Scholarships

Two Catholic High 2025 graduates in Little Rock have earned National Merit Scholarships, which their colleges and universities will finance. They are James Joseph Miller, who will study mechanical engineering at Southern Methodist University, and Zachary Ellis, who will study physics at the University of Arkansas. Officials of each sponsor college selected their scholarship winners from among the finalists in the 2025 National Merit Scholarship Program who plan to attend their institution. These awards provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study.




Divorce support group

Divorce support groups for women and men will be forming at Our Lady of Holy Souls Church in Little Rock. A free workshop registration will be held from 4-5 p.m., Sunday, July 27. The exact location will be announced to registrants. The workshop is open to those who are divorced, separated and family and friends of a Catholic experiencing divorce. Register at csalr.org/divorce-support-group.




Scholarships

Two Catholic High 2025 graduates in Little Rock have earned National Merit Scholarships, which their colleges and universities will finance. They are James Joseph Miller, who will study mechanical engineering at Southern Methodist University, and Zachary Ellis, who will study physics at the University of Arkansas. Officials of each sponsor college selected their scholarship winners from among the finalists in the 2025 National Merit Scholarship Program who plan to attend their institution. These awards provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study. 




Search #156 Retreat

Registrations are being accepted for Search #156, a retreat to help high school juniors and seniors get to know themselves better, deepen their friendship with Christ and find support in living out their faith. The summer Search is open to incoming juniors, seniors and recently graduated seniors. Search #156 will be held at St. John Center in Little Rock June 27-29. The fee is $150. For more information or to register, visit dolr.org/events/search-156.




Quinton Thomas first seminarian ordained from Jonesboro

More than 500 lay Catholics, clergy and men and women religious packed into every available space at Blessed Sacrament Church in Jonesboro May 13 to watch seminarian Quinton Thomas be ordained a transitional deacon. 

With this Mass and celebration, Thomas is one step closer to becoming a priest. 

For as long as he can remember, Thomas has felt a call to the priesthood. 

“I don’t remember learning that there was a God. I think by grace, by providence, I kind of knew that there was a God from very early on,” Thomas told Arkansas Catholic

Thomas’ mother and his devout Catholic grandparents played a pivotal role in his early faith formation. It was during Thomas’ First Communion that he felt the Lord whisper into his heart. 

“I remember after I received my First Communion, I was smiling, and I remember feeling self-conscious about it and looking over to see whether other kids were smiling to see whether I was supposed to be smiling. And I saw that they weren’t. And so I thought I wasn’t supposed to be, so I tried to stop, but I couldn’t quit smiling,” he admitted with a laugh. 

“So I ended up putting a hand over my face as I walked back, because I was kind of embarrassed. But I had a really tender kind of closeness to God as a child, but it became more mine very early on. I entered seminary right out of high school because that was what I had wanted to do, basically since my First Communion.”

But Thomas was all smiles May 13 as Bishop Anthony B. Taylor announced from the altar that Thomas, 25, was the first person to be ordained from Blessed Sacrament Church — an announcement that sent murmurs of excitement through the crowd and prompted applause. 

During his homily, Bishop Taylor said Thomas’ ordination was the first of five that will be happening in May, and that the lessons he shares in each ordination homily apply to all seminarians. 

“By virtue of your ordination here today, your life becomes irrevocably a life lived for the benefit of others,” he said. “As an ordained deacon, you become a minister of the word, sacrament and charity, a servant of Jesus, his Church and indeed the entire human family.”

Thomas said he is enthusiastic about learning different languages in his spare time — a skill that will also be helpful in his priesthood. 

“I would say that my Spanish and French are proficient. We just got to go to Italy, so that was my first time to actually try Italian, to try really using it. … I can get by in Italian pretty decently well. Another language I really have fun with is Vietnamese. I was at St. Patrick Church in North Little Rock for my ministry assignment a few years ago. I was assigned there to teach kids and do catechesis, and a friend paid for Vietnamese lessons for me. I took a semester of Vietnamese through an online school in Saigon. And then I do classical languages — my Latin and Hebrew are OK,” he said with a chuckle. 

“Quinton has several traits that will make him a great priest, but one stands out. Quinton believes. He believes with Catholic faith from his whole person. Jesus is his savior, and the people under Quinton’s care will come to know that very well,” said Father Jeff Hebert, vocations director for the Diocese of Little Rock.
Thomas will be ministering this summer at St. Theresa Church in Little Rock and is looking forward to getting to know the people he serves. After his final semester this fall, in January he will begin his “vocational synthesis” at a parish before he is ordained a priest in May 2026.




Graduation

Deacon Angelo Volpi, a deacon at Christ the King Church in Little Rock and a student in the Graduate Theology Program at Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology in Indiana, was awarded a master’s degree in theology May 10. The Graduate Theology Program offers master’s degrees and graduate certificates in theology to laypeople and permanent deacons. These studies provide a solid foundation in the Catholic tradition for those preparing for Church ministry or seeking personal growth.




Bill Cranford served as a deacon in state since 1978

Deacon William “Bill” Cranford, the longest-serving deacon in the state and a member of the Cathedral of St. Andrew in Little Rock, died May 2. He was 85. 

He was born April 15, 1940, in Bald Knob and moved to Little Rock as a teen. After graduating with a degree in chemistry, he worked for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and later as a chemistry and physics teacher in Jackson, Miss. He was ordained a deacon in 1978, serving for 19 years in Jackson. While the Diocese of Memphis ordained deacons in 1978, the first diaconate class wasn’t ordained in Little Rock until 1981.

Cranford, his wife Rose and family returned to Arkansas in 1996, and he was assigned to roles at Mount St. Mary Academy and Our Lady of the Holy Souls Church in Little Rock. He retired from his diaconate ministries in 2010. 

He is survived by his wife of 60 years; two sons, Kent Cranford of Asheville, N.C., and Sam Cranford of Bordeaux, France; one daughter, Kathleen Runder of Little Rock; six grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.

The funeral Mass was held May 5 at the Cathedral of St. Andrew. Memorials can be made to Mount St. Mary Academy or the Cathedral of St. Andrew Restoration Fund. 




Moving on

Arkansas Right to Life in Little Rock announced that executive director Rose Mimms will be leaving her leadership role by the end of the year. Mimms was hired in April 1993 as office manager and, after a few years, was promoted to executive director, a title she has held for 30 years. 

“I have always considered this work as a mission from God, and though I’m stepping aside as the director, my role at Arkansas Right to Life will change as the new director assumes leadership,” the member of St. Jude Church in Jacksonville said.

“I don’t call it retiring. I will be able to focus on special projects, including traveling the state, supporting and developing Arkansas Right to Life regional chapters.”

Mimms added, “It is comforting for me, as I step to the side, to know that our organization is in good hands with our new board president, Dr. Sharai Amaya, and the new executive director we know the Lord will provide.”




Outreach

Linda Williams gives a presentation for the Task Force Against Human Trafficking and Pornography to Catholic Daughters at St. Theresa Church in Little Rock April 5. (Mark Ives)

Linda Williams gave a presentation on behalf of the Diocese of Little Rock’s Task Force Against Human Trafficking and Pornography to more than 20 Catholic Daughters of the Americas during their 100th anniversary conference at St. Theresa Church in Little Rock April 5.




Voting open

St. Theresa School in Little Rock was nominated for the Heart of the Community Award by the state’s Office of Innovation for Education. It is the only Catholic school among the 16 nominated schools. The schools were chosen for uplifting lives, fostering belonging and building strong, student-centered connections beyond the classroom. The school with the most votes wins the award. Voting ends May 2. Cast your vote at innovativeed.org/heartofcommunityaward. The winner will be announced at the Innovation Rally June 4-6 in Little Rock.