Scaperlanda answers call, again, to promote Bl. Stanley

Crossing Lake Atitlán, situated in the massive volcanic crater in the Guatemalan Highlands of the Sierra Madre mountain range, Archbishop Paul Coakley glanced across the boat with a thought about Stanley Rother for Maria Scaperlanda.

“We were talking about his cause for canonization and he said, ‘I think we need a biography that people can read and get to know him more, beyond here,’” she recalled.

After a moment, recognizing archbishop wasn’t just contemplating the idea of a book, he was speaking directly to the potential author, Scaperlanda responded.

“Yes, yes we do.’”

Of course, Scaperlanda penned that biography – “The Shepherd Who Didn't Run: Father Stanley Rother, Martyr from Oklahoma” – and the book indeed spread awareness of Rother’s dedication as a missionary priest to the Tz’utujil Mayan people in Santiago Atitlán, ahead of his beatification in 2017.

Now these years later, Archbishop Coakley, and in a way Blessed Stanley, are calling Scaperlanda back into motion again. This time, she’s being tasked with following the extensive work begun by Deacon Norm Mejstrik in advancing Blessed Stanley’s path toward sainthood. And for added inspiration, she’s officing at the Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine in south Oklahoma City.

Blessed Stanley’s path, which has advanced well, stands at the critical stage in most all cases for sainthood: the need for a Vatican-declared miracle attributed to him, through intercession on the request of prayer. Scaperlanda moves into the role of promoting the cause, raising awareness to encourage the seeking of intercession and collecting reports of “favors” – usually a medical healing – received through Blessed Stanley.

The Vatican declares a miracle through a rigorous investigation involving both scientific and theological scrutiny. 

“I think Blessed Stanley is already showing he’s a very good intercessor,” Scaperlanda said. “The stories I normally hear, both here when I’m at the shrine especially, but also in Santiago Atitlán, they are of thanksgiving, that they ask for his intercession and things came to pass, or there was healing in the family.

“I think he’s already been doing quite a bit. And the way somebody in Guatemala phrased it for me was, ‘He listens to us and our needs like he used to when he was alive and we could go to him.’ There are still people living there who knew him, so they’re just continuing what they always did. It’s quite beautiful and a perfect description of his being an intercessor.

“We just have to figure out what is the official one, for this miracle that we need.”

Once Deacon Mejstrik decided to retire from the role, Scaperlanda became a natural choice to carry on his good work.

“In writing his biography, she had to do a lot of research,” Deacon Mejstrik said. "And she’s been to Guatemala many times and knows his story, and the setting. And she also knows what it takes to be recognized a saint. So she has a lot of capability to carry this on.”

While she has many grandchildren to adore – 15 live within three miles – Scaperlanda said there’s room for Blessed Stanley, too.

“I trust the Lord is going to point me in the direction I need to be going every time,” she said. “This is just one more – and a big one.”

Scaperlanda has gone to school, literally, on enhancing her methods of advancing the cause. In mid-February, she attended an offering titled the Center for Sainthood Studies Certificate Program in California. It was an intensive six-day course designed to “guide participants through the rigorous process and prepare them to navigate canonical procedures effectively.”

She came away feeling better prepared, and reinvigorated.

“God always sends us the people we need, for each particular moment in time and in history,” she said. “And I do believe that our world needs Blessed Stanley Rother.

“His faithfulness. His perseverance. His prayerfulness. Models for all of us what it means to live a holy and God-centered life, by truly living the derails of our ordinary life.

“I pray that any work I do for Blessed Stanley’s cause honors him, his resolve to be a servant of all, and the gift of his life.”

John Helsley is editor of the Sooner Catholic.


Photo: (Above) Maria Scaperlanda and her husband Michael at a book signing in 2025 at the Bl. Stanley Rother Shrine. Scaperlanda wrote the biography “The Shepherd Who Didn’t Run: Father Stanley Rother, Martyr from Oklahoma.” Photo Bl. Stanley Rother Shrine.