MONTICELLO — In a spring filled with “firsts” at St. Mark Church, the June 22 Mass was one of the most emotional. It was during that Sunday celebration that Bishop Anthony B. Taylor dedicated his first church as bishop of the Diocese of Little Rock.
“Last week we had our first baptism,” said pastor Father Phillip Reaves. “This week we’re hosting Bishop Taylor’s first church dedication and our first wedding will be in August.”
Even the pastor is a first. Father Reaves is the first diocesan priest to lead the parish. Two years ago, the Glenmary Home Missioners, who founded St. Mark, turned over the parish and its building project to the diocese.
In only 20 years St. Mark has grown from a small mission parish unable to support itself in the rural southeastern community of Monticello to a robust congregation capable of filling a new 350-seat church.
“I knew I’d be coming to Monticello when I was up for re-assignment,” Father Reaves said. “I was the only priest available who spoke Spanish. What I didn’t bargain for was building a church.”
After Bishop Taylor ceremonially accepted the key to the church from parish council president Scott Kuttenkuler at the start of the 9:30 a.m. Mass, he threw open the doors to a soaring circular space with large, light-filled windows and a crucifix suspended above a raised altar near the center of the sanctuary.
“The height of the ceiling, the huge beams — it just takes your breath away,” said Desiree Thornhill, parish cantor and soloist. “The acoustics are very good. We don’t even need the mics for sound to carry.”
Plans were already approved for the church building and fundraising was well under way as part of a 10-year building project when Father Reaves arrived in June 2006.
In 1988 former pastor, Father Leo Schloemer, GMH, oversaw construction on the parish’s first worship space, a small multi-purpose building, through the support of the Glenmarys.
Even though the space had become cramped, the parish decided to build an education wing before tackling a new church. It was completed in 1998.
By May 2002, the education wing was paid off and the building committee was named the next month. Within a year, preliminary sketches were ready from an architectural firm.
According to parish council minutes, some doubts arose about the size of the proposed church in October 2003 and the congregation was asked to weigh in on questions about whether the proposed sanctuary was too large or if the parish would continue to grow. With some modifications to the plan, including a new center aisle, a roofed walkway to the existing building and plans to remodel part of the old sanctuary into a chapel, the first pledge drive started on Nov. 25. Seventy-eight families pledged $250,000 with the first installment due immediately.
With an estimated cost of $900,000 with more than $300,000 in a savings account, the parish asked the architects to revise the plans again, eliminating about 800 square feet of interior space and re-siting the church to preserve an existing paved parking lot.
Fundraising projects included a parish-produced CD called “The Mission Voices of St. Mark Catholic Church,” a cookbook (followed by a second edition), an auction, raffle and several rummage sales.
Cash donations came from former parishioners, friends and organizations across the U.S. Plans were to begin construction in 2005, when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast and Monticello filled with New Orleans residents displaced by the storm, and the cost of building materials skyrocketed.
When ground was finally broken for the new church Jan. 18, 2007, construction estimates were around $1 million.
“It looks like we may have paid $1.1 million for everything, but there are still several items that the contractor needs to finish in the new chapel,” he said. “However, the church looks great and everyone seems happy with it.”
Every seat was filled for the dedication Mass and folding chairs were brought in to the amusement of the congregation.
“I thought we were done with folding chairs,” said Mistye Saffold, a member of the Parish Life Committee,” but here we are after just a month in the new church needing extra seats.”
Father Reaves said that the new church is a hot topic of conversation.
“It’s not just our parishioners, and it’s not just in Monticello. Everywhere I go in the area I hear people say what a beautiful building this is.”
During the dedication Mass, the Scriptures were proclaimed in three languages. Despite being a rural parish, there are Spanish- and Tagalog- (informal form of Filipino) speakers in the congregation, so Dante Labro proclaimed the first reading in Tagalog and Father Reaves the Gospel in Spanish.
During Bishop Taylor’s homily, given first in English and then in Spanish, he reminded those gathered that the consecration of the altar and the blessing of the tabernacle make the church a sacred space rather than simply a gathering place.
Bishop Taylor deposited a relic of St. Mary Margaret Alacoque in the altar. This saint, a member of the Visitation order, died in 1690 after a life of austerity and self-sacrifice. She is best known for instituting First Friday devotions and her revelations directly from Christ.
After Mass, Bishop Taylor, Father Reaves and Father Schloemer posed for photographs with the congregations of St Mark, and its missions of St. Luke Church in Warren and Holy Child of Jesus Church in Dumas.
