New Memoir Chronicles Robert J. LaFortune's Life of Service

  TULSA — A recently released biography, Taking Care: The Good Life of Robert J. LaFortune, details the life of the late Tulsa civic leader, philanthropist, and former Tulsa mayor. Told in his own words and co-authored with his grandson and former Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum, the memoir highlights LaFortune's legacy of public service and community building in his beloved hometown.
  "Over a decade ago, I recorded a series of interviews with my grandad which we are now publishing as his memoir," said Bynum upon the book's release. "One of the things that stands out in his recollections is the constellation of fascinating people that converged in the energy capital of the world during his lifetime — and with whom he interacted: American presidents, murderous gangsters, the greatest entrepreneurs of their day, and servants of faith who owned nothing."
  Robert "Bob" LaFortune shaped the city's modern infrastructure and community culture. He served 14 years in Tulsa city government including three years as a city commissioner and eight years as the 31st Mayor of Tulsa from 1970 - 1978. During his time in office, he helped secure funding for the Tulsa Performing Arts Center and was highly instrumental in guiding the development of the city's freeway systems.
  In his introduction, Bynum writes, "This is a book about the best man I ever knew. He dedicated his life to service, and when he died at the age of 97 it could fairly be said that no Tulsan had contributed more to the civic life of the city over a greater period of time than he did."
  LaFortune was a devout Catholic whose lifelong faith profoundly shaped his values and civic leadership. Baptized at the Parish of Christ the King less than a month after his birth in 1927, he remained a devoted and active parishioner there for the rest of his life. He attended Marquette School and graduated from Cascia Hall Preparatory School in 1944. He often credited his education by the Augustinian friars at Cascia Hall with instilling in him a strict commitment to community service and philanthropy.
  At one time or another, LaFortune served as board chairman or president of St. John Health System, Tulsa Area United Way, Tulsa Library Trust, Tulsa Performing Arts Center Trust, Philbrook Museum, Boy Scouts of America, the Oklahoma Ethics Commission, and Cascia Hall Preparatory School. LaFortune family philanthropy is also responsible for the expansive LaFortune Park in south Tulsa. He was inducted into both the Oklahoma Hall of Fame and Tulsa Hall of Fame. LaFortune passed away in 2024.
  The hardcover book is published by Oklahoma Hall of Fame Publishing and contains several photos taken throughout LaFortune's life. To learn more, click here.

Historic North Tulsa Parish Prepares to Celebrate Centennial

  TULSA — Parishioners of Saint Monica Catholic Church in North Tulsa are preparing to celebrate its Centennial the weekend of October 17-18. Events include a Raffle, a Community Dine Out Night, and a Centennial Banquet.
  The parish was established in Tulsa's African-American community in the wake of the deadly race massacre of 1921. From the Church's online history:
  "Bishop Francis Clement Kelley was the second Bishop appointed to the State of Oklahoma June 1924. Bishop Kelley was Canadian and during his tenure, he would set in motion the establishment of Catholic Churches for African Americans in segregated Oklahoma. One would be built in North Tulsa where the community was continuing to rebuild their homes and businesses destroyed during the Race Massacre in 1921.
  "In 1925, Bishop Kelley directed two priests from Holy Family Cathedral to begin work in the black community of Tulsa. Father James McNamee and Father James Rooney were priests serving Holy Family. Both men would visit the community to evaluate the plight of the black community.
  "In 1920 there had been an oil boom in Oklahoma that saw the migration of 'African-American Catholics from southern Louisiana with French surnames (who) flocked to the area' for farmland or (to) work the oil fields, coal, lead, and zinc mines. African-American Catholics drifted away from the faith when they moved to Oklahoma where there were no Catholic churches for them.
  "On February 28, 1926 Father Rooney met with twenty-five Catholics at Holy Family rectory who were eager to spread the gospel among the blacks of North Tulsa. A mission society was formed with Father Rooney as spiritual director. The members went through training before starting to evangelize. They rang doorbells and began talking about the Catholic faith to anyone who would listen. Catechism classes were started for the future converts to the faith.
  "A delegation from the community called on Bishop Kelley to establish a church and school. Father Rooney was appointed the first pastor, and Mass was held in various buildings in the Greenwood area."
  The parish is led today by Father Celestine Obidiegwu, who also pastors St. Augustine Catholic Church in North Tulsa. For more about the history of St. Monica, click here. Future updates about the Centennial celebration will be made available on the St. Monica Facebook page.

Guest Column: 

America's Catholic Patriots

BY BRONWEN MCSHEA/We Hold These Truths via USCCB

  When it comes to our Church’s history, we Catholics tend to zero in quickly on canonized saints and those we hope will be canonized. This is understandable, given the importance our faith places on special exemplars of holiness and the supernatural virtues. Often, though, we highlight well-known saints to the exclusion of the much larger tapestry of Catholic experiences and achievements in which our most celebrated, canonized figures’ lives are interwoven.
  This is true, for example, where the Church in the United States is concerned. We American Catholics tend to lack even basic familiarity with the range of men and women among us who—while not in most cases deserving the honors of the altar—helped to make the United States both a powerful nation and one ever striving to improve itself morally and socially.  
  In this year of the nation’s 250^th birthday, let us get to know more of these Catholic patriots active in every era since the Founding.
  For instance, two of note who fought in the American Revolution were Commodore John Barry and Colonel John Fitzgerald. Both were born in Ireland and were devout in the faith. Barry, alongside John Paul Jones, was one of the fathers of the American Navy. Indeed, after fighting bravely in multiple sea and land engagements in the Revolution, President George Washington put him in charge of the re-established U.S. Navy, giving him the branch’s very first commission.  
  Fitzgerald, for his part, joined a patriot militia in Virginia in 1774 and was a loyal aide-de-camp to General Washington during the war, including during the terrible winter at Valley Forge. Wounded at the Battle of Monmouth, he later served as Mayor of Alexandria and helped found the city’s first Catholic church, the Basilica of St. Mary.
  Looking far beyond our wartime history, devout Catholics have in every era been among those serving America’s interests — in too many capacities to count. A Catholic great-grandniece of President Washington, Eugenia Washington, contributed to the nation’s memorialization of its early history by helping to found the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Daughters of the Founders and Patriots of America.
  While variously celebrating and critiquing the United States this anniversary year, let us learn and honor more of that history—to better understand who we are, more three-dimensionally, as a people that sometimes produces great saints, and to help inspire our own contributions going forward.

(Editor's Note: This article was excerpted from a column by Bronwen McShea as part of the We Hold These Truths initiative, a series exploring Catholic contributions over 250 years of American history. To read the complete column, click here.)