LINCOLN — The Chapel of Sts. Peter and Paul in Lincoln may be the state’s newest outreach, but it already seems one of the most blessed.
“It’s important to have a church here,” said Maria Elena Ortiz, one of the primary organizers. She modestly shrugs off her role, giving Jesus the credit.
“It’s him. It’s him. We are just his instruments.”
Father John Antony calls it “amazing.”
“Really the key point is that it’s such a grassroots effort,” he said. “This is not something mandated from above, but this is a need that has grown from within the community itself.”
Father Antony, pastor of St. Joseph Church in Fayetteville, said a small prayer group began meeting in Lincoln about two years ago, first in homes, even in a garage, and now in a small building just off the town square. For the past few months, he has been celebrating Mass once a month for chapel parishioners. Bishop Anthony B. Taylor visited recently and bestowed his official blessing.
“On the 29th of June, the bishop made it a chapel under the care of the pastor of St. Joseph’s (Parish in Fayetteville),” Father Antony said. He added jokingly, “I’m sure all future pastors (at St. Joseph) will be cursing me.”
Lincoln, population 2,000, is about 20 miles from both Fayetteville and Siloam Springs; both are larger communities with Catholic churches. Ortiz and her husband, Julian, moved to Lincoln about 16 years ago and are raising their four children there.
She estimates it’s a 30-minute drive to St. Mary Church in Siloam Springs, but the two-lane highway is curvy and dangerous. St. Joseph in Fayetteville is almost an hour away (the church is on the east side of the city; Lincoln is west of town) but the highway is straighter and wider so she took her children there for religious education classes.
It was at St. Joseph where she met the charismatic prayer group and found a new joy in her faith — and an inspiration to have a Catholic presence in Lincoln. She had seen too many people fall away from the Church, enticed by other churches whose members came calling.
So Ortiz did some calling of her own. She called everyone she knew, telling them, “It’s important to have a church here.” Skeptics told her, “I don’t think they’ll have a church here — maybe in Prairie Grove,” (population 4,300, about seven miles to the east).
But Ortiz was insistent. She convinced people to join her. They began with weekly prayer meetings, sometimes in an unheated building. They added Bible studies, and then monthly Mass and even provided childcare. They needed a more permanent home and found a small vacant building the owner was willing to rent.
The blessings continued: The landlord leased the building at $250 a month, $100 less than his original asking price. A Pentecostal church that meets two doors down bought new furniture and donated old pews. Decorative pillars from a quinceanera, or 15th birthday celebration, were donated to hold altar flowers. They got the altar and ambo from St. Peter Church in Pine Bluff.
Ortiz is thankful but astounded that so many details have come together.
“Everything I ask … is right there.”
Such prayer groups are in line with the Church’s own roots.
“It’s very much like the early Church,” Father Antony explained. “They didn’t have basilicas or cathedrals to celebrate Mass in. The apostles were going to the early Christians’ homes and celebrating Mass in people’s homes.”
He called the chapel a “real testament to (the parishioners’) faith. They’re willing to make all these sacrifices to make all this happen.”
Father Antony said about 20 families (about 80 people in all) have registered at the chapel.
“When I go there for Mass on Wednesdays, we take up collection to help with … costs,” he said. “Everyone who comes chips in. We even have an envelope system with a picture of St. Peter and St. Paul on front.”
The chapel designation denotes a place where Mass is celebrated during the week but not on Sunday, Father Antony explained. The next stage of development, a mission, is a place where the Blessed Sacrament is kept and Sunday Mass is celebrated. Finally, a parish is the next stage.
“Our goal is to do what the Holy Spirit leads us to, but it would be unbelievable if (Sts. Peter and Paul Chapel) became a parish,” Father Antony added.
Ortiz believes that will happen. When she first started making calls, she drew a pencil sketch of a real church and with the name Sts. Peter and Paul. She’s framed the drawing and keeps it in the chapel.
“I believe this could happen,” she said, “if we’re like Mary and obey God.”