Native American Mass set for Rother Shrine

In honor of National Native American Heritage Month, a special Mass will be celebrated at 3 p.m. on Nov. 23 at the Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine in Oklahoma City.

Archbishop Coakley will lead the third annual celebration, together with concelebrants Right Reverend Lawrence Stasyszen, O.S.B., abbot of St. Gregory’s Abbey and Right Reverend
Philip Anderson, abbot of Our Lady of Clear Creek Abbey. Father David Bailey, assistant director of Native American Affairs for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, will also serve as concelebrant.

Deacon Roy Callison, coordinator of the American Indian Catholic Outreach for the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, is a tribal member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. His wife Susan is a tribal member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.

Deacon Callison explained that while the Mass is intended to honor Native American culture, it will be celebrated in the traditional manner according to the liturgical calendar.

“It is still the same Mass, but we are incorporating aspects of Native American culture,” he said.

Prior to the start of Mass, the Callisons will recite the “Prayer in Four Directions,” a traditional spiritual practice rooted in Indigenous culture.

Michael Dalby will recite the first reading in his native Indigenous language Kiowa, while Harry Oosahwee will recite the second reading in Cherokee. The student choir from Riverside Indian School in Anadarko will sing during the Mass.

Deacon Callison also described the practice of “cedaring,” where cedar, rather than incense, is burned during Mass using a shell and an eagle fan, as traditionally used in Native American culture.

“Cedaring has always been the traditional way to symbolically purify people using items from nature,” he said.
 
According to the United States Census Bureau, Oklahoma has the largest percentage of individuals who identify only as American Indian. Oklahoma, a word derived from the Choctaw language, literally means “Red People” – Okla being the word for people, and Humma or Homma being the word for red.

For more information on the Native American Mass, contact Deacon Roy Callison in the office of the American Indian Catholic Outreach at (918) 822-3255 or rcallisonarchokc.org

Sally Linhart is a freelance writer for the Sooner Catholic.





Photo: (Above) Arlene Schonchin performed the Lord’s prayer in American Indian Sign Language during the 2023 Native American Mass at the Bl. Stanley Rother Shrine in Oklahoma City. Photo Chris Porter/Sooner Catholic.