Asbury revival.
More top reads
Artificial intelligence chatbots “can write a passably competent sermon. But no, they can’t replicate the passion of actual preaching,” The Associated Press’ David Crary reports. ... Despite being devastated by the earthquake, Turkish Christians are still working to serve the Lord, The Christian Chronicle’s Audrey Jackson notes. … Black and White congregations that began worshipping together in the pandemic are back in person, but they still gather for a joint drive-in service each month, the Washington Post’s Rona Kobell writes. … A Bible study is bridging the basketball rivalries at four Nashville colleges, as The Tennessean’s Liam Adams explains. … Women who were cut as children search as adults for healing amid silence, shame and treatment gaps, as this moving story by AP religion writer Mariam Fam details. … Chronicling Los Angeles’ iconic Virgin of Guadalupe street art — that’s the topic of a story by Religion News Service’s Alejandra Molina. … A Minnesota Buddhist temple is making an open call for a sacred dance troupe, AP’s Giovanna Dell’Orto reports. … And finally, a think piece from The Times of Israel’s Sarah Tuttle-Singer about a prayer controversy at the Western Wall.
Inside the Godbeat
Veteran religion columnist Terry Mattingly tackles “The Evolving Religion of Journalism” for the Acton Institute.
In a recent GetReligion post, Mattingly said:
For me, it’s most important thing I’ve written about journalism since my 1983 essay for The Quill — “The religion beat: Out of the ghetto, into the mainsheets,” which helped spark a national debate about religion-news coverage, including a Los Angeles Times series by the late, great media-beat specialist David Shaw.
Charging station: ICYMI
Here is where you can catch up on top ReligionUnplugged.com content.
“In the unusual tradition of Ma’nene in South Sulawesi of Indonesia's Toraja region, families lovingly clean, dress up and even put cigarettes in the mouths of the exhumed bodies of their dead relatives.”
See ReligionUnplugged.com’s exclusive photo essay with text by Vishal Arora and pictures by Garry Lotulung.
The final plug
Flying is faster, but an interstate journey can be full of adventure.
I did a column about my recent road trip with my dad. Bottom line: God blessed us with traveling mercies — and plenty of Love’s Travel Stops for gasoline and restroom breaks.
Happy Friday, everyone! Enjoy the weekend.
Bobby Ross Jr. is a columnist for ReligionUnplugged.com and editor-in-chief of The Christian Chronicle. A former religion writer for The Associated Press and The Oklahoman, Ross has reported from all 50 states and 15 nations. He has covered religion since 1999.