Parish and Diocesan News

10TH ANNIVERSARY: Our Lady of Fatima Church in Benton will host its 10th anniversary of perpetual Eucharistic adoration and a celebration for the Year for Priests March 7-11. On Monday, March 8 at 6:30 p.m. Father Matt Garrison, rector of the Cathedral of St. Andrew in Little Rock, will give a witness talk on Eucharistic adoration and his priesthood. On Tuesday, March 9 at 6:30 p.m. a "priest rosary" will be prayed and every priest in the diocese will be mentioned and prayed for. On Wednesday, March 10 at 6:30 p.m. a Mass followed by witness talks, holy hour and Benediction will be held. On March 11 at 6 p.m. Bishop Anthony B. Taylor will celebrate Mass. A reception and light meal will follow in the parish hall. Childcare will be available each night. Contact the church office at (501) 315-5186 for more information.

Celebrity game to raise money for Drake family: "Miracles for Mary," a benefit for the family of Mary Drake, will begin at 5:30 p.m., Thursday, March 11 in the Jack Stephens Center at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. The evening will feature a celebrity basketball game at 7:30 p.m. and silent auction. The Mount St. Mary Academy Dad's Club will be selling hamburgers and hot dogs. All proceeds will benefit the Drake family. Mary Drake, a junior at Mount St. Mary Academy and member of Christ the King Church in Little Rock, was involved in a head-on collision Nov. 22 and is currently being treated at Arkansas Children's Hospital. For more of Drake's story, visit www.caringbridge.org/visit/marydrake. Celebrity players will include Joe Kleine, Corliss Williamson, Scotty Thurman, Clint Stoerner and Anthony Lucas, as well as local television and radio personalities. Tickets for the auction/game are $10 a person. To buy tickets, call (501) 247-6831 or e-mail Ann Morris at amorris901@yahoo.com.

Fish fry: The Men's Club at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in North Little Rock (Marche) will host a fish fry from 5-8 p.m., Friday, March 12. The meal will include drinks and dessert. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children 11 and younger. Carry-outs are available.

St. Patrick's Day: The annual St. Patrick's Day Dinner and Bingo will be held Saturday, March 13 at St. Patrick Church in North Little Rock. The dinner will also coincide with the parish's 130th anniversary of its founding. The dinner is $10 for adults, $5 for children 5 to 12 years old and free for young children. For ticket information, call Renee Mann at (501) 758-5148 or Shannon Stormes at (501) 791-0361.

Spring Carnival to have games, music, auctions: Subiaco Academy will hold its Spring Carnival from 4-10 p.m., Saturday, March 13 in the Academy Field House. The carnival will feature bingo, inflatable games, activities for the entire family, musical entertainment, raffle and silent and live auctions. The food court will serve sausage with all the trimmings, hamburgers, pizza and a variety of snack food. Local wineries will provide wine tasting. For more information or to buy raffle tickets, call (479) 934-1001 or visit www.subi.org.

Religious educators to gather March 13: The 32nd annual Catechetical Study Day will be held from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, March 13 at Catholic High School in Little Rock. The event is sponsored by the Diocese of Little Rock and is open to clergy and parish and school religious educators. The keynote speeches at 10 a.m. will be delivered in English by Rich Curran and in Spanish by Victor Valenzuela. The cost is $25 a person, which includes lunch. For more information, call the Religious Education and Christian Initiation Office at (501) 664-0340.

Spaghetti dinner: The Knights of Columbus at St. Boniface Church in New Dixie will host a spaghetti and sausage dinner from 4-7:30 p.m., Saturday, March 13 in the parish hall. Tickets are $8 for adults, $4 for children and free for children 5 and younger.

Irish Mass: An Irish Mass will be held at 9 a.m., Sunday, March 14 at St. Edward Church in Little Rock. Msgr. John O'Donnell will be the celebrant. Musicians from the Arkansas Celtic Music Society and dancers from the McCaffety and O'Donovan schools of Irish dance will perform. Irish soda bread and scones will be served following Mass.

Day of recollection: The Catholic Women's Union will host a day of recollection Wednesday, March 17 at Subiaco Abbey in Subiaco. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. The cost for the day is $20 a person. To make a reservation, call the Coury House at (479) 934-4411 by March 15. All women are welcome.

Mission: A Lenten mission will be held at St. John Church in Russellville at 7 p.m., Sunday, March 14 through Wednesday, March 17. The speaker will be Father Joseph Butz, CSsR, a Redemptorist priest with the Liguori Mission House. Services will last approximately 75 minutes. A reception and fellowship in the parish hall will follow. For more information, call (479) 967-3699.

Appointments: Bishop Anthony B. Taylor announced the following pastoral appointments.
Effective March 12:
Rev. Erik Pohlmeier has been relieved as pastor of St. John the Baptist Church and St. Mary Church in Hot Springs and has been appointed pastor of Our Lady of the Holy Souls Parish in Little Rock.
Effective March 15:
Father Udo Ogbuji has been appointed chaplain to the Olivetan Benedictine sisters at Holy Angels Convent in Jonesboro. Father Richard Cleary, OSB, will be returning to his monastery at Conception, Mo.

Spelling bee: Two students from St. Joseph School in Fayetteville participated in the Washington County Spelling Bee at Woodland Junior High Jan. 19 against 38 other students. Jacob Elser, a seventh grader, placed second and Shiloh Bemis, a fifth grader, placed third. The two students were the winners of the school spelling bee Jan. 6.

Fayetteville writer to be honored at Subiaco: Writer, playwright and journalist Padma Viswanathan will receive the eighth Subiaco Award for Literary Merit during the school's Literary Symposium Thursday, March 18. Viswanathan will deliver a lecture at 1 p.m. in the Walter Auditorium of the Performing Arts Center on the Subiaco Academy campus. The lecture is free and open to the public. Viswanathan's novel, "The Toss of a Lemon," has been published in six countries. She currently lives in Fayetteville with her husband, poet and translator Geoffrey Brock, and their two children. She is at work on a second novel and also teaches and gives readings and lectures around the country.

Fish fry: The Knights of Columbus at St. Mary Church in St. Vincent will host a fish fry from 5-8 p.m., Friday, March 19 in the parish hall. The meal will include french fries, hushpuppies, cole slaw and dessert. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for children 5-12 years old and free for children 4 and younger. Take-outs are available. Stations of the Cross will be prayed at 7 p.m.

Sister Macrina to lead contemplative retreat: Sister Macrina Wiederkehr, OSB, will present a contemplative retreat March 19-21 at St. Scholastica Retreat Center in Fort Smith called "Heart of the Hunter." Sister Macrina is a well-known writer and retreat director who lives at St. Scholastica. The cost is $150 with a $35 deposit. For more information or to register, call (479) 783-1135 or visit www.stscho.org.

Sister Bernie's art show to be held at high school: Artwork by Sister Bernardine Konkler-Redwine, RSM, will be on display at an art show and sale March 13-19 at Mount St. Mary Academy in Little Rock. The theme is "Beauty of God's Creation." Her work will be on display in the school foyer, and open for visitors between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. Featured will be works in acrylic, oil, watercolor, and pastel. Proceeds from sales will benefit Mount St. Mary Academy.

St. Patrick's Day: Knights of Columbus Council 9396 at Our Lady of Fatima Church in Benton is hosting a St. Patrick's Day dinner at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, March 20. The menu will be corned beef, Irish soda bread, mashed potatoes, cabbage, cole slaw, drinks and a dessert. Beer will also be sold by the pitcher and by the glass. Admission for children 2 and younger is free. Pre-sale prices are $8 for those 11 years old and older and $5 for children 3-10 years old. The maximum for a family is $30. Prices at the door are $10 for those 11 years old and older and $8 for children 3-10 years old. The maximum for a family is $40. To order tickets, contact Steve Finnegan at (501)-765-3045.

Spring Dinner: St. Joseph Church in Center Ridge will celebrate St. Joseph's feast day with a Spring Dinner from 3:30-7 p.m., Saturday, March 20. Take-outs are available at 4 p.m. All-you-can-eat homemade Italian sausage and spaghetti will be served. Mass will be celebrated at 4 p.m. Tickets are $15 for adults, $6 for children and free for children 3 and younger.

Jonesboro apartments for seniors open now: St. Bernards Senior Services Division hosted a formal grand opening and ribbon cutting event recently to dedicate Benedictine Manor, a new 40-unit apartment complex for low-income senior residents in Jonesboro. Designed especially for those 62 years of age or older who meet the income guidelines, Benedictine Manor is located in the 300 block of Bridge Street. Each of two adjacent buildings has 20 one-bedroom apartments, office space and a number of common areas. Each 480-squre-foot apartment has a living/dining room, a small kitchen, a bedroom and a bathroom, with some of the apartments designed as handicap-accessible units. Work began on Benedictine Manor about four years ago, but planning for the facility goes back much farther than that, with the St. Bernards Healthcare governing board looking to establish housing options for senior residents. The first project was the construction of St. Bernards Village, a retirement community with condominium-style cottage homes, independent living apartments and assisted living apartments. For more information, contact the site manager at Benedictine Manor at (870) 336-4300.

Veterans: Betsy Beacham, a social studies teacher at St. Joseph School in Conway, received the Teacher of the Year award Feb. 21 from the Jesse W. Grisham Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2259. She received the award for the frequent Veterans Day programs she organized in the school over the past decade. Also, eighth graders Elizabeth Hambuchen and Jessica Buss were honored for participating in the VFW "Patriot's Pen" essay competition. Hambuchen finished second and received a $150 savings bond. Buss came in third place and received a $75 savings bond.

Appointment: Bishop Anthony B. Taylor announced the following pastoral appointment.
Effective March 11:
Rev. Joseph Ejimofor has been appointed pastor of Our Lady of Fatima Church, Benton

Donations accepted for Junktique sale: Catholic High School's annual Junktique sale will be held Saturday, March 27 in the school gymnasiums in Little Rock. The doors open at 8 a.m. Donations of garage-sale items can be delivered to the school from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday, March 22 to Thursday, March 25. Donations of large items can be picked up. To schedule a pick up or to volunteer, contact Joan Finnegan at (501) 664-3939 or jfinne@lrchs.org.

Parishioners are not obligated to shake hands: Bishop Anthony B. Taylor released a statement Sept. 22 on the H1N1 flu virus. "There has been much reported and written about the H1N1 virus (swine flu)," he wrote. "This virus is different from the seasonal flu experienced by thousands each year, but the generally accepted precautions are the same: hand washing, covering one's mouth and nose when sneezing or coughing, staying home if one is sick. People should already be doing these things throughout the year. I do not anticipate the need for large scale liturgical adaptations to practices, such as the distribution of the holy Eucharist under both species, the exchange of the sign of peace or the availability of holy water in the holy water font. It is already our practice that those who feel ill should forego receiving the Precious Blood and fearful individuals are in any event not obligated to receive from the cup, shake hands or touch the holy water." A list of helpful links is available on the diocese's Web site, www.dolr.org.

Rice bowl donations to support CRS, diocese: Parishioners can support the work of Catholic Relief Services by using the cardboard "bowl" distributed through Operation Rice Bowl this Lent. Last year millions of dollars was raised by 14,000 parishes and schools across the United States. Over the past 35 years, $191 million has been collected through Operation Rice Bowl to support CRS' development in 100 countries and in the United States. Participants put money they would have spent on a large meal into their "rice bowls" in exchange for eating an inexpensive meatless meal each week. At the end of Lent, the rice bowls are collected and the money raised goes to help people suffering from poverty and hunger around the world. Seventy-five percent of the money is used to fund CRS projects in 40 countries around the world. The remaining 25 percent stays in U.S. dioceses to support their programs. In 2009, parishes and schools in the Diocese of Little Rock raised a total of $37,530.30. This was nearly $8,000 more than in the previous year. The 25 percent that stayed in the diocese, which equaled $9,382.58, went to support the Parish Emergency Assistance program. For more information about ORB, visit http://orb.crs.org or http://orb.crs.org/espanol. In the Diocese of Little Rock, call Rebecca Spencer with Catholic Charities of Arkansas at (501) 664-0340, ext. 355.

Lenten programs: During Lent, special programs are being presented each Wednesday at Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Hot Springs Village. A variety of programs are planned including guest speakers, video presentations and special religious activities and each program is followed by a light supper and evening prayers. On Feb. 17, the program was a video on the life of St. Padre Pio. Last year, a group from the parish visited the town in Portugal where St. Pio lived and brought back a video on his life. On Feb. 24, Sister Mary Lou Stubbs, DC, director of Catholic Charities of Arkansas, was the featured speaker. In her talk, Sister Mary Lou emphasized the two forces of social action being works of charity and works of justice. Last year Sacred Heart Parish formed a disaster relief team that is in position to assist a local community to react to a natural disaster.

'Way of Cross' returns to Hot Springs gallery: An art exhibit, "Way of the Cross: The Passion of the Christ in Art," by Randall M. Good will return to Blue Moon Gallery in Hot Springs through April 17. The artist will be present during the Gallery Walk from 5-9 p.m. April 2. The exhibit is the culmination of seven years of planning and painting the 14 Stations of the Cross as a commission in oils for a church memorial. The artwork has been exhibited in New York City and Little Rock. Groups are welcome. The signed exhibit booklet will be available for sale. Visit www.bluemoonartgallery.com or call (501) 318-2787 for more information.

What's happening in your parish?: Short articles and photographs about parish and school events and accomplishments are published weekly in Arkansas Catholic. Click here to send information about your events and accomplishments through our "Contact Us" page.

Protecting children and young people: The Diocese of Little Rock is committed to protecting children and young people. If you are aware of abuse or have been abused by clerics, Church volunteers or Church workers, please contact the Diocese of Little Rock at (501) 664-0340, ext. 366, and the State of Arkansas Hotline for Crimes against Children at (800) 482-5964. For pastoral assistance, please contact the victim assistance coordinator for the Diocese of Little Rock, Drs. George and Sherry Simon, at (501) 766-6001.
Diocesan Offices
2500 N. Tyler St.
Little Rock, AR 72207

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