(LifeSiteNews) — A petition to open the cause for canonization of an American teen who died stopping a school shooter has officially been submitted.

STEM School Highlands Ranch student Kendrick Castillo died on May 7, 2019, after he charged a school shooter just weeks before his high school graduation so his classmates could escape.

St. Mark Parish in Highlands Ranch submitted a petition to open the cause of canonization, led by two priests.

“I am very grateful for the time and effort that Father Gregory Bierbaum and Father Patrick DiLoreto of St. Mark Parish in Highlands Ranch have spent gathering evidence and conducting interviews to prepare for a petition to open the cause for canonization of Kendrick Castillo,” Colorado Springs Bishop James Golka stated, according to WKBN. “Although I have just begun to review the information submitted, it seems clear that Kendrick was an exceptional young man.”

It is important to note that canonization is not guaranteed and the faithful should be careful about anticipating a particular outcome. Still, the faithful are free to look to the deceased as examples of virtue.

Kendrick’s father, John, recently provided more information on 710 KNUS, a Colorado conservative radio station.

He said he and his wife had been put in touch with Frs. Bierbaum and DiLoreto. The priests “felt compelled to open the cause for canonization” for his son, which he called “overwhelming.” According to Castillo, he “never met” the two priests before they started the petition.

Kendrick’s parents were “surprised” by the idea.

As John Castillo told radio host Jeff Hunt, there are five steps to the process. It can be a long process, taking centuries.

The process is in the “infant stages,” Castillo said. He said he and his wife Maria are “humbled” by the petition.

Hunt, the radio host, said Kendrick is a “hero” for Highlands Ranch and “this nation.”

Holding back tears, Hunt asked John Castillo how he felt when he received the call that the petition was being submitted.

“It was just a rash of emotion. This is something so different,” Castillo said. “Kendrick has been rightfully honored as a hero.”

Kendrick was “deeply involved” in his faith “his whole life.”

“He was very holy and he walked that in his life,” his dad said.

Hunt and Castillo also discussed other Americans who are either saints or on some part of the process of canonization. (A website called American Saints and Causes also provides more information).

Kendrick’s dad provided more information on family life with his son. “We embraced our faith and just lived together as a family,” he said.

His son had an interest in joining the Knights of Columbus. At the group’s annual convention after the shooting, the group posthumously inducted him as a member.

He said he hopes kids remember that “God is the ultimate thing that we live for.”

“I hope that Kendrick is a virtuous example of what that is,” he said. “That’s what our world needs today.”

‘He was everything to us’

Soon after the shooting, John Castillo told the press that his son “was everything to us.” Kendrick was an only child.

“It doesn’t surprise me,” Castillo told the Denver Post about his son’s decision. “He cared enough about people that he would do something like that, even though it’s against my better judgment. I wish he had gone and hid, but that’s not his character. His character is about protecting people, helping people.”

“I know that because of what he did, others are alive,” John Castillo told CNN. “(A)nd I thank God for that. I love him. And he is a hero, and he always will be. He just loved people that much.”

In 2017, Pope Francis created a new path to canonization called “offer of life.” Before that, the two paths were martyrdom or heroic virtue.

“Worthy of special consideration and honor are those Christians who, following more than closely the footsteps and teachings of the Lord Jesus, have voluntarily and freely offered their life for others and persevered with this determination unto death,” the pope wrote in an apostolic letter.

“Certainly the heroic offering of life, inspired and sustained by charity, expresses a true, complete and exemplary imitation of Christ, and thus is deserving of that admiration that the community of faithful customarily reserves to those who have voluntarily accepted the martyrdom of blood or have exercised Christian virtues to a heroic degree,” the late pope wrote in Maiorem hac dilectionem.