Click on a headline below to read stories from Arkansas Catholic’s special series celebrating the faith in rural Arkansas.
Parishioners keep Catholic presence alive in Sheridan
SHERIDAN — Holy Cross Church was the first Catholic church in Grant County and is now ready to expand for a third time since its dedication Feb. 20, 1949.
Early Catholic settlers paved the way for St. Matthew Church
OSCEOLA — The original wooden church no longer stands in Osceola, but the memory of its pioneer spirit still burns bright in the hearts of parishioners.
Faith, dedication are necessities for ministry at St. Cecilia
NEWPORT — Without the tender, loving care of her parishioners, St. Cecilia Church in Newport would be an empty shell.
History united with families keeps St. Raphael mission alive
PINE BLUFF — At the end of St. Raphael Road in Pine Bluff sits a small church with a stone crucifix standing witness to the history of St. Raphael Mission.
Crawfordsville parishioners restoring church to original look
CRAWFORDSVILLE — Change is in the wind at Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Crawfordsville.
Bald Knob mission looking forward to new parish hall
BALD KNOB — Parishioners think of St. Richard Church in Bald Knob as one big family, which comes together once a week to celebrate.
Delta mission continues commitment to serving poor, elderly
McGEHEE — Although small in numbers, there is activity almost every day at St. Mary Church in McGehee.
Mission in Dumas faced with changing demographics
DUMAS — Holy Child of Jesus Church in Dumas is a long way for two men who met at a pilgrimage in Mexico, to see one another again, but meet they did.
Brinkley church offers spiritual, educational opportunities
BRINKLEY –A friendly face is never far away for those attending St. John the Baptist Church in Brinkley.
’Assigned’ seats, familiar faces make church feel like home
MARIANNA — All was going well during Mass in the small parish of St. Andrew Church in Marianna, but the pastor couldn’t figure out what felt different. It took a moment before the former parish priest grasped the problem: No one sat where they usually did.
Horseshoe Lake mission first served farmers at harvest time
Built in 1964 on donated farm land, St. Mary of the Lake Church in Horseshoe Lake originally served farmers only during crop season. Now with eight to 10 full-time-resident families attending year-round, the tiny congregation swells with lake visitors during the summer.
Supporting the parish in Marked Tree is a family tradition
MARKED TREE — St. Norbert Church has always been a mission of a larger parish. It has never had many members, and its resources have always been limited. So when the original church, built in 1949, had to be torn down in 1981, Randy Shinabery feared it would not be replaced.
Catholics gathered for 26 years before building a church
McCRORY — B.J. Breckenridge, 81, like many of his fellow parishioners, has been a lifelong member of St. Mary Church. His grandparents, Ben and Mary Starman, moved to the McCrory area in 1914.
England mission began with Mass celebrated in a pool house
ENGLAND — Before a mission was established in England in 1976, Catholic families in the area went to Carlisle, Slovak, Pine Bluff or Little Rock to attend Mass.
Fordyce members bond during religious education, potlucks
FORDYCE — Jeanne Devlin gets the coffee started each Saturday around 3 p.m. when she arrives at Good Shepherd in Fordyce for the weekly Mass at 4 p.m.
Grady Catholics keep church tidy although no more Masses
GRADY — Dorothy Russell, 78, is a life-long resident of Grady and a fount of information about Blessed Sacrament Church. “Grady started out as a Catholic community,” she explained. “My grandfather was among the first parishioners. And according to my research, the first family to live in Grady was the John S. Hall family and they were Catholics.”
Parishioner can detail long history of mission in Foreman
FOREMAN — Sacred Heart Church in Foreman has a storied past, steeped in church and secular history. Most of the 30 or so people who attend 9 a.m. Sunday Mass in the brick-and-frame building on Bell Street know the history, which dates to the dawn of the Diocese of Little Rock.
Clay County church supports larger Catholic community
CORNING — The Catholic church in Corning has a certain glow. Sunlight filtering through one or more of four cruciform stained-glass windows, depending on the time of day, captures part of the intensity.
Business donated land in 1901 for first church in Hartford
Mary Radley and family have a second home in Hartford. They share it with at least 22 other households in Sebastian County, some hailing from nearby Huntington, Hackett, Mansfield and Greenwood. More are welcome, especially children.
Young church in Ashdown deals with dwindling attendance
ASHDOWN — The roughly 30 active members of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton understandably have mixed emotions about the pending appointment of a new bishop for the Church in Arkansas. (January 26, 2008)
These stories were published beginning January 26, 2008.
