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.

Young adults at Immaculate Conception Church have begun praying the daily rosary as a small church community during Lent.

They meet virtually — some at 6 a.m. and others at 4 or 5 p.m. Ava Earnhart, a member of the young women’s weekly Bible Study, is leading the program. 

“I attended the Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis last July with a group of friends, and Daniela (Hernandez, who leads the weekly Bible study) and I both wanted to pray the rosary more often. During the congress, thousands of people prayed the rosary together each day. It was so powerful, and I felt so much peace praying it.”

At the beginning of each week, Earnhart posts a schedule listing the times the group will get together each day and the mystery that will be prayed. She posts daily Zoom invitations on her Facebook page (Ava Earnhart) and Instagram (@avaearnhartmusic). 

“Everyone is welcome to join us,” the 24-year-old said. “We have about 10 to 15 participants, both men and women. My friend’s 10-year-old sister prays with us and, when asked by her teacher what she was doing for Lent, said, ‘I’m praying the rosary with my sister’s friends every day.’”

Earnhart begins each session by opening up the meeting for intentions and says that through their collective prayer, many prayers have been answered. She gives a brief introduction to each mystery, and the group recites the Prayer to St. Michael afterward. Each session lasts approximately 20 minutes, depending on what is shared.

Earnhart, who grew up in 15 different foster homes before being adopted, has been devoted to Mary since early childhood. 

“Before I was adopted at age 9, I can only remember one foster home that treated me well, disciplining with love,” she said. “They were Catholic and introduced me to the Mass and Mary. When I didn’t have a mother, Mary really stepped in, and I met and knew Jesus in a way you couldn’t have told me would happen. I wanted to receive Jesus in the Eucharist so much, and after my little brother and I were adopted, I was able to become baptized and receive Communion.”

Through her adoptive parents’ love, she began to recover from the trauma she endured from her drug-addicted mother and the constant uprooting that came with foster care, sometimes in abusive and neglectful environments. When she was 16, she picked up her sister’s guitar and began composing and singing her own music. After graduating from high school, she received a music scholarship to the University of Arkansas–Fort Smith, planning on studying music therapy, but after the pandemic, she felt God leading her in a different direction. 

“During COVID, I was able to write a lot more songs about my foster care and heal through music,” she said. “By performing at The CALL (a foster care and adoption recruitment ministry) banquets, Catholic Campus Ministry, the Shane Bailey Foundation and IC’s 412 youth program, I was able to reach people and lead them to seek healing. Sometimes, I work informally with young people who have experienced some of the traumas I have. By sharing my story through music, I encourage them to use music, creativity and prayer to recover from their pain.”

Earnhart feels blessed to be able to support herself through gigging at different local restaurants and venues. She has recorded some of her songs at a local studio and is considering visiting Nashville to bring her healing message to a larger audience. 

“My music isn’t exclusively Christian because I met Jesus, just me and my guitar, through country music, and he spoke to me like that,” she said. 

Her Instagram and Facebook pages contain some music, but she made a conscious decision to step back from music during Lent. 

“I decided to sacrifice more of my secular music to show my faith more to others through the virtual rosary,” Earnhart said. “After Lent, I will continue the virtual rosary, maybe twice a week, but I will continue to pray my daily rosary individually.”

Father John Antony’s five-week Lenten series, “A Long Walk with Jesus,” is a guided five-mile tour of St. John Paul II’s Theology of the Body. 

The pope originally published his ideas as a 532-page book when he was cardinal of Krakow, Poland, and subsequently, as pope, delivered it in a series of 129 weekly messages. The Daughters of St. Paul published his book in 1984. The first three cycles of the book are based on the words of Christ, and the fourth and fifth cycles cover the sacrament of marriage.

“At the heart of the pope’s teaching is the human heart itself,” Father Antony told parishioners at Immaculate Conception Church in Fort Smith in a homily Feb. 9. “How so? Well, first he explains why our hearts are out of sync with Jesus’ Sacred Heart, and second, he shows us how to get our hearts back in sync with Jesus’ heart.

“That process begins with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, both when they walked with God in friendship and after the fall. A human being is unlike anything else in creation,” he said. “We are created in God’s image not just in our souls but also in our bodies. We should not see our similarity to animals, but to God, because of Jesus. This is why when Adam looked at the animals he concluded that he was alone and looked for a helpmate.”

Before the fall, Adam and Eve’s desire was oriented in a sacramental way that pointed to God’s plan, the marriage of Christ the bridegroom to his bride, the Church. After the fall, mankind’s desires were often centered on their own gratification. Jesus, speaking in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:28), warned his listeners that “Everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery in his heart.”

St. John Paul’s third cycle describes the experience of love in heaven. Before the return of Jesus and the resurrection of the body, heaven is a transitional spiritual experience, not our final state. “How do we experience human love through our bodies will be Mile 4’s topic,” Father Antony said. “C.S. Lewis describes the four kinds of love — romantic love, brotherly love, family love, and the unconditional, overflowing love of God.”

Father Antony is giving participants a prayer card with a picture of St. John Paul II on the front and the thesis statement of the Theology of the Body on the back: “Human life is by its nature coeducational. It depends for its dignity as well as its balance at every moment of history…on who she shall be for him and him for her. You teach me what it means to be human and I teach you what it means to be human. It depends on its dignity how glorious — or how depraved it can be.”

The last mile of the series discusses the sacrament of marriage in God’s plan for humankind. Although many contemporary moral issues, with the exception of contraception, are not explicitly discussed in the Theology of the Body, the answers can be discerned from the principles established in the preceding sections and in the 13 letters of St. Paul. 

“If you know what it is to be human you can answer those questions,” Father Antony said. “The body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, and we, both body and soul, are made to reflect God’s image.”

The classes started March 3 and continued March 10. The next sessions are Monday, March 17, 31 and April 7 at 6 p.m. on the fourth floor of St. Anne’s Building. They will also be livestreamed and archived on the church’s Facebook page and website, icchurch.com. 

Father Antony recommends attendees buy a 128-page study guide, “Men and Women Are from Eden” by Mary Healy.

The former St. Boniface School is hosting a new student body, the newly founded River Valley Catholic Homeschool Co-op, which meets every Friday from 8:45-11:45 a.m.

“Our group had been meeting monthly for several years to celebrate liturgical feasts but gradually we wanted to have more interaction in a Catholic setting,” Shari McCoy said. “Several moms went up to Northwest Arkansas to see their homeschool co-op, which uses a pre-packaged curriculum. Afterward, we discussed the pros and cons of that option and focused on what we all considered important.”

The eight founding families of the co-op wanted book groups, Latin, choir, and arts and crafts. During the first semester, they taught all the children together except for the book group, but in the second semester, they divided into two groups for everything but choir. 

McCoy, who teaches Latin, now teaches the older group nouns, verb conjugation and simple sentence composition, as well as traditional prayers.

“Today the choir learned how to sing ‘Dona Nobis Pacem’ in a round,” she said, “and it was beautiful. Some of our older girls wo are excellent vocalists were able to help.”

Faith is taught throughout the curriculum. In art class, students used mosaic tiles to make colorful plaques of the Christogram (Chi Rho). During book group, the younger children learned about the lives of the saints in graphic novel form. At their recent Valentine’s Day Party, they learned that the celebration was named after St. Valentine.

“All of our local priests have been very supportive,” Katie Sharum said. “Father Mario (Jacobo, pastor of St. Boniface Church) has been so generous in letting us use the school building for our co-op. Father Brian (Cundall, pastor of Christ the King Church) has taught our children about the Mass. Living here is awesome because there are so many avenues for us to practice our Catholic faith.”

Dr. Natalie Jordan, whose two younger children attend the program, is the program’s administrator.

The co-op operates on a two-semester calendar and charges $75 a year per family for materials. New families are welcome to visit with their children but can’t enroll until the following semester.

“We wanted to get this first year under our belt with a small number of families,” Sharum said, “but we already have several new families who are interested in joining next year.”

The parents who participate teach the courses, using their talents and homeschool teaching experience. McCoy has taught Latin to her own four children. Although none of the families regularly attend traditional Latin Masses, she sees Latin as an important part of Church history, a vocabulary builder and a key to understanding other Romance languages.

Several moms are juggling full-time careers with homeschooling.

“Natalie (Jordan) is a geriatric psychiatrist, and Casey (Dodd) is a full-time book publisher,” Sharum said. “I worked in finance until I had my fourth child. A lot of moms work half-time or full-time with less traditional hours. If you’re dedicated enough, there are ways.”

Jordan and her husband, who practices forensic medicine, organize their schedules to allow them to homeschool their three children, aged 17, 11 and 8. She cited recent studies affirming the benefits of homeschooling and sees how regularly meeting with other families to foster Catholic friendships and reinforce liturgical living enhances their homeschool experience.

“My children love it,” she said. “My daughter asked whether it can be two days a week or can we have science. I’ve been pleased with the organic growth of the program, as people with different talents come forward to meet the needs of our group.”

The group has branched out to include service projects. On the feast of St. Francis, they spent part of the day packing bags for St. Boniface’s food pantry. They are also looking into setting up robotics and Lego classes.

Women in Fort Smith are sharing their faith journeys and giving glory and praise to God.

The Sisters of the Heart is a small church community that meets at St. Boniface Parish Center each Tuesday morning during the school year. It attracts women from area parishes as well as several Methodists, Presbyterians and Episcopalians.

“We started out at (former Christ the King parishioner) Linda McDonough’s home in 2001,” group facilitator Linda Dickinson said. “We did some wonderful studies, starting with Beth Moore but quickly changing to Kevin Perotta and other Catholic authors. As we grew to 25 members we moved to Christ the King Church, dividing into small groups for the study. We progressed through the Bible Timeline series, but gradually the focus of our group changed from information to transformation. The more deeply we shared, the more of a soul connection we felt.”

“Sometimes I’ll run into someone from our group in a store,” Lori Shields said, “and there’s just a different connection. She’ll tell me that she’s been praying for my intentions. She really did listen.”

Shields’ granddaughter called her one morning and asked what she was doing. She told her about the Sisters of the Heart. “I told her we get together and share parts of our lives and pray for one another and they pray for you, too. My granddaughter was so happy to know that she was in our prayers.” 

Each group begins with the Jesuit practice of creating a sacred space, stopping and focusing on the presence of God. Dickinson leads the group in conversational prayer and passes around a small wooden cross. 

Each of the 35-40 women in attendance can choose to pray silently or make a prayer of praise or petition. “When women began to offer prayers of praise and thanksgiving, everything began to blossom,” Shields said. “The Spirit acted on the people there.”

After listening to a hymn and meditation relevant to the material being studied, the members break up into three or four small groups, composed of different members each time. Subiaco Abbey’s Father Jerome Kodell, OSB, whose book “Is God In My Top Ten?” is being studied, spoke to the group in September.

The book deals with prayer, answering questions like how to deal with distractions, listening like a disciple, finding time to pray or praying when you’re hopeless. The answer is often talking less, listening more and placing your trust in God. 

“In small group, we share our prayer lives, our challenges, and our joys and sorrows from the heart,” Shields said.

The group has spent several years studying Ignatian and Benedictine spirituality, and members have found that adding these practices to their prayer lives has deepened their faith. 

“I begin my morning with Sacred Space reflections, a ministry of the Irish Jesuits,” Dickinson said. 

The group studied the practice of lectio divina, the monastic practice of meditative reading and prayer, through the Bible reflections of the late Sister Macrina Wiederkehr, OSB’s “Abide” and “The Flowing Grace of Now.” “We did ‘Abide’ in 2011 and 2022,” Dickinson said, “after Macrina told us that we had gone through the book too quickly. Lectio asks us to slow down and see what makes our hearts shimmer, to put ourselves in the Scripture passages.”

With 71 members and 35-40 regular attendees, the group is a source of loving consolation and help when help is needed. Everyone is welcome, and new members are a source of joy for Dickinson. 

“When we get new members I know that someone liked it so much they recommended it to their friends.” 

The sharing often prompts members to discuss what they’ve learned with their husbands and family. 

“My husband will ask what I’ve been studying,” member Katie Wright said, “and I’ll talk about some of the serious things we’re able to share. It’s opened up our communication in a new way. What a reward it is for a marriage.”

Vietnamese Catholics from Sacred Heart of Mary Church and mission congregations from Rogers and Siloam Springs celebrated the Vietnamese New Year Jan. 26 with firecrackers, a Dragon Dance, Mass, a luncheon, crafts and games.

“Tết, our New Year, is a holiday similar to your Thanksgiving,” Father Tuyen Do, associate pastor for Vietnamese ministry at Sacred Heart of Mary Church, said. “It is a time for families to get together, thank God and ask for blessings for the New Year.”

The holiday marks the first day of the Lunar New Year, similar to the Chinese New Year. 

In Vietnam, where Father Do lived until he was 29, everyone would gather at the parental home on the first day of the new year. He celebrated with his 11 brothers and sisters, their spouses and children. 

“After breakfast, each of us would bless our parents, and then, one by one, we would seek forgiveness for anyone we had wronged and reconcile with one another,” he said. 

Cooking the giant feast, featuring holiday delicacies like pork and green beans wrapped in sticky rice, took nine or 10 hours.

While it is not always possible to gather with one’s whole family in the United States, Vietnamese families carry on the tradition through phone calls and occasional visits. 

Sister Maria Hoa Nguyen, OP, superior of the Dominican sisters in Arkansas, was able to visit her family in San Diego for the first time in eight years. 

“We are all safe together, far from the fires,” she said. “I am so happy to be with my family this new year.”

In 2015, Father Do immigrated to the United States via Canada to study for the priesthood at Sacred Heart Seminary in Milwaukee, Wis. While the Communists reopened seminaries, churches and schools in the 1980s, there was not enough seminary space to accommodate prospective priests.

He was grateful to have been sponsored by the Diocese of Little Rock to serve the Vietnamese community and share their rich faith and traditions.

“The actual Lunar New Year took place on Jan. 29,” Father Do said, “but we began our celebration on Sunday the 26th. We began with lighting firecrackers, not fireworks. The noise and smoke are believed to ward off bad luck and evil spirits. After that, a dancing dragon came out to entertain the people. In Asian culture the dragon is believed to be a holy animal, bringing luck and prosperity. People, especially non-Catholics, sometimes pay to have the dragon visit their homes. When they open a new business, they pay the dragon to visit and bring them luck.”

2025 is the Year of the Snake. Because animals lived on Earth before humans were created, they are believed to have special powers. The snake symbolizes wisdom. 

“Although Catholics tend to associate the snake with Genesis, in Matthew 10:16, Jesus says, ‘Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves,’” Father Do said.

In his homily, Father Do strived to give the people a biblical passage that they could put on their family altar as a theme for the new year. He chose the parable of the lilies of the field found in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.

“We must trust in God. When we look at the lilies of the field, we see that God takes care of us. We trust in his providence not only in this world but in eternity. If we offer ourselves and our families to God, he will bless us so we can be healthy, prosperous, and happy,” he said. “If we focus on working and on this world only we may have trouble.”

After Mass, the congregation ate traditional Vietnamese foods and enjoyed the entertainment. The celebrations continued with games and crafts for children and bingo and dancing for the adults. Children received red envelopes with “lucky money” so that they would grow and prosper physically and spiritually. 

Most families following the Vietnamese tradition continue their celebration for two more days at home. The second day is dedicated to honoring ancestors by prayer and visiting their graves. The third day is dedicated to seeking God’s blessings for work, business and financial endeavors.

Seven-year-old Viviana Gordon wondered what Jesus was like as a little boy. With few stories to fill in the gaps, Dr. Kim Gordon, a professor at the University of Arkansas Fort Smith’s Center for Economic Development, decided to co-write four children’s books with her granddaughters Viviana and Olivia, 5.

“I was in Washington, D.C., for my Viviana’s sixth birthday when I decided to write a series of books about Jesus as a little boy,” Gordon said. “I was putting Viviana to sleep when she started asking questions about what it was like for Jesus to grow up in Israel as a little boy and what it was like when he lost his first tooth. I told her that the Bible didn’t have any stories about that, and she said, ‘Why not? Maybe they didn’t look hard enough.’” 

Later that evening, talking with her husband and son and daughter-in-law, Derek and Daniela Gordon, Gordon decided to venture into self-publishing, using ideas and storylines her granddaughters shared with her. “Little Jesus Chronicles” was born.

“Olivia, who lives in Oklahoma, wanted me to tell a story about Jesus going to work with his dad in the carpenter’s shop. We wrote a story about Joseph building a small ark with carved animals while Jesus watched, and Uncle Cleopas and Cousin James came to visit.”

While her primary focus was writing about Jesus’ childhood, Gordon tried to incorporate as much biblical history and characters as she could. 

“The books are juvenile historical fiction,” she said, “because there is very little we know about Jesus’ childhood. I did a lot of research to portray his environment and culture accurately and to keep things real and inclusive, tender and pure. The books are written for children 4-10.”

Each book has a special section in the back, with a glossary, a regional map of the Roman Empire in 5 B.C., Jesus’ family tree, drawing pages, and an I Spy activity. 

“We have two little creatures, Olee the ladybug, named for Olivia, and Cham the Chameleon, named after Viviana, on several pages, and the I Spy page invites readers to find Olee and Cham throughout the book,” Gordon said.

Gordon, a member of Christ the King Church in Fort Smith, collaborated with a team of illustrators from FolksnFables, who do freehand digital drawings that look like watercolor and pen.

She self-published the books, which are available in English and Spanish, through KDP, a branch of Amazon.com, and they are distributed by Ingraham-Spark, which owns a catalog used by bookstores and retailers around the world. 

The books are available on Amazon and barnesandnoble.com for $14.99, softcover, and $24.99, hardcover.

The collection will eventually have 10 books. Two books are currently available, “Little Jesus and the Lonely Puppy” and “Little Jesus and the Bethlehem Birthday.” 

In “Little Jesus and the Bethlehem Birthday,” Jesus asks his mother to tell him the story of his birth, including his early childhood experiences of being blessed at the temple, living in Egypt and returning to Nazareth. Gordon had grandparents, aunts, and uncles visiting Jesus as a baby along with the shepherds and Wise Men, because her granddaughters wanted to know Jesus was part of a big, loving family.

Gordon’s granddaughters visited for Thanksgiving, and the trio had a book signing at Bookish the following day, with cupcakes for Jesus’ birthday and a craft activity. The girls are excited to sign each book under their pen names, Olivia Francine and Viviana Camille.

“I prayed about this project before making this investment,” Gordon said. “I had been saving money for a new car and knew nothing about publishing, but I saw these stories as a way to bring children closer to Jesus. I love hearing my granddaughters talk about little Jesus like he’s one of the neighborhood kids.

“This series is a legacy gift my granddaughters will have forever that they will be able to give to their children. I loved creating these beautiful stories with them. When I was a little girl in Christ the King School, my teacher, Sister Gervase (Goellner, RSM), told me that one day I would be a writer. It was a dream that lay dormant for many years until Viviana gave me a story to tell. Who would have thought her prophecy would come true?”

Christ the King Church launched a $3-million capital capital in October to upgrade the church.

Committee member Anna Perry said the needs of the church would be addressed through the renovations. As a wife and mother of two young daughters, she said the church was important to her family after they moved to Fort Smith. 

“I looked for a church home and found it in Christ the King,” she said. “We got married here; my husband was confirmed here, and my two daughters were baptized here.”

Looking toward the future, she said the flat, ballasted roof would be replaced by a shallow-sloped roof to provide better drainage. 

“If we don’t replace it next year, it will eventually come down,” she said. 

Exterior panels will be replaced, and the exterior will be repainted. The 30-year-old HVAC system will be replaced as well.

Pastor Father Brian Cundall said he has a theological perspective on the renovations and beautification project. 

“You are the Church, the people of God, and that’s more important than a nice building,” he said. “But we encounter Christ in church, and it’s good to have a beautiful atmosphere in a spiritual and physical sense. Our faith invites us not to be passengers but active participants in this effort, for now and for the future.”

The church, built in 1972, was designed by an architect strongly influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright, and interior renovations will add some traditional elements to the contemporary structure. Casey Hargrave and Ret Taylor, principals of the firm designing the renovation, are Christ the King School alumni and active parishioners. 

Father Cundall, whose father owns a construction firm in Little Rock, said he also gained practical knowledge and experience of construction working summers in his father’s business as a young man.

“Most churches have blue ceilings with stars representing the heavens,” he said. “We will add a domed ceiling, accommodated by the new sloped roof. Looking upwards, we see the church as a meeting of heaven and earth, an encounter with God. Looking forward, we see Jesus in the Eucharist.”

The renovations will also include new, lighter tile floors with carpeting by the pews, refinished pews, new lighting and the addition of windows around the side entrance to provide more natural lighting.

The church will add a second columbarium as the existing columbarium is almost full. It will be on the opposite side of the church and be built more efficiently, allowing for almost twice as many niches to serve the community in the future.

Daniel Levesque, a representative of Guidance in Giving, said pledges may be paid off over the course of three years, with options to donate appreciated stock or withdraw a donation from an IRA. At least 80 percent of the $2.4 million must be raised before construction can begin. If the goal is met, construction of the new roof will begin in the summer of 2025. During construction, Masses will be held in the parish center. A contingency has been written into the budget to account for possible inflation, Levesque said. 

Levesque said the official campaign kickoff will be in mid-November. He said he hopes parishioners attending the kickoff receptions will discuss the project with their friends and serve as ambassadors.

“The theme of our capital campaign is ‘Our Church, Our Future,’” Father Cundall said. “Recognizing our history, serving our present parishioners and thinking of the legacy we will leave for future generations will make us co-workers with Jesus and hopefully strengthen our community.”

Mercy Crest Assisted Living has opened an Alzheimer’s Special Care Unit in the attached building formerly occupied by McAuley Convent. 

“In March 2021, the Sisters of Mercy who lived in the convent were transferred to another retirement facility, and the order ceded the building to Mercy Crest,” Cindy Taylor, Mercy Crest administrator, said. “Our strategic planning committee considered different uses for the three-wing convent, such as adult day care, independent living or medical clinics, but saw Alzheimer’s special care as our greatest need.”

Mercy Crest had set up a makeshift Alzheimer’s unit in the lower level of their main building to serve 10 residents who needed memory care services, but it was at capacity and lacked the communal areas that made it comfortable and homey. 

“Our new special care unit has three wings,” Taylor said. “One wing houses my office, our doctor’s office, training rooms and three guest rooms for visiting Sisters of Mercy. There are 10 private rooms in each of the other two wings, each with a private bath and refrigerator. The wings open to our communal areas, including a separate dining room and a fenced-in covered patio. The entire area is secured.”

The dining room serves buffet-style meals, allowing residents to make their own food choices independently. Mercy Crest strives to make the atmosphere as comfortable as possible. 

“This is their home. We’re just here helping out,” Taylor said. 

Each resident has an individual care plan based around his/her needs, which is adjusted quarterly or more often. The unit has its own registered nurse clinician, an activities director, and additional staff members who conform to state standards.

All staff members, both for the memory care unit and the 132 independent and assisted living apartments, are receiving dementia training led by Taylor and the clinician. 

“We’ll tag team it for a while until the nurse gets a good curriculum going in several distinct categories. A lot of our staff already has 40 hours of training, which we’ll continue with new staff going forward,” Taylor said. 

As a sponsored ministry of the Sisters of Mercy, the curriculum incorporates the ideals and charisms of Catholic assisted living. Mercy Crest has a chaplain, Father Joseph Chan, who celebrates Mass in the chapel daily, and a Mercy sister, Sister Sarto Gaffney, RSM, in residence.

Taylor is also certified to lead Alzheimer’s support groups and is starting a support group for the families of the residents. 

“Working with families, we can learn how better to support them as they care for their loved ones here,” she said. 

The unit opened with 12 residents — eight from the lower-level unit and four from independent living — and has accepted several more who were on the waiting list. An additional resident transferred from Methodist Assisted Living.

“Mercy Crest accepts Arkansas Medicaid waivers, and Methodist Assisted Living, which also has an Alzheimer’s Unit, has a good working relationship with us,” Taylor said.

Lisa Holbrook, a certified activities director and certified nursing assistant, is moving over from the main building to the special care unit. 

“I’m very excited to be working with the residents here,” she said. “We’ll do lots of sensory activities, listen to music from their younger years and remember the old days. We’ll do simple, calming exercises. Working with this group takes patience but is also very rewarding.”

While the Special Care Unit can help residents in many ways, some residents might eventually need to transition to a long-term care facility. Assisted living provides meals, laundry, housekeeping and medical transportation, along with help in grooming, dressing, bathing, administering medications and helping with daily living activities. 

“If a resident is unable to feed herself, is bedfast or has severe physical limitations, she will need long-term care,” Taylor said, “but we hope that with the additional care and support Alzheimer’s residents receive in our Special Care Unit, most will be able to stay here for the rest of their lives.”

Trinity Catholic School now has a “calming room” for students when they are stressed or need a quiet place to get away.

In November 2023, the school was awarded a $2,500 Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield grant to furnish a “Take Good Care Calming Room” on its campus. ABCBS gave out 75 grants to celebrate its 75th anniversary in Arkansas. 

Trinity, serving students in sixth to eighth grade, was the only Catholic school in the state to receive the grant. 

According to the organization’s press release, state records indicate more than 83,135 Arkansas students regularly deal with anxiety and depression, and a tranquil environment helps them to refocus and control their emotions.

With the funds, Trinity set up a comfortable room complete with sofas and upholstered chairs, soft lighting and books. Assistant principal Brandy Rinke said many schools have incorporated quiet places in or outside the classroom where students can calm themselves when they feel stressed. 

“When I was a school librarian (at Woods Elementary School, Fort Smith) I had a calming corner in the library equipped with fidgets, coloring pages and other things to help them calm down,” she said. “Middle schoolers have a difficult time separating in the classroom, and the calming room allows them to relax and get away from whatever is stressing them.”

Prior to this year, students who needed to de-stress often sat on the couch in Rinke’s office to do their schoolwork, but the busyness of the adjacent school office made the situation less than ideal. 

“Up here in the (second floor) calming room, we can turn off the overhead lights and put on a soft lamp,” she said. “Sometimes kids want to talk; sometimes they don’t. I’m not a counselor, but I have a good enough relationship with them that they can say, ‘I’ve had a rough day. I need some time to myself.’”

With only 218 students, Trinity is small enough that the staff know the students and are aware of who might need a calming room or a few minutes to themselves. Rinke plans to buy fragrance diffusers to enhance the relaxed atmosphere.

Teachers can also use the calming room to tutor students or read test questions to students who need them to be read aloud. 

“I would like to have it open during the day as a resource where kids can come when they can,” Rinke said.

The Book Club is small enough to meet in the Calming Room. Trinity has a half-hour study hall for the entire student body between seventh and eighth period, and clubs such as chess, robotics, Fellowship of Christian Athletes and Pure Heart Girls meet during study hall. 

“We have so many sports teams in fall and spring that setting up an activity/study hall period allows us to offer other extracurricular activities,” Rinke said.

The calming room is just one part of Trinity’s expansion. In April 2018, the school bought the entire 110,000-square-foot facility from the Benedictine Sisters of St. Scholastica Monastery. Previously, the school leased the west wing of the building while the sisters used the east wing for a retreat center.

The school has renovated the first floor of the east wing for a band room, choir room and a football locker room. This year, in addition to the calming room, they are building three classrooms in the former dormitory on the second floor for a STEM center with technology, science and math facilities. An additional room is being equipped for teacher professional development.

“This is such a neat building with so much history and so much room to grow,” Rinke said. “We want to grow, but not too much, so as to remain focused on our mission.”

Teachers have found the calming room to be a wonderful resource. 

“One of the challenges students face daily is that they are bombarded by school and teacher expectations, peer pressure and even their own expectations,” said Spanish teacher Elizabeth Johnson. “Calming rooms can help students identify and label their feelings, as well as take a moment for implementing self-regulating and mindfulness strategies to help them prepare to enter back into the hustle and bustle of the regular school environment.”