I had hoped to get some pictures from the inside of this chapel, as well as interview Father Howard Remski, who runs the place, but no one ever returned my calls, or answered my messages. That’s okay, wild speculation and conjecture are ever so much more fun.
When I came across this little chapel in a suburban part of Oklahoma City called Bethany, I was immediately drawn to it. There’s no big marquee spouting some bumper sticker slogan, just a simple sign next to the door.
The chapel is very small, and in a relatively remote area. My writer’s mind kicked in and I immediately began to wonder if it might be a cover for some darker, more sinister kind of worship, practiced by only a very few…and in secret. It isn’t, of course. My second thought was that some rich Catholic family might have had it built for their own private use, along with some of their friends. This doesn’t seem to be the case either, although, sans the interview, I can’t be certain.
A little online research turned up some interesting information, though. At this website for the Oklahoma City Latin Mass Community I learned that St. Michael’s serves the needs of a small community of Roman Catholics who prefer traditional Latin Mass. I do not have permission to post any of their pictures (probably a lot like the ones I would have taken myself, had I been able to tour the place), but I’ll provide the links to them here, here, here, and here.
I would like to know when this chapel was built, and by whom. Perhaps I will update this article if and when Father Remski decides to return my calls.
The area around St. Michael’s is every bit as beautiful as the chapel. Here’s a picture of a pond on the north side of the building…
…the chapel is to your left, behind the trees, and the same pond, shot from a bench in a little grassy area about fifty yards from the front of the building…
St. Michael’s Catholic Chapel turned out to be an interesting and slightly mysterious stop on my “Out Of The Way Places” tour. If I wasn’t worried that the nearby home-owners might mistake me for an intruder and start shooting at me, I’d lurk around this place late at night with my camera. Maybe the place is haunted…
