August 2, 2017
OKARCHE, Okla. (RNS) — Past the grain elevator and the bar famous for its fried chicken, Oklahoma Highway 3 leads to a century-old church where the Rev. Stanley Francis Rother served as an altar boy.
Yellowish-green grass and brown fields awaiting the planting of the next wheat crop in a few months adorn the prairie as men in western shirts, women carrying babies and children in shorts and dresses fill the pews.
They’ve come — a standing-room-only crowd of nearly 400 — to pay tribute to a hometown hero who could become a saint.
Source: ‘Father Stan’s Our Man’: Okla. farm town honors hometown hero on path to sainthood | Religion News Service