This Colorado teen died saving others in a school shooting — is he a future saint?

(OSV News) — The bishop of Colorado Springs, Colorado, announced in late July his office would “study and discern” the “massive undertaking” of determining whether to open a sainthood cause for a teenager who was killed after he tackled the shooter during a school shooting incident six years ago in suburban Denver.

Eighteen-year-old Kendrick Castillo was the only student who died in the STEM School Highlands Ranch shooting on May 7, 2019, that left eight students injured. Because of his actions, no other students lost their lives in the shooting, according to local officials.

Two students, 16-year-old Alec McKinney and 18-year-old Devon Erickson, were convicted on dozens of charges for carrying out the shooting and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Months after Kendrick’s death, the Knights of Columbus conferred honorary membership on him and gave his parents a Caritas Medal, their second highest honor.

Two priests from St. Mark Catholic Church in Highlands Ranch submitted the petition and preliminary supporting materials for a possible sainthood cause for Kendrick to Colorado Springs Bishop James R. Golka.

“When I was assigned here and they were talking about changing the name of this street over here” in honor of the teen, explained Father Patrick DiLoreto, whose first assignment as a newly ordained priest was at St. Mark starting July 2024.

“It just was something that kept coming up on my heart, every single time I got onto Kendrick Castillo Way,” he told OSV News, adding that it was like “an invitation to talk to Father Bierbaum about this process. And when I did talk to him about it, he said that it was on his mind as well and so we took that as a sign that ‘OK, maybe the Holy Spirit does want us to pursue this.'”

Father Gregory Bierbaum, pastor at St. Mark, where Kendrick’s parents John and Maria Castillo are new parishioners, did not know the boy personally, but said he was called to minister at the shooting scene. He attended Kendrick’s funeral Mass and has followed his story for the past six years.

“And being so impressed, just moved and touched in my heart about what Kendrick had done to literally throw himself on the shooter, thereby saving however many lives, we don’t know. But … in our interviews with his parents and Father’s (DiLoreto’s) other research, Kendrick also exhibited really wonderful piety and strong Catholic faith in his life in general, even before this heroic action. He was very evangelistic,” he said.

Father Bierbaum told OSV News he learned that Kendrick would often talk to his peers about the faith.

The boy, who was days away from high school graduation and planning to study aerospace engineering, never had a photo taken in which he was not smiling, according to John Castillo in a 2023 “Fallen Hero” video honoring Kendrick Castillo at the inaugural Douglas County Heroes Gala.

In the video, John said his son, who excelled at robotics and engineering, transferred to the Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics, or STEM, charter school — on the recommendation of a teacher from his Catholic school — which was equipped with the technology and labs that his son was “to the moon” excited about.

“Kendrick took what he learned in his Catholic faith in private school and marched it right into that public charter school,” said John, a Knight of Columbus from the South West Denver Council. “Kendrick went into that school not knowing anybody, and brought his personality, his talent and his love for people” whom he easily made friends with.

The video showed footage of Kendrick’s bedroom, which included a bed draped with more than a dozen medals on colorful ribbons; satiny award ribbons hanging from the frame of a memorial photo of the smiling Kendrick, arms open wide, with the quote from John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends”; a Bible among other articles on the shelf above his bed, and several NASA labeled accessories.

According to the Kendrick Castillo memorial website of the Castillo family, a Douglas County committee is raising funds for a monument in his honor at a local park and to create a robotics scholarship in his name.

The priests submitted 80 pages of material to Bishop Golka, which included an interview with Kendrick’s parents. They said they collected enough preliminary information to classify him under three of the four means by which to become a saint. These include the new category created by the late Pope Francis of “offering of life” in which one gave up one’s life for the good of another, martyrdom, or one who displayed heroic virtue. (The fourth means is a reputation for holiness).

“It became very clear to us from John and Maria’s sharing the story of their son’s life that he was an authentically holy person,” said Father Bierbaum. “Now, that’s not Father or I making that determination officially for the church, but that was the sense that we got … even before the heroic act, he just lived a life that was so (much) one of faith and service and holiness and caring for others.”

In a December 2019 posting on the Knights of Columbus website, John Castillo called his son “a catalyst of love” whose devotion to God was “number one.” The teen, who volunteered with his father at Knights events, was planning to join the order after graduating from high school. His father said that, for Kendrick, “nothing was more important than helping someone else.”

“All of these virtuous acts that he did throughout his life, on a personal level, I am convinced, led to him … to do what he was able to do, of course, with the grace of our Lord. But yet the building up of that virtue makes responding to that grace possible. And I’m certain that allowed him to do what he did that day, that led to many lives being saved,” said Father DiLoreto.

In the July 29 statement from Bishop Golka on receiving the materials from the two priests, the prelate said “it seems clear that Kendrick was an exceptional young man.” The bishop urged “everyone” to privately seek the young man’s intercession to God, “praying especially for the youth in our diocese, that they emulate his example of fortitude and generosity.”

The two priests also encouraged private prayer for his intercession and confirmed that after their submission was made public, some of the faithful told them they had already been doing that ever since Kendrick’s death.

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