Bishop McGuinness High School - Chi Rho Yearbook (Oklahoma City, OK)

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1 O KHO LS D911 R U1 N C P1 D VWO1-IV Al. JU FN PX O 'rs O 'H PN -A 'D One of the favor1te legends of anc1ent Greek mythology was the story of the Phoen1X The Phoemx was a great beaut1fu1 b1rd eagle l1ke 1n appearance proud resplendent and a favor1te of the gods It could soar to the untouched frlnges of the clouds and 11S vo1ce was as soft and melod1ous as s1lver bells t1nkl1ng 1n the moon l1ght But 1ts most cher1shed attr1bute was the possesslon of a m1raculous power that of 1mmortal1ty Every f1Y9 hundred years when the b1rd would feel IIS l1fe flow beg1nn1ng to ebb It would erect an altar and on the altar bu1ld 1tself a nest W1th the comple t1on of the nest the Phoemx would spark a f1re 1n 1ts center and fan If Wlth 1fS wxngs unt1l a Whlt9 hot blaze would develop Then when the 1nferno was at ltS peak the b1rd would thrust 1tself 1nto the f1re only to r1se out of the ashes w1th a new l1fe and ressurected soul to re1gn supreme for another f1we hundred years The story of Oklahoma IS much l1ke that of the Phoemx Dur mg the latter half of the n1neteenth century a proud and noble race that had 1nhab1ted and ruled the North Amemcan cont1nent s1nce the dawn of h1story had been conquered and vanqu1shed and pushed together and starved and k1l1ed out unt1l what was left of the1r dy1ng c1v111zat1on could be squeezed together onto the hard red clay of the Oklahoma terr1tory Comblned w1th th1s c1v111zat1on were the dy1ng footsteps of the Amer1can p1oneer s westward march From the ashes of both there arose a ressurected people Wlth a new l1fe and a new v1s1on and workmg together they bu1lt a state R1s1ng w1th the state growlng w1th 1t, struggl1ng w1th 1t parellel1ng 1ts advancement has been the Cathol1c Church The d1o cese of Oklahoma began 1n 1905 s1xteen years after the open1ng of the terr1tory and two years before statehood Now f1fty years later If IS along w1th the state a f1tt1ng monument to the men and women who struggled to bulld lt a Phoemx r1s1ng out of the ashes The center of the church 1n Oklahoma IS and f1tt1ngly so Okla homa C1ty Oklahoma C1ty IS the center of the state both geograph 1cally and governmentally and so lf 1S that the See of the d1ocese IS located there Thus th1s story w1ll concern 1tself only w1th the IISQ of the church 1n Oklahoma C1ty but w1th the thought that the church 1n the c1ty IS a f1tt1ng example of the church all over the d1o cese On the h1stor1cal day of Apr11 22 1889 Oklahoma C1ty was a settlement of tents 1nhab1ted by the remnants of the Amer1can p10 neer who was wa1t1ng to stake a cla1m on the last of the great Amen can land grants A scant e1ght days later Apr1l 28 1889 1n a tent on what was to become Maxn Street Mass was celebrated for the ha.. .-. ' . . . . . 1 1 1 ' 1 1 A 1 X' - . . . . . ,T 1 Y 1 1 1 ' . . . . . . 1 11 K ' - . . . . 1-v-4 1 -v-1 1 1 1 1 , ', . . ...- 1 '-- . . 'W 1 A , - ,-. ' 1 . 1 - 1 ' - . 1 1 . 1 . 1 1 1 7 1 - 1 1 1 , 1 :J 1 e 1 . . . . . - 1 1 1 1 ' 1 1 1 1

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- ,.. Zfhzs I5 our J-ferzfage Frfty years ago as the r1ch so1l of the Okla homa Terrltory was be1ng cultrvated and plant ed wrth wheat corn and cotton another type of seed was added the seed of fa1th Thls new seed took root and 1n the years to follow grew budded and blossomed forth produc1ng as 1ts frult a drocese whrch IS now celebratlng 1ts gold en annrversary As Wlth any preclous crop th1S mfant Church m Oklahoma was guarded and pro prayers the work and the perseverence of prlests srsters and an ever mcreasmg number of followers lt overcame 1ts d1ff1cult1es and brought forth a golden harvest of souls of whlch we are fortunate enough to be a part These flfty 1nsp1r1ng years behrnd us are fllled wlth courage and hardshrp They tell the story of thousands of our forefathers ln the Church who partrcrpated ln a labor of lo e for the farth they held so dear These years are our example They are our herrtage 'Ik w vv 4'4lQ 3 In -f aigw JEEP N Ti, s V S sa! Y QM 4 'Ex : vw fs!!! VY lg KV 5 ' 'pil 13333 FJEQZL T 4,53 JN K QQ ' ' ' .Lg a a 1 Qu . ' , . 1 EEN t s ' . . ' fx 454: ' ! x tected during its years of growth.. Through the .. . Q 'V , V V0 ' . I Q x A . . 6 NI W YP' fQwr 4 Cla: . . I K X v Q: T as l

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frrst tlme ln Oklahoma Crty and the crty s f1rst Cathollc par1sh St Joseph s came 1nto exrstcnce Its pastor and founder was the Rev N F Scanlon and by October of that legendary year of 1889 Father Scanlon had a frame church located on the present Slte of St Joseph s Old Cathedral Two years later rn 1891 the school was burlt and became the flrst school of any type to be burlt rn Oklahoma C1ty Frfty srx puprls most of them non Catholrc attended 1ts frrst classes lt was also IH that year that Theophlle Meerschart was rn stalled as the V1 ar Apostolrc of the lndlan terrltory to become rn later years the frrst Brshop of the drocese of Oklahoma ln 1897 Father D 1 Lanslot became pastor of thc par1sh and he was mstrumental not only rn furthermg the growth of St Jo seph s but also rn the erectlon of St Anthony s Hospltal Wlth the help of two Francxscan srsters Father Lanslot brought the hospltal to Oklahoma C1ty The three of them workrng together mg not far from the church When rmproper facrlxtres made rt 1m posslble to contlnue wrth 1t there they approached the c1ty council and begged for funds to erect a sultable structure to contam the hos prtal They were glven erght hundred dollars and wrth thrs bought the land at the present srte of Northwest Nrnth and Dewey Avenue Thls was then consldered far on the outskrrts of the rlslng lrttle c1ty The money obtalned from the crty councrl was not nearly enough to begln constructlon wlth so Father Lanslot and the two slsters agarn turned to the people Through contrrbutrons of materrals money and labor they bullt thelr hosprtal In November of 1899 If was formally dedrcated to St Anthony The orrgrnal structure con tamed only nme beds but was enlarged consrderably 1n 1904 The School of Nursrng was set up rn 1908 and rn 1911 the frrst chrld to be born at St Anthony s made IIS entrance rnto the world In the meantrme a new need had arrsen rn Oklahoma Crty Father Lanslot s lrttle wooden church was no longer large enough to accommodate hrs growmg par1sh and furthermore there was talk of a dlocese bemg formed out of the Oklahoma terrxtory wrth Okla homa C1ty as xts See Thus a Cathedral would have to be bullt Fath er Lanslot vrgorously accepted the assrgnment of burldmg the pro posed Cathedral and work was begun on the structure 1n 1902 But because of the lmmenslty of the task lack of money and srmrlar problems the burldmg went up slowly ln sprte of xt all however St Joseph s Parzsh St Anthony s Hospztal X , . . , ' ' in . ' '-1 . . , Q . i , Z , , ,Tj .C . . ' ri , . Z , . ,. 1 ' C . , . QU ' - ri , . ' . Z , . ' . . O started St. Anthony s durrng the summer of 1898 rn a frame buxld- E I I 1 1 1 1 5-1-1 Y ..s.. . . H O . . . . . 3 ' 31 - O - '-1 1 4 v ,-4 V