Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Catholic Mission

17 families were able to build this mission and we thank each and every one of you who have faith in us. Especially to God for sending us a good Shepard to always lead us!

Since 2001 families gathered in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area and requested for a liturgy to be celebrated in our Maronite tradition. In 2007, a trip was made to St. Louis to ask for the blessings of our bishop Robert Shaheen in order to establish a Maronite Mission in Oklahoma City. August of 2007, Bishop Robert Shaheen appointed father Elias Abi-Sarkis, Pastor of St Therese of Little Flower from Tulsa, Oklahoma to oversee this mission.

The first liturgy was celebrated in the fall of 2007 at St. Mark’s The Evangelist Catholic Church in Norman, Oklahoma and 30 people came to attend the mass.

In early 2008 a new leader from Dallas was assigned to our mission, Father Assad El-Bacha of Our Lady of Lebanon, Lewisville TX. He assisted us with accelerating the process of establishing a mission and made the commitment to celebrate mass once a month with us at the chapel of St. Mark’s The Evangelist in Norman, Oklahoma. After collections from the 1st mass we were able to establish our first bank account “Mission Community of Oklahoma City.” Word started to spread and attendance grew over time.

The Lebanese Missionary priest did not think a church was feasible with such a small community. But this made the church parishioners even more determined to reach their goal. In 2008 a pledge was made to the church in the amount of $100,000.

Father Boyer of St. Mark’s gave unconditional access to the Chapel for monthly services.

In late 2008 another significant donation was made in the amount of $200,000 by Mr. and Mrs. Elias Antoun and Gina Daaboul. This generous donation lead us to our first building purchase that soon became our new home.

We moved in right away and started remodeling bathrooms, expanding our hall, replacing carpets, painting, building the rectory and altar, all in the name for God’s home. After the dust settled an 8000 ft2 property was owned by the parishioners of Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Catholic Mission of Oklahoma City.

We draw closer to each other every time we celebrate mass at our new location and cannot say thank you enough to all of the members and supporters of this mission.