e-newsletter companion of Eastern Oklahoma Catholic magazine
Bishop Consecrates Altar at St. Thomas More
TULSA — In spite of an ongoing winter storm, solemn consecration of the altar of the Shrine of Our Lady of San Juan de los Lagos (Our Lady of St. John of the Lakes) was held at St. Thomas More Catholic Church on Saturday as scheduled.
The ritual, steeped in profound theological and liturgical symbolism, was presided over by Bishop David Konderla, who, through specific sacramentals, annointed the altar with holy chrism, incense and holy water.
The ritual, steeped in profound theological and liturgical symbolism, was presided over by Bishop David Konderla, who, through specific sacramentals, annointed the altar with holy chrism, incense and holy water.
"Bishop David Konderla consecrated the altar of our sanctuary, where a first-class relic of the Blessed was placed. We thank God for this great blessing for our community," said Father Josemaria Briones, pastor of the predominantly Hispanic eastside parish, in his weekly bulletin message. "We have 32 relics of saints, which invite us to respond to the Lord's call, just as they did."
According to information provided by the parish, the consecration was not only a milestone for St. Thomas More, but also for the entire Catholic community of Tulsa, affirming the status of the new sanctuary of the Virgin of St. John of the Lakes as an important center of pilgrimage and devotion for Catholics across Oklahoma and the U.S.
According to information provided by the parish, the consecration was not only a milestone for St. Thomas More, but also for the entire Catholic community of Tulsa, affirming the status of the new sanctuary of the Virgin of St. John of the Lakes as an important center of pilgrimage and devotion for Catholics across Oklahoma and the U.S.
Officially inaugurated and dedicated in 2025, the Our Lady of San Juan de los Lagos shrine features a statue of the Virgin Mary — a replica of the original in Jalisco, central Mexico — serving as a significant site for pilgrimage, prayer, and Mass, particularly for the Hispanic community.
St. Thomas More is the largest parish within the Diocese of Tulsa and Eastern Oklahoma serving an estimated 6,000 worshippers attending one of ten scheduled obligation Masses each weekend.
Additional photos from Saturday's event can be found on St. Thomas More Facebook page by clicking here.
Photos courtesy of St. Thomas More
Two Diocesan Priests on Holy Land Pilgrimages
JERUSALEM — Last week, two separate groups of pilgrims, each including a priest from the Diocese of Tulsa and Eastern Oklahoma, arrived safely in Israel to begin Holy Land tours.
One group includes Father Robert Duck, pastor of St. Michael in Henryetta, St. Stephen in Holdenville, and St. Teresa in Okemah. The tour is led by Dr. Edward Sri, noted Catholic author, speaker and professor of theology at the Augustine Institute in Denver, Colorado. Sri leads multiple pilgrimages to the Holy Land, cathedrals, and holy sites around the world each year.
"Excited to begin our new Holy Land pilgrimage and will pray for you and your intentions here," Dr. Sri wrote in a social media post at the outset of the trip last week. "We had a beautiful Mass here at the Church of the Transfiguration during our holy land pilgrimage this week. Also blessed to walk in Jesus’s footsteps in Capernaum, Nazareth, and on the Sea of Galilee, where so much of Jesus's healing, teachings, in public ministry took place."
To view posts and photos from the trip by Dr. Sri, go to his Facebook page here.
Meanwhile, Father John O'Neill, pastor at St. Joseph in Muskogee, is leading another group, including Deacon Kevin Sartorius, CEO of Catholic Charities of Eastern Oklahoma, as they tour numerous sacred sites around Israel.
"Our first full day begins with a beautiful sunrise over the Sea of Galilee; then on to Mount Tabor, the sight of Jesus' Transfiguration, to visit the church there; next to Cana for mass and renewal of wedding vows and a blessing for the married couples with us," said Father O'Neill on the first full-day of his tour last week. "This is where Jesus turned water into wine, his first miracle."
The group continued to Jerusalem and the Basilica of the Annunciation, built over the spot where Mary encountered the Archangel Gabriel. Then on to St. Joseph's Church, an Orthodox church built on the site of Mary's well.
'It is still a live spring all these years later," said Father O'Neill. "Then back to our hotel on the Sea of Galilee for dinner and sharing about our experiences of the day."
Father O'Neill has created several social media posts recapping each day's events with photos. Follow their travels on Facebook by clicking here.
Photo courtesy of Father John O'Neill
Photos courtesy of Dr. Edward Sri
Catholic Schools Office to Develop Plan for Education Inclusivity, Mental Health and More
BROKEN ARROW — The Diocese of Tulsa and Eastern Oklahoma’s Catholic Schools Office is collaborating with the Learning Resource Network (LRN) to develop a strategic plan aimed at enhancing educational inclusivity, mental health awareness, and overall curriculum quality at nine diocesan elementary schools, San Miguel School, and Bishop Kelley High School.
According to Catholic Schools Superintendent David Dean, the impetus for the initiative was borne out of a growing need to address challenges faced by families with children who have learning disabilities and mental health issues.
“We are working closely with LRN to develop a plan to visit our schools and evaluate how we're doing on a number of issues and programs.” says Dean. “Initially, the focus will be on inclusion, how can we help our students with learning disabilities.”
Increasingly, Dean says he sees schools and families grappling with the issue. There are also other facets of the initiative outside of special education needs. Another is overall student mental health and identifying best practices for today’s learner.
“The second facet of the strategic plan is addressing mental health,” says Dean. “This issue affects many students of different temperaments, interests, and academic abilities. Too much ‘screen time’ is part of the problem but obviously, there are other sources of mental health issues.”
Through January and February, representatives from LRN will visit schools and classrooms to gather information and develop findings and recommendations.
“We’ll look at their summative report which will derive from conversations with principals, teachers, pastors, and other stakeholders so that we have a plan of action for the next three to five years,” says Dean. “I'm hoping by this spring, that these visits will be completed and they will begin to compile their summaries. In the summer, we can sit down and look at the results and review their recommendations. We will circle back to the schools in August and September of the upcoming school year and identify the specific initiatives and action items that we can begin to implement in our schools.”
The March issue of Eastern Oklahoma Catholic magazine will provide additional information about this important initiative.
Getty Images/Jonathan Kirn
U.S. Air Force Chaplain Father David Webb Promoted to Captain
EIELSON AFB, ALASKA — Father David Webb, a priest of the Diocese of Tulsa and Eastern Oklahoma currently serving as a military chaplain with the U.S. Air Force, was recently promoted to the rank of captain.
Father Webb was sworn into the military in 2024, and entered chaplain training at Maxwell AFB in Montgomery, Alabama, before his deployment to Eielson AFB near Fairbanks, Alaska, representing the Archdiocese for the Military Services.
Father Webb previously served as a part-time chaplain and theology teacher at Tulsa's Bishop Kelley High School as well as an associate pastor at Parish of Christ the King. He later served as a full-time Chaplain at the St. Philip Neri Catholic Newman Center at the University of Tulsa.
The Archdiocese for the Military Services provides for the pastoral care of the 1.8 million Catholics serving in the United States Armed Forces, their family members, governmental personnel serving abroad, VA patients, and Military Academy students.
Staff Apologist Dr. Karlo Broussard, Launches New Video Channel with Catholic Answers
BROKEN ARROW — Staff Apologist for the Diocese of Tulsa and Eastern Oklahoma Dr. Karlo Broussard has recently launched a new YouTube channel.
In partnership with Catholic Answers, the new channel, Dr. Karlo, is a video podcast designed to equip Catholics with both intellectual and spiritual tools to confidently defend and explain the beauty and truth of the Catholic Faith. Each episode seeks to resolve common misconceptions, challenging questions, and objections against Catholicism, providing thoughtful, charitable responses rooted in scripture, theology, and philosophy.
An introductory video for the new channel can be viewed by clicking here. A new video, typically 15-20 minutes in length, are expected to post each week.
Dr. Broussard, DPhil, is a native of Southern Louisiana. In his early twenties, he gave up a promising musical career as a Cajun accordionist to embrace God’s call to win souls for Christ through speaking and apologetics. With a doctorate in philosophy, undergraduate and graduate degrees in theology from Catholic Distance University and the Augustine Institute, and a Master's degree in Philosophy from Holy Apostles Seminary and College, he works as a full-time apologist and speaker for Catholic Answers, and as a member of the chancery evangelization team at the Diocese of Tulsa and Eastern Oklahoma.
Dr. Broussard gives talks on various topics of the Catholic Faith ranging from Mary, Purgatory, the Pope, Atheism, Life After Death, and the historicity and Divinity of Jesus. He has experience in radio and television broadcasting, conference speaking, parish missions, biblical seminars, audio publications, and magazine articles.
For a schedule of Dr. Broussard's upcoming speaking engagements within the Diocese of Tulsa, click here.
GUEST COLUMN:
The Lasting Gifts of Catholic Education
BY SHERI WOHLFERT/via FAITH Catholic
I remember my grandma telling me when our oldest son was born that our greatest responsibility was to raise him to be holy and ask for the grace to help him get to heaven. Sending our kids to Catholic schools was one of the things we did to set him on a path toward holiness. Catholic Schools Week is in January each year, so it’s the perfect time to highlight some of the fruits of Catholic education in our journey to raise saints.
The Center
Fostering a relationship with Jesus and learning to live the Gospel is at the center of everything! As students grow in their knowledge of Jesus, they learn to imitate his actions and put his teachings into practice. Amid conflict, discipline, relationships and challenges, students are taught to seek the love and truth of Jesus to form behavior, attitudes and actions.
Two Big Ones
Sacraments and prayer are intertwined in daily life. Attending Mass and receiving the Eucharist often is what many saints call the “recipe for heaven,” and many Catholic school students have this opportunity each week. When sacraments are added to intentional prayer pauses throughout the day, students are able to form habits of prayerfulness and faithfulness that will serve them well throughout their lives.
The Missing Link
The messages our culture sends aren’t always designed to help us grow in holiness, but a Catholic education steeped in the virtues is the antidote to those mixed messages. The Gospel lays out the virtues and Catholic classrooms bring them to life. Learning discussions, activities and accountability for living the virtues are the foundations for great discipleship. An early emphasis on honesty, humility, generosity, temperance and patience, to list a few, can change lives. Faith instead of fear, humility instead of boasting, and sharing and contentment instead of greed are Gospel-based swaps that make saints.
Community
Being a part of a Catholic school, students learn they’re part of the Body of Christ. As St. Paul reminds us, every part of the Body has different gifts (see 1 Cor 12:4-11). Catholic school classrooms are beautiful places to celebrate all the ways God has created us differently and perfectly, and that despite our differences, we’re all one in the Lord. Rooted in this sense of connectedness to all the other members of the Body, Catholic schools form students to help those who are suffering through outreach and service, drawing students into solidarity with the broader community beyond the walls of their school.
Lasting Gifts
Words such as mercy, grace and forgiveness are spoken and practiced daily. Students are given the gift of truth – God’s truth rooted in Scripture. Students are taught to find their value and their motivation by turning to their Creator, not the world. And the greatest gift of all, in a world that treasures busyness and independence, students in a Catholic school classroom are taught to pause with the Lord to be still and to know he invites us to be dependent on him for everything we need.
Sheri Wohlfert is a Catholic wife, mom, grandma, speaker and writer. Catch her blog at www.joyfulwords.org.
Bishop David Konderla and Catholic Schools Superintendent David Dean, center, are pictured with the Diocese of Tulsa and Eastern Oklahoma's 2025-26 Catholic Schools Teachers of the Year.
From the Editor...
I trust we have all endured "Snowpocalypse 2026," (aka Winter Storm Fern) in good spirits, if not suffering from a touch of cabin fever. But the snow will melt and we can now begin returning to our normal routines and attending Mass!
As noted above, Sunday kicked off the annual celebration of Catholic Schools Week here in the Diocese and around the nation. Our Social Media Manager Renata Copsey has prepared a series of daily posts briefly profiling each of our diocesan Catholic schools. Check it out here as the week progresses.
That's it for now. As we return to school and work, may we all have a safe, productive, and blessed week. Thanks for reading!
Chris Rush
Editor
"Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things" — Philippians 4:8
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