FORT SMITH — Christ the King Church has been celebrating Mass in Spanish since January 2010 with pastor Father Tom Elliott, building his Spanish language skills bit by bit.
As the parish begins its second year of Hispanic ministry, they are welcoming a new associate pastor, Father Vincent Flusche, to help them build their community.
“I’ve been involved with Hispanic ministry for 20 years, ever since I was ordained in 1990,” Father Flusche said. “We started a Hispanic Mass at the first parish I was assigned to, Blessed Sacrament Church in Jonesboro. I went to Mexico in 1992 and lived with a family for several months while studying Spanish. I’ve visited Mexico on vacation several times since then.”
In addition to working as an associate pastor for Hispanic ministry at Christ the King, Father Flusche is the new full-time Catholic chaplain at St. Edward Mercy Medical Center.
“I’ll be working at St. Edward’s Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday morning, and I’ll be on call for Catholic emergencies,” he said. “I’ll say Mass at the chapel there at 11 a.m. weekdays and at McAuley Convent in Barling on Sunday afternoons.”
Father Flusche, who ministered to a Hispanic community of 300 to 500 families at his last pastoral assignment, St. Edward Church in Texarkana, said that the chaplaincy is more of a “new” challenge.
“Although I worked with the sick during my 20 years as a priest, I’ve never been a hospital chaplain before. So far, I have taken one of the four units of clinical pastoral education I’ll need for certification. As I do my clinical work at St. Edward’s, I will probably take educational classes through the Mercy Health System, perhaps at St. John’s Hospital in Springfield.”
The other hospital chaplains — two Greek Orthodox priests, two Baptist ministers and Sister Chetachi Mary Chikezie, DMMM — have been showing Father Flusche around the different units.
Currently, Christ the King offers one weekend Mass in Spanish at 7 p.m. Sunday.
“All the different parishes have their Spanish Masses at different times,” Jeannette Garcia, director of Hispanic ministry at Christ the King Church, said. “St. Boniface’s Spanish Mass is 5:30 p.m. Saturday, St. Michael’s is 8 a.m. Sunday, and Immaculate Conception’s is at noon Sunday.”
When the first Mass was celebrated at Christ the King in January 2010 about 10 people attended, said Garcia, who began working at the parish in April.
“They chose the 7 p.m. Sunday time, because Mass in Mexico is late, around 8 or 9 p.m., usually after people have had dinner and evening coffee, and the time has been very popular.”
“The church was about two-thirds full at my first Mass at Christ the King,” Father Flusche said of the Christmas Eve liturgy.
Garcia said attendance at the 7 p.m. Sunday Mass is usually between 200-250 people.
“Last January, we didn’t have a choir or altar servers, and now we have a choir, altar servers, lectors and ushers,” she said. “I’m looking forward to getting to know Father Vince, share an office and work with weddings, baptisms and Quinceñeras. I can’t wait for 2011 to make our community bigger.”
Coming back after a three-month sabbatical studying “Theology of Interreligious Dialogue” and “Psalms and Wisdom Literature” at the American College of the Immaculate Conception in Leuven, Belgium, Father Flusche said he is excited about the challenges that 2011 will bring.
