New back altar melds tradition, parish history in Fort Smith

Father John Antony, pastor of Immaculate Conception Church, blessed the church’s new back altar during Mass Sunday, May 18. 

The project, which took 16 months to design and install, was envisioned as a way to bring the tabernacle, formerly located at the left altar, to the center of the church.

“We go to church to visit Jesus, and now, from every angle in the church, we’ll have a clear view of who we are visiting,” Father Antony told his parishioners. 

Turning to the First Communicants who would be receiving Jesus that day, he said this would be a day they would never forget.

St. Anne’s Chapel, located on the parish campus in a former school built by the Sisters of Mercy, was the inspiration for the new altar’s design. The front of the altar in the chapel is engraved with the Alpha and Omega, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, recalling Jesus’ words in chapter 22 of Revelation. The center panel is engraved with a lamb sitting on a book of seven seals. 

“Revelation 5 speaks of Jesus as the lamb who alone is worthy to open the seven-sealed book. And by the way, the seven seals signify the seven sacraments, which open up God’s graces to us, and Jesus alone unlocks,” Father Antony said.

Working with King Richard’s Liturgical Design, a South Carolina firm, the panels on St. Anne’s altar were replicated on the new church altar. Pink and white marble was imported from Carrara, Italy, to match the altar and the communion rails. The six niches over the candles match the niches over the stained-glass windows.

Like the rest of the Gothic-style church, which was erected in 1899, the new altar, statues and windows tell a story, which Father Antony recounted to his parishioners during his homily. He related the beliefs of Bishop Robert Barron that “a church building should basically be like a book, indeed, a catechism.” 

“In their windows and towers, vaults, naves, roses, labyrinths, altars and façades, these Gothic churches…teach the faith and focus the journey of the spirit.’ In other words, every time we walk into church, it should feel like we entered the Bible on four walls,” Bishop Barron said.

The central rear altar is flanked by two side altars, and the statues have been rearranged to fill the empty space created by the moving of the tabernacle. Statues of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph holding the child Jesus are on the right. A statue of St. Patrick, made of painted wood, is at center left to commemorate the Irish immigrants whose sacrifices financed the current church, making possible, as Father Antony said, “The Bible on four walls we enjoy today.”

The left altar, which has a background of gold stone inlay, now holds the statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, as gold signifies divinity. 

Immaculate Conception is one of five churches throughout the diocese designated as a Jubilee Church during the Jubilee of Hope through Jan. 6, 2026. The arrival of the diocese’s Jubilee Cross coincided with the altar dedication and will be displayed at all weekend Masses. A relic of the true cross of Jesus Christ is embedded in the center of the cross. If visitors touch a rosary, scapular or religious article to the relic of the true cross, it will become a third-class relic. 

On weekdays, the cross will be housed in the church office and will be available for veneration until it is moved to the next location.