HELENA — In keeping with the 75th jubilee of St. Mary Church Sept. 8, Bishop Anthony B. Taylor drew from Matthew’s Gospel tracing the genealogy of Jesus Christ when he said the “family tree” of St. Mary likely included many kinds of people who forged the history of the parish long before the building itself was dedicated in 1936.
“A family tree has its good, bad, boring and bizarre,” Bishop Taylor said. The Gospel reading spanned the Old Testament period dating from the time of Abraham to Joseph and Mary and the birth of Christ. Noting that the Old Testament documents accomplishments and shortcomings of many including David and Ruth, Bishop Taylor said, it contains “something for everybody.”
Bishop Taylor said St. Mary’s legacy included many priests who worked in Helena three centuries before the founding of St. Mary in 1857. Bishop Taylor was one of the honored guests who received a complimentary copy of the publication titled “Catholicism on the Mississippi: The Helena Story”.
Several parishioners worked diligently to complete the 134-page publication that traced the history of Catholicism in Arkansas that began in 1541 with the arrival of Hernando Desoto and a host of Franciscan and Dominican priests who erected a cross at Helena Crossing to the present.
The Sept. 8 anniversary coincided with the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary for whom the church was named when the parish was founded. An overflow crowd filled the church that was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream of then-Father Thomas Martin, whose grave is located on the northeast corner of the church.
Among the other honored guests was Bishop Mathieu Madega Lebouankehan, bishop of Port-Gentil, Gabon, an African nation. Bishop Madega came at the invitation of pastor Father Benoit Mukamba, CSSp.
Parishioners also heard remarks from Bishop Taylor; Sister Maria DeAngeli, prioress of St. Scholastica Monastery at Fort Smith, who previously served at St. Mary; and Sister Anna Rita Mauck, a Sister of Charity of Nazareth who served at Sacred Heart Academy before it closed in 1968.
The daylong festivities included a tour of the church designed by famous architect Charles Eames.
Bishops join in Helena church jubilee
